World Famous Comics: Courageous (The Lost Fleet, Book 3)
Courageous (The Lost Fleet, Book 3)
By: Jack Campbell Publisher: Ace Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Ace Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 320 Publication Date: December 18, 2007
Product Description: The Lost Fleet continues its perilous journey home.
Badly damaged and low on supplies, the Alliance Fleet is raiding Syndic mines for raw materials-and Captain "Black Jack" Geary hopes they can continue to remain one step ahead of their enemies. But the Syndics are the least of Geary's worries when he learns of the existence of aliens with the power to annihilate the human race.
You could start reading the series with this one. You might want to read the books in THE LOST FLEET series in order. But if for some reason you can't get #1 THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS or #2 THE LOST FLEET: FEARLESS -- you can start with this one without fear of being bewildered or confused.
Even the characterizations are crystal clear so that you aren't wondering why this person does this or "who" this other person is.
And after you've read COURAGEOUS, you'll still want to read the previous ones if you haven't already. In fact, you may want to reread the previous ones!
This series is Military SF at its best - but it's not all plot. It doesn't read like the worst of the Arthurian Legend novels, detailing one battle after another until you don't care who wins. Each battle is set up perfectly so that the personalities of the Captains commanding ships in Geary's Fleet figure into the orders Geary gives.
It even matters, politically, who Geary is sleeping with (and who not) all for good reasons rooted in character as well as politics.
If you've had a little too much Fantasy interdimensional battle novels lately, you should try this one.
The writing is clean, compelling -- and trust me, it's hard to write a mid-series novel that's as "transparent" as this one to the compelling forces detailed in previous novels without spoiling the current one.
This Series takes its place beside Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.'s LENSMAN SERIES, but unlike the Lensman Series, THE LOST FLEET is not "space opera" at all. It's more like the Dragnet, or Columbo of Interstellar Warfare with a dash of THE DRESDEN FILES plotting thrown in.
THE LOST FLEET: COURAGEOUS is just pure enjoyment.
The Lost Fleet moves on! Background to this book: John Hemry, writing under the pen-name Jack Campbell, began the series by introducing readers to a universe, far into our future, where humanity has spread out into space, colonizing many planets, and eventually separating into two main camps, The Alliance and the Syndicate. Competition and contrasting political structures result in conflict. In the first book, The Lost Fleet: Dauntless, the Alliance fleet is lured into an ambush, where it suffers great loss, especially in the upper military echelons. The command of the fleet falls to its most senior surviving office, John "Black Jack" Geary, who had long been thought to be dead, but who had just been rescued from an escape pod, where he had spent a century in cryogenic sleep. Black Jack Geary had become legend, for sacrificing himself to save his ship during the first outbreak of hostilities involving the Syndicate, and now he was seen as a hero, returned from the dead, to rescue the Alliance from a near-total massacre and a seemingly-endless war.
In this third book of the Lost Fleet series, Black Jack Geary faces the choice of either continuing to try to fool the Syndics, as the Syndicate fleet is called by Alliance military people, or making a quicker dash back to Alliance space, that could easily lead to another disastrous ambush. Through the first two books, Geary has successfully outguessed the Syndics, and has inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. This as caused further belief in the idea that John Geary is a resurrected hero, sent by the ancestors of the Alliance, to save the fleet. Geary has tried to avoid embracing the mythical hero role, that brings the impression of infallibility with it.
While trying to damage the Syndics and bring the fleet back to Alliance space, Geary also has to deftly deal with a subtly growing contingent, in his own fleet, of those who fear Geary and want him deposed as Fleet Commander. Another contingent idolizes Geary, almost fanatically, and want him to seize the mythos of Black Jack Geary and be much more than Fleet Commander.
For the first two-thirds of this book, it strongly resembled its predecessors, to the point that I was beginning to fear that the author had exhausted his supply of originality and creativity. The only real differences between the predecessors and the earlier parts of this book, was that the Alliance fleet was experiencing more resource shortages, and they were starting to get outmaneuvered at times, as the Syndics seemed to have caught on to some of Geary's tactics, and were becoming better at anticipating the next move and countering it.
Then, as Geary began to despair, he got what he needed, from two of his internal allies and, surprisingly, from an old internal opponent. In a thrumming crescendo, the last third of the book builds tension, then moves to rapid-fire action, complex military strategy and maneuvering, and shocking brilliance and boldness that will make John Geary the man into a legend, separate from the century-old Black Jack legend. Geary's last decision in this book is stunning, and creates an incredible cliffhanger that makes it impossible for me to not read the next book in the series.
Jack Campbell's writing is crisp, even when the story begins to feel repetitive, early in the book. It feels almost like John Geary's funk, and the advice that helped him pull out of it, also helped the author remember what made the first two books excellent reading, and writing those pep-talk passages had the same effect on Campbell that it had on Geary. The characters in this book, as in its predecessors, were varied, credible, and three-dimensional. The brilliant ending certainly ensured by continued interest in the series.
Those who enjoy these books, will also likely enjoy Old Man's War by John Scalzi, and its sequels.
-- Chris McCallister, author of Coming Full Circle
It just keeps getting better It was with trepidation that I went for book three. Other series from other authors had often been wonderful to begin with but rapidly pale as the series continues. However in this Jack Campbell is maturing as a writer and consequently the style is evolving through the series. Not enough change to jump you out of a familiar world but enough to freshen the now aspect of the story. Jack has done a great job in book three the character depth is expanded and some very amusing scenes brighten the humanity of the series while still dealing out awesome space battle crisis and tactics. Book three makes for exciting reading thanks to subtle changes in Jack's style that enhance the series depth. If you thought like me "Surely he can't keep it going for another" then be prepared for a pleasant surprise. Highly recommended and an absolute must if you have enjoyed the series so far.
Sharp Drop in Quality I really enjoyed the first two books in this series but was unable to finish. I was very disappointed to see that this had grown into a six-book series and this third book is just an expansion joint. The plot is not advanced, characters lose what characterization they once had, and nothing happens. I will not be purchasing any more books in this series. I will simply assume Black Jack gets everyone home and maybe re-read the first two books sometime in the future.
Courageous: The Lost Fleet book 3 Highly entertaining and imaginative plot. Enjoy the battles and complexity of a "believable" science fiction battle. A few plot twists have the story moving in a new and unexpected direction. The cliff-hanger ending left me wishing book 4 was already out.
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Trevor
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