Customer Reviews

Valiant (The Lost Fleet Series)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've enjoyed the Lost Fleet series, and I continued to enjoy it through book 4, despite its flaws. That said, the book fails the basic sequel test: if this had been the first book in the series, would I still be reading the series? At this point, my answer is "probably not".

What's still good?

The military battles are still well-described. There are better writers of speculative military fiction (Charles Stross, John Scalzi) in term of what can generally be described as "thinking up cool, futuristic stuff". Campbell excels in the telling of battles in enjoyable tactical detail in a plausible, futuristic setting. His ability to factor in time distortions, relativistic changes, simple momentum, leadership, motivation, and even navigation was what originally drew me to the series. This talent is still on display in the battle scenes of this book.

What's not so good?

It would be a stretch to say "everything else", but there are some flaws that appear to be worsening over the course of the series.

CAPT John Geary, the fleet's commander, is still the only character who seems fully fleshed out. We spend the books inside his head, and by book 4 much of the Geary internal monologue about honor, duty, ancestors, etc., is a bit repetitive. Still, Geary remains a likable, honorably motivated leader without becoming a caricature. For the rest, not so much.

Victoria Rione, is, to judge by reader comments, almost universally annoying. What's more, while her motivations initially seemed congruent with her actions, that no longer seems the case. She vacillates between insightful advisor and shrewish harridan, and I actually LIKED her character initially. Now I find myself in the camp saying "Please, someone slap her".

CAPT Desjani, the loyal subordinate and captain of the fleet flagship, still seems too 2-dimensional to function as Geary's love interest. Way too many "Rione spoke while Desjani gritted her teeth" sequences. The book has too much of this interplay. I'd bet Geary wishes Campbell would write a holo-deck into book 5 to get him out of this.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

So, if you really have enjoyed the battle sequences, as I have, then the book will probably be worth it. If you struggled through the 3rd book thinking "please don't have so much cat-fighting in the 4th", well, consider yourself warned. If you are new to the series, I can unreservedly recommend the first book, Dauntless.

I don't want to come off as too harsh. I enjoyed this book and plan to buy the 5th. I think fans of the series will generally still enjoy this entry. Still, I do think it's fair to point out what I see as areas to improve in the concluding books.

3.5 stars.

My thoughts, in no specific order:

* The character of Rione has pushed beyond annoying/irritating into the "get rid of this character" territory - move her to one of her own ships, kill her off, whatever... her attitude was required in book 1, growing tiresome in book 2, and completely useless in book 3 and 4 - yes, her attitude has a different focus in this book (Desjani) but it doesn't matter - her purpose has been served. Geary is fully aware of the thin line between Hero and real-world leadership; he doesn't need Rione anymore to remind him.

* The 3rd party (aliens) storyline in the book is obviously not going to be resolved in book 5, so I fully expect a 2nd series with Geary leading both Syndic and Alliance forces against this unknown enemy. The problem I have with this is that the 3rd party was introduced in Book 1 and has dragged out to the point where I'm not sure I want to wait until 2011/2012 for this story to be completed and we find out how Geary chooses to spend the remainder of his days...

* Whereas the previous books had 2-3 well-written battle scenes in them, this one has only 1 detailed battle (1 at the end is hastily written and no explanation of where this force has jumped in from or how they happened to just 'be there') - again, this goes back to my argument that the series is losing steam.

* This series could easily have been done in a trilogy (with longer pagecounts); these books are short and can be read fairly quickly and it only makes me wary of getting started with the next Black Jack series as I'm ready to move on to something new. If the next series ends up being a 5 parter, don't say I didn't warn you.

* My biggest complaint is the author's tendency to repeat things in all 4 books (and probably will be repeated in book 5) - this includes explaining how the 100+ of ship captains use the conference room (virtual, of course), the importance of the hypernet key, how Geary was found floating suspended for 100 years, etc... any reader who cannot look in the front of the book and see this is book 4 in a series of 5 deserves to be confused... the repeated content just makes the story more tiring and comes off as "filler" so the book meets a specific page count.

* My last bit of review is a plea to the author to ask his publishers to consider releasing the next series as a 3 parter, with longer page count and shorter release periods.

