Dauntless

I think I like military science fiction. But it's so hard to tell, because a lot of it isn't very good.What I mean here is that The Lost Fleet isn't very good. It's not awful, it's all-round better than [b:Into the Black 12971820 Into the Black (Odyssey One, #1) Evan Currie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334235177l/12971820.SY75.jpg 16237035] (by Evan Currie, and which I reviewed before) for example, and yet in individual ways its so much worse.The characters are all the same. The bad apples are cardboard cut-out people with no personality apart from the will to be the villains.It needs an editor to point out the language problems. Phrases with annoying repetition, like “He could see that the ship had once been a good-looking ship, but...” just set my teeth on edge.People glower and scowl a lot, which is apparently the MSF way of showing emotion.The protagonist is constantly exhausted, which has an in-universe explanation, but is really a lazy way of replacing conflict with an inner struggle. In one paragraph, his effective second-in-command goes from “glowering” to “glowing” because he compliments her. It's like people are really primitive state machines or something.The premise is interesting: it's an interstellar case of impostor syndrome. I mean, it's definitely explored, I'm just not sure that repeating thoughts about how he can't live up to people's expectations is a fulfilling exploration.Then there are Big Space Battles and I have a problem with them.I mentioned [b:Into the Black 12971820 Into the Black (Odyssey One, #1) Evan Currie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334235177l/12971820.SY75.jpg 16237035] earlier because I see a lot of similarities between the books, but what Currie does well is his presentation of the mechanics of warfare over large distances. Campbell tries to make things trickier by factoring in light-speed delays where one side can't tell what the other is doing for minutes at a time, and that's... reasonable. It's actually pretty smart.It would work if his premise - that both sides have no concept of formations or tactics whatsoever - wasn't so preposterous. It would work if his strategy wasn't “attack from the sides rather than head-on”. It would work, but it doesn't, because everything feels like a muddle stretched over several pages.There are a couple of fairly clumsy hints that we're going to be seeing Mysterious Aliens in the sequels. A bit of conclusion-jumping by an otherwise unseen team of engineers gets revisited near the end with the protagonist musing to himself over whether aliens could be real. Hmm.

To be honest, I was super disappointed by this book. The fleet tactics were interesting, as was the speculation about how a never ending war changes people, but the characters were such one-dimensional caricatures that I couldn't take any of them seriously. They were either eager sycophants, brainless and defiant arguers or a hero that is always right, true, honorable and perfect while carrying on a ridiculous internal monologue attempting to convince the reader he's an actual human.

If you like fleet scale space battle with actually interesting characters you might care about, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.

It's been a good long while since I've read a sci-fi novel, and longer yet since I've read a GOOD sci-fi novel.

This one is really amazing. It's just the right blend of science and military sci-fi- the fleet formation and description of the battle were vivid and amazing. I am not always a fan of military sci-fi, but this reminded me of some of my favourite elements of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey.

I'm glad this book doesn't go into unnecessary meandering. The story is simple, save the fleet from the enemies along with the macguffin - in this case a Key. It doesn't take long for the action to kick in and the journey to begin.

And what a journey this is going to be.

A very very good first book for a space opera!!!
Captain Jack Geary, or as he is known by every person in Alliance World or Syndic World(stands for Syndicate) Black Jack Geary, became legendary as a result of his death when the Syndics declared war on the Alliance, not only that, he saved a lot of his crew, when he ordered them to abandon ship and stayed behind to see to it!!!!
Fast forward a 100years, much has changed and suddenly, a ship was able to pick up a errant escape pod, inside was the legendary Black Jack Geary Hero and Legend!!!
The story open up right at the moment as the Alliance fleet was supposedly on it's way to winning the war, as they have penetrated deep into the Syndic homeworld, unknowingly closing the trap against themselves!!!
Well, what follows is the Legend's efforts(seemingly effortless), ideas(a lot happens after 100 years) and attitude......suddenly an astounding secret.......

Book two please!!!!!