A couple of
years ago, I wandered into my local Waterstones bookseller, looking for a novel
involving space battles. While battles between
spaceships has long been one of my favourite topics, for some reason the idea
was burning particularly hot that day. After a good thirty minutes of
searching, I ended up buying two books.
One of those I have completely forgotten, the other was The Lost Fleet: Dauntless by Jack
Campbell.
I devoured that book, bought the
next book in the series, and devoured that too.
I can’t remember another time in my adult life when I’ve picked up a
book and enjoyed it so thoroughly. By
the time I had finished the six book series, I was happy to call it my all-time
favourite space adventure. Its combination
of themes drawn from the Cold War, the King Arthur myth, the highway vs. interstate
development, and good old fashioned honor and humanity, connected with me in a
very personal way.
Now The Lost Fleet won’t be to everyone’s taste. The hero wears a gleaming white hat, and none
of the characters are heavily developed.
But Jack Campbell is very good at coming up with interesting situations,
both tactical military situations, and internal interpersonal situations that
challenge the fleet from within. He has
also found a way of writing space battle involving huge fleets of ships that is
easy to follow, but keeps you on the edge of your seat.
All of this is a very
long-winded introduction to my purchase of the latest book in the series: The Lost Fleet – Beyond the Frontier:
Invicible. This is either the eighth
book in the series, or the second book in the Beyond the Frontier series, depending
on how you want to look at it. Either
way, it is a fine read.
I must admit, that the last book
in the series was just a bit of a letdown for me. Campbell obviously had a lot of ideas to
present to get the second series started, and I found the whole thing a bit
slow. However, with the fleet off and
moving through space again, the series has regained its usual high pace. This new book is classic Lost Fleet, with lots of new threats, lots of battles, a bit of
murky politics, and enough ‘YES’ moments to more than satisfy.
So, if you like your space
adventures with lots of action and a good guy who actually deserves the term, I
wholeheartedly suggest The Lost Fleet.
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