Jack Campbell (nome de plume of former U.S. Navy officer John G. Henry) has come up with a thoroughly entertaining military sci-fi series of novels with his Black Jack Geary/Lost Fleet books. I give it four stars because the books (generally) are extremely well crafted, highly entertaining efforts.

The Good:

Campbell is one of the best in his descriptive tactical and situational accounts of what large scale fleet actions in future space could be like. Detailed, but not overly-technical, descriptions of large space fleet engagements are very well thought out, yet so well written that a non-military person can grasp what's going on.

Capt. John "Black Jack" Geary is an extremely well-crafted protagonist that we immediately like and empathize with. He's the kind of man everyone wishes to known and work with and for. His struggles with his situation are grist for the mill of legends and Campbell is masterful at getting Geary and the Fleet into impossible situations and then credibly getting them out again.

In the series, the other fleet captains hinder Geary's efforts to get the fleet home safely as much as they do to help him. This makes up some of the best, most entertaining aspects of the books. This is also done in the best tradition of literary military heroes as Horatio Hornblower, Jack Aubrey and Richard Sharpe. Campbell's expert use of divisive, internal fleet politics also gives us a candid look into the military cultures of any age, not just ones in a space fleet-dominated future. Here Campbell writes with the sensitivity and authority of someone who has been on both the winning and the losing ends of such inter-personal political engagements.

The Bad:

Geary's character is very well done but other important characters are not as well-developed as you might hope. Their actions and motivations sometimes strain the credulity of the situations they find themselves in. Captain Desjani, female captain of Geary's flagship, is an interesting character but could be more so, given a little more room to breath. Her continued one-dimensional hero worship of "Geary the Legend" rings true in the first two books.

But as she is both an extremely capable and a highly intelligent, aggressive commander, she might be better served having a more visible (to the reader) internal/external conflict going on about who Geary really is and questioning his military and personal decisions, especially her continued suffering-in-silence about Geary's relationship with Victoria Rione.

Victoria Rione, as written, borders at times on clinical schizophrenia. Though an attempt is made in the third book to explain her actions over the course of the series, they often fail to jibe with the consumate politician she is initially presented as in the beginning of the series. Given all of the other problems on his plate, it is puzzling to most readers why a strong character like Geary would continue to put up with her "Three Faces of Eve" act after the first 2-3 installments, no matter how good she might be in the rack.

The overall problem is that, aside from Geary, no attempt is made to better clarify in better detail for the reader the inner thought processes and motivations that lead important characters to agree with or oppose Geary. Keeping Geary's character "in the dark" some of the time is one thing, and it's consistent that Rione might want to keep her motivations a secret from a legendary and potentially politically dangerous military leader who's seemingly returned from the dead.

What's desperately needed, most of all for Rione, is a clarification for readers of her true thoughts and motivations, especially after so many installments. By the end of Book 3, her character is not so much a difficult-to-figure femme fatale as simply an annoying, ultra-irrational sufferer of the Universe's worst cast of pre-menstrual syndrome. In book 5 (if there is one - I can't seem to find anything online about a release date) if she stays her current course, readers will be hoping that before the fleet makes it home that Madame Co_President has been inadvertantly blown out an air lock.

The Ugly:

This is nit-picking, and a relatively small burdern on the series. While it's an accepted convention to minimally re-explain certain aspects of the hero's Universe so that the individual book stands on its own, Campbell does seem to spend an inordinate amount of space re-explaining far too much that has already been covered. The series as a whole is good enough that, if you were one of those people who inadvertantly began with Book 3, you'd still probably go back and get 1 and 2 to get caught up on what you missed.

Final opinion: The Lost Fleet series is great fun and well worth the time spent in the Alliance/Syndic Universe.

The plot of this book is bookended with two rousing, action-packed battle scenes, one at the beginning, one at the end. The hero is a high-minded military man of unimpeachable honor who exhibits both excellent strategic thinking and the ability to see beyond the narrow limits of the war he is fighting. He faces and overcomes his miliary opponents, his critics within his command, sabotage by computer worms and his own temptation to act autocratically.

In additon the plot includes a dramatic rescue of an enemy civilian population abandoned by its own leaders. Why doesn't all this add up to a higher rating?

This is the fourth book of the series and the structural flaws of the series are hurting the execution of what should be riveting science fiction. The action sequences can no longer carry the reader over the preposterous personal life of "Black Jack" Geary.

