Courageous (The Lost Fleet, Book 3) by Jack Campbell
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Book Reviews of Courageous (The Lost Fleet, Book 3)
Book Review: Not Bad
Summary: 4 Stars
The third book in this series is "good", not a "can't put it down" like the first two, but still good. Cannot wait until #4 is out!Book Review: Solid Sci Fi - good vacation read
Summary: 4 Stars
Quick paced sci-fi - what I'd call a good book for taking on a vacation. Great space battles.Book Review: Here is why the concept started to wear thin
Summary: 3 Stars
I really liked the battle sequences and the main character Black Jack (despite my better judgment)
The book also deserves recognition because it is the first book wherein we get a listing of the ships in the fleet. Wonderful idea but why wasn't this list in the first book?
If you can past your dislike of Rione which I am sure everyone who has read this book now despises your only real problem should be realizing that except for a few instances we don't really have developed characters here. I hung around until the end of the series hoping for this to develop but somehow it never did.
This is really unfortunate because battle scenes are great and a list of the ships in the fleet are great but the fact that five capital ships were whipped out in the last engagement never changes your feelings because no one on those five ships are developed enough to care about.
I really liked the first two installments of the series the last book finished so strongly that it makes the Rione character even more confusing. At the end of book two John and Rione seemed to realize that they could help each other and that they needed each other if they were going to make it back to Terran space alive. Within the first chapter of book 3 this is forgotten for some unknown reason and conversations are carried on between the two like this
Rione: You're not infallible John!!
Black Jack: I know that. I've been saying that for the last 10 chapters where were you?
Rione: You're not infallible John!!!
And it carries on like this. Does the Woman have some verbal tick she can't get rid of?
Overall-If you had asked me my opinion of the last book I would have said that this series would be remembered 10 years from now. If the third book is any example this series will take its place among other space operas that have cool ships and good battles but no real characterization and unfortunately David Weber already has a lock on those.
Book Review: The author takes a time out
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes you read the title correctly. The author takes a time out to.... Oh I don't know what he is doing here exactly. I reviewed the first two novels by comparing them to a John Wayne movies. You know the first was a wagon train in Indian country and the second one was the navy in WWII. This one is... a soap opera. The author takes time to set up the dealings of the characters and their desires. You know: Will Geary sleep with Capt. Desjani? Will Rione stop sleeping with Geary because her husband maybe alive? Will the screct commanders who are working against Geary topple him? Can the fleet ever get enough supplies? Will Geary become Black Jack and become dictator of the Alliance? You know the usual stuff that takes place in your everyday space fleet. What about the aliens that know one knows about? Can the fleet always win a battle? Which there is only one or two good ones in this novel. Only in the last three pages does the author finally take off in a direction or rather reverses himself in a direction. Look if you have read the first two then you will read this one. The characters are becoming clearer in their personalities and actions. Themes are revisited and restated. Is it a good book? Only in the sense that I want to read the fourth one to see what the he_l is going on. It is not as good as the first two, but it is a bridge to rest of the upcoming stories. So it is only a 3 star book.
Book Review: Probably the last of this series that i'll read
Summary: 3 Stars
I read the first book in this series in one sitting. Book two went by almost as fast. Book 3 plodded, and for more than one reason.
First, the writing's just not as tight anymore.
Second, some of the primary characters are becoming simpler instead of more complex as the series continues (other reviewers have covered this in depth, so i'll leave it be).
Third, Geary's internal conflict with Black Jack is getting a bit worn out.
And fourth, in this book i really felt like half of every page was spent reminding readers of the events of the previous two books. I do understand the importance of refreshing a reader's memory in a series, and of making every book accessible to someone who, for reasons i'll never understand, picks up a book mid-series and expects everything to make sense. But when it gets so chronic that a continuing reader can't get through it all, something's gone amiss.
I'll probably track down book four in a bookstore some day to read the first chapter and find out what happens after the pseudo-cliffhanger ending of book 3, but i'm not going to pay $7.99 for a rehash of the first three books, plus a few bonus scenes.