Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1) by Jack Campbell
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Book Reviews of Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1)
Book Review: The Burdens of Leadership
Summary: 5 Stars
I was very impressed with this book. The highest praise I can give this book is that it is worthy of the comparison to the Hornblower series of C.S. Forester. It is the study of a leader who improbably finds himself thrust into a future war where the highly-developed tactics and strategies of space war have been lost owing to the severe attrition in the officer's ranks. It is a Rip Van Winkle tale of a man who must now live in the world of those who would be as old as his grandchildren and finds that much of the honor and discipline of his fighting force has been cast aside of seeming necessity.
Our leader, John "Black Jack" Geary has been picked up after drifting in space for over a hundred years. His exploits in the battle that stranded him are now legendary. Therein lies the unique power of this book--it allows the study of a character with all of the skills to be a fine leader who is unexpectedly thrust into a situation where suddenly he holds all the power and is forced to retrain an entire navy. What does he do? What are the effects of his virtually unlimited power?
The author takes every opportunity to teach the reader the value of discipline and military honor. It is this strong moral undertone that gives the book its power. It is far better than most books of its genre; indeed, this is the first author I have ever encountered who deals with relativistic effects in his portrayal of space battles.
Yet make no mistake, this isn't about battles. This is about a man who is in a position to lead and how he goes about persuading others to follow him. Fascinating five-star stuff.
Book Review: Curiously rivetting
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very odd book. It's not great literature. It's not a revolutionary leap forward in the genre of military Sci-Fi. There are no startling revelations. The plot is transparent. The space battles are repetitive. There are cloistered nuns who have a better grasp of tactics than the commanders of the opposing space fleets. The military situation is ludicrous - the Human race seems to have stopped inventing things for a century. You can pick hole after hole in the assumptions and the tech.
And yet I found it impossible to put this book down - and for a long time I really couldn't figure out why, beyond recognising that it's very easy to read.
I think the real reason is the superb characterisation of the major characters, particularly the bitingly cynical Co-President Rione. Our "hero", Black Jack, is a bit of an everyman - we root for him because he is so ordinary, is obviously out of his depth, and yet still comes through. The best battles in this are fought with words, not missiles, and in conference rooms, not deep space. You can spot what is going to happen 90% of the time, but actually reading it come to fruition is immensely satisfying.
The one unique aspect I really liked was the religious angle. Religion is a major factor in the majority of people's lives and it is all too often skimped over, especially in sci-fi, probably because it is such a potentially divisive thing. Here, it is just made clear how important it is (a form of ancestor worship in fact) to most of the characters, without swamping everyone with pious mumblings.
Book Review: First Class Space Opera
Summary: 5 Stars
This book opens no new paths for science fiction but it is well written, interesting and exciting. It concentrates more on the problems of leadership than in the gee whiz aspects of science fiction. The same story could have been written with any background; it just happens to have a space opera one.
A space faring human empire is at war with another human empire controlled by commercial interests. The war has been long and has not gone all that well. The leadership tries to make peace with the bad guys and sends a fleet out to a rendezvous for negotiations. While on the way, they pick up the beacon for an escape pod and pick up the survivor who has been in suspended animation since the beginning of the war. He has gone down in history as one of the great heroes of the fleet, lost in the opening battle. Now, he is alive and walks among them.
The negotiations turn out to be a trap. Much of the fleet is destroyed along with all of the senior leadership. That leaves, as the senior surviving officer, the rescued hero who is centuries out of date. His job is to get the fleet home.
That is not an easy job. Attitudes and discipline have changed. He has never wanted the role of hero but not he has to live up to it. To do so, he must wage a political game with the officers of his fleet as well as those of the smaller fleets allied to his own.
This book does not see the hero home. Presumably, that is left for the sequel. It does see him pull of the great escape and gives a great lesson in leadership.
Book Review: Great story about an unwilling hero
Summary: 5 Stars
When John Geary's ship was attacked, he did his duty and provided covering fire so his comrades could escape. But when he is awakened after 100 years in survival hibernation, Geary discovers that history has turned him into a hero of mythic proportions. The Alliance is in desperate need of heroes. After a century of fighting the Syndics, they have launched an all-out attack on their enemy's home system--only to suffer a crushing defeat. Now, the remnants of the Alliance fleet have placed their trust in the legendary "Black Jack" Geary's leadership. Somehow, Geary must live up to his heroic reputation and get them safely back home.
As the younger sibling of a "perfect" child, I was immediately drawn to the main premise of this book. How do you live up to the expectations of others--expectations based not upon who you are, but upon what others think you should be. The book also examines the toll a prolonged war takes on a society and explores the dynamics of leadership.
"Dauntless" has plenty of space battles and fleet politics. Geary is a likable protagonist. The author has given him an internal monologue that helps tell the story while adding depth to the character. The story is straightforward without being simplistic, and has a nice sprinkling of humor throughout. Satisfying on its own, the book leaves readers eagerly anticipating the sequel.
Bottom line, this great entertainment--a fast, fun read.
Book Review: Food for thought on the subject of military stupidity
Summary: 5 Stars
First, a complaint. These books are clearly designed as a series. Now, where an honest author such as David Weber or S. M. Strling would have given us a single 900 page volume, this author gives us three 300 page volumes, even though the three could have easily been published as one.
That said, these books, even if painted on a futuristic space opera canvas, address the age old issue of military mind rigidity, stupidity, idiocy. History is full of examples of battles where at least one side is a mob of individual warriers, competing for glory among themselves. Caesar's campaigns in Gaul provide the perfect example.
The best example to relate to these Lost Fleet books is that of the idiotic French knights at the battles of Crécy and Agincourt (read Barbara Tuchman's "A distant Mirror" for a delightful tale of a century's worth of such foolishness). Contrasting such mindless behavior with its opposite, military discipline, is the basic premise of these books. The story line follows the process of gradually transforming the protagonist fleet from a mob into an army.
As such, this series is different from the normal run of space operas, and -- even though I could criticise various things about it, were I in a nitpicking mood -- thought provoking. So, according to me, it merits a 5-star rating.