In this book, the awkward character of Senator Rione becomes even more awkward. This civilian character whose presence on this miliary vessel is incredible to begin with never has rung true. As the series has progressed, she starts as the competent political observer, becomes Geary's lover and suffers a crisis of conscience when she learns that her husband might be a living prisoner instead of killed in action. In this book, she seems to have morphed into a one-note jealous shrew even though she refuses to enjoy Geary's favors. She all but pushes Geary at his female flagship captain to whom Geary is attracted and with whom he has a lot in common. This love triangle could have been an asset to the series but because it is handled so clumsily all the noble sentiments flying around somehow detract from Black Jack's character instead of add luster to him. Rione is so one-dimensional that none of her changes of face seem credible. Geary comes off as incrediably passive in his interactions with the women.

Unlike previous books in this series, I found this one easy to put down. That's very sad as I love the space battle scenes and the main character. This projected six-book series should be a sweeping epic but the way each book unfolds multiples the weaknesses while minimizing the strengths. For example, after one of the battles Geary reviews certain personnel files that give background information on various officers that have been prominent in this series. However the way he does so is a bit confusing as if these officers are casualties of the preceeding battle although no mention has been made of in the battle scenes themselves. By much paging around, I'm guessing these folks are still alive although the placement of the background information like this at the end of the book deflates suspense and confuses the reader. Am I supposed to remember this for book five?

Parts of this review copied from forum posts...

There's something about the "Lost Fleet" series that just draws me in, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I was thinking about it the other day, and about my first steps in SF - I think it was Heinlein in a school library, but some of my major early purchases were second hand copies of "Doc" Smith novels, and a lot of Edmund Cooper if anyone remembers him. Oh and a lot of JT Edson Westerns. So I guess I get a lot out of good old basic "good guy vs bad guy" stuff, with "good guy gets the girl" thrown in. Hmm - doesn't that describe 90% of SF?

I was *going* to say that "Valiant" seems to slow down the seeming breakneck pace of the Lost Fleet through Syndic space, but a quick review tells me that isn't really true (four systems if my count is correct).

What is true is that the first two thirds of the book (more or less) deal with the return of the fleet to the Lakota system, and what they encounter there after so recently fleeing from it. What we see here is a great example of Jack Campbell's ability to bring naval battles in space to life for us. Some of my earliest reading in SF was "Doc" Smith, and although this is a little more "realistic", it made me nostalgic. (Nobody uses the word "ravening" any more. Why?!)

What we also see in this first section, and even more so later in the book, is excellent development of existing characters and plot elements and some exciting new twists. I won't discuss them in any length for fear of spoiling the fun, but hint at treason and possible new allies in unexpected places.

I am becoming thoroughly engrossed as the series progresses, and I think the story is developing a depth to match.

I must say, the thing that has me wondering now is whether or not the series will end in a triumphant return to Alliance space, or if the return will be a mere prelude to even more shenanigans. The way it is being set up, I think there are going to be many more questions and plot elements to resolve once the fleet gets home, and I hope the author is planning to answer them.

I have read a lot of comments that people have posted and so far I think a lot of them just do not get the writing style the author was going for. Most books use the point of view of many characters to assist with the story line and to flesh out certain characters. The Lost Fleet is written from just Geary's point of view. This limits how much other characters can be fleshed out to only what Geary is thinking of them at the moment. They can never really tell their side of the story and can only show their actions and intentions as interpreted by Geary.

What this does and what I think the author was going for is to create a story of isolation. I mean think about it, he's a man found after a century of floating in space only to find out he is some great hero of the past. He is automatically isolated and on the outside because of this but then you throw in the burdens of command and an enemy constantly trying to kill them all if he makes a mistake. He has thoughts and feelings that go beyond his duty but due to his honor he sticks to regulations (regarding his love interests and most everything else). This further isolates him because he can't even choose to do what his heart desires most.

Hopefully that helps some of you understand why the books are written like they are. And the 4th book, Valiant, is very good at portraying this isolation and shows that Geary is extremely human and on the verge of breaking down. He can't stop being fleet commander, he can't have the women in his life, he has secret foes that may be willing to do anything to oppose him.

I gave this book only 4 stars simply because as others have stated this series should have been condensed down into 3 books with longer page counts. I also do not like the reiteration of certain things in all 4 books. It's as if the author wants to make his books readable starting at any point. They may not make as much sense if you don't start from the first one but you wouldn't miss out on some of the detailed explanations of how things work. I don't like that.

There are series of books that you look forward to, like the Prey series, the Dresden Flies,or the Plum series, because you care about the characters and the author doesn't disappoint his fans. That is how I have felt about the The Lost Fleet series, but not now. I have written some of my best reviews when comes to this series, but the last one and this one have begun to wear on me. The news is that the characters are still growing and interesting and... well that is all there is, character developement plus a guide on how to command and war dehumanizes man. Oh yeah, there is porn in space and it is deadly. Wow just what I need to be remind of. Look this book is almost 300 pages long. There is one terrific battle sequence at the first of the book and a short battle at the end. In between the two is Geary leaving one woman for another and finding out he can't have the new woman until the fleet gets back home, which means a lot of cold showers for both of them. Seriously there is a great deal of talk and talk and ...well talk. I have compared the first two of the series to Johm Wayne movies, the last one to a breather for the author, and now I am just frustrated over the lack of anything remotely looking like action or movement. Oh I will buy the next one and I will hope it will return to the style of the frist two books, but I am not sure.

P.S. I know this may sound petty, but I really hate the cover of this book. It has nothing to do with anything that happens in the story. The first two covers were very good and the last one of kind of strange looking, but this one, oh brother. That makes my point when I am paying more attention to the cover and not to the book there is something wrong and it is no me this time.

Valiant (2008) is the fourth naval SF novel in The Lost Fleet series, following Courageous. The initial work in this sequence is Dauntless.

In the previous volume, the fleet entered the Lakota system with eight Syndic capital ships following them. A small flotilla of Syndic ships was guarding the hypernet gate. A larger force exited from the T'negu jump. Then an even larger Syndic force came through the hypernet gate.

Fleet politics was still contentious. Media joined Casia in criticizing the fleet commander. Later, Renown lost propulsion and Media took the Paladin to her rescue. Both ships were destroyed by the Syndics.

Geary decided to leave the system. Three battleships stayed behind as a rear guard. Then the lost fleet jumped back to Ixion. On the way, Iger told him that the Syndic fleet from the hypernet had not intended to arrive at the Lakota system.

In this novel, Jack Geary is the designated acting commander of the fleet survivors. He is the most senior captain within the Alliance due to his century long stasis is an escape pod. Unfortunately, he is also trapped within his own legend.

Tanya Desjani is an Alliance Captain, commanding the battlecruiser Dauntless. She is Geary's Flag Captain. She works well with Geary.

Victoria Rione is the Co-president of the Callas Republic and a member of the Alliance Senate. She is the only civilian within the fleet. She had been Geary's lover for a few weeks.

Casia is an Alliance Captain, commanding the battleship Conqueror. His ship is in the Third Battleship Division, formerly commanded by Numos.

Midea is an Alliance Captain, commanding the battleship Paladin. She had served as executive officer of the Orion under Numos before being promoted.

Iger is an Alliance Lieutenant in charge of intelligence gathering in the Dauntless. He seems very competent and his personnel have provided some excellent information. Naturally, his intelligence usually comes well after fleet operations.

Carabali is an Alliance Colonel. She is the senior officer among the remaining Marines of the fleet.

In this story, the fleet is returning to the Lakota system. The crews are enthusiastic about the opportunity to recover their lost comrades and to attack the Syndics again. Rione is puzzled by the crew reaction and fearful of their chances. Geary tries to explain his reasoning and the crew reaction, but she doesn't have a clue.

When the fleet exits the jump point, both Geary and Rione are on the bridge. The jump point is still mined, but the fleet avoids the field. Most of the Syndic ships are damaged and the hypernet gate is not guarded. They have definitely surprised the Syndics.

Desjani wants to try for the hypernet gate, but Geary is not so eager. He hasn't yet told her about the aliens controlling destinations in the hypernet. He reminds her of the things that they need to do before the pursuing fleet catches up with them.

Their first action is aimed at the shipyards and other facilities in the system. Along the way, they will distribute recently manufactured expendables from the auxiliaries. Geary and Desjani divvy up planning the maneuvers.

An Alliance battleship is located within a large collection of damaged Syndic ships. Sensor readings indicate that the Syndics have patched some damaged compartments. Geary believes that the Audacious is being used as a prison for captured Alliance personnel.

Geary is concerned about the Syndics blowing the power core of the battleship. He broadcasts a threat to destroy every Syndic ship, shuttle, and escape pod in the system if the Alliance prisoners are killed. Then the fleet heads toward the cluster of damaged ships to liberate the POWs as well as much needed materiel.

Geary orders his ships to inflict maximum damage to the Syndic naval units and facilities, but to use hell-lances as much as possible to preserve existing expendables. He also warns them about accidentally inducing a core overload on the Audacious.

The Syndic guard force breaks up as it notices the Alliance fleet, with some heading toward the hypernet gate. Geary thinks that they will guard the gate and destroy it if necessary. But such destruction could result in the release of energy corresponding to a nova.

Two Syndic battleships turn toward the Alliance fleet. Geary wonders what these battleships are doing. Desjani points out that they are defending the system even if the effort is hopeless.

A damaged Syndic heavy cruiser is being towed away from the jump point. The crews abandon ship in escape pods. Geary has his ships pick up several pods for prisoner interrogation.

Casia calls Geary with a complaint about the lack of oversight on the Marines raiding the Audacious. Geary points out that he is supervising Carabali and she is supervising the Marine teams. Casia counters that the Marines are not being directly supervised by the ship commanders.

Geary discusses the issue with Desjani and learns that such practices are common within the Alliance Navy. Geary wonders at the degree of micromanagement. Then he firmly quashes Casia's complaints. Geary also calls Carabali and assures her that such oversight will not be the norm within his fleet.

The fleet takes out more damaged Syndics ships. Then they attack the two incoming battleships. The Marines reach the Audacious and take off the POWs. Shortly thereafter, the Syndic pursuit fleet exits from the jump point.

This tale has the Alliance fleet again maneuvering against a much larger fleet. Geary has his crews prepare a surprise for the Syndics. He again uses the fleet auxiliaries as bait.

The lost fleet enters the jump point for Anahalt. The next installment in this sequence is Relentless.

Highly recommended for Campbell fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of naval combat, service intrigue, and competent commanders. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

These books have been a pleasant diversion. The battle scenes are well thought out. The science and general operations of the ships seem plausible and the author has done a wonderful job of closing out each novel so each book can stand on its own merits.

The first novel introduces us to the Alliance's struggle against the Syndicates with Captain Geary as the unwilling hero and main protagonist. Captain Geary needs to lead the fleet safely home and somehow re-teach his fleet captains forgotten ways of fighting from another nobler era. When the captains obey Geary's commands they win battles. When the captains fail to follow Geary's orders they lose their ships.

It is a classic us-against-them story line. The Alliance against the Syndicates and Geary against his recalcitrant captains. The idea worked for the first novel but the story has barely progressed beyond those confines and it shows in this last installment.

The weakness of the series is the character development. The good guys lack any depth beyond supporting or conniving against Captain Geary. The bad guys are limited to sterotypes. There might be good Syndicates but most are bad (and misled). All Syndicate CEO's are bad. The faceless and unknown aliens are bad and so on. Even the good guys are not exactly hero material. Who would like to see more of Rione? After a fourth novel it would be nice to see some progression.

Out of the four novels, this one was the best. I would normally agree that this should have been kept as a trilogy and ranted that the editor should have trimmed up the story but I still want to read more. I think the author will be very challenged to wrap up the story in the next two novels but I think it is possible and the way this book ended really creates some exciting possibilities. Overall, this was a fun read and I am looking forward for the next volume.

A lot of reviews about this series of books say this these books tread on tired territory, repeating the same themes every book and just barely improving on the concept at all before printing "THE END" and making you wait for the next book.

They're absolutely right, and that's exactly why I absolutely love these books. When I opened the first book in this series, I was looking to get into a good serial Sci-Fi that would actually keep me waiting for future episodes, and that's precisely what this is. The story isn't terribly original, but it's very well-written and involving. The themes aren't that new, but they're complex and interesting. Above all, Jack Campbell writes some of the best space battles I've ever read, and I'll honestly keep coming back just for that.

This series of books is like a modern novelized Flash Gordon or Star Wars. It's not about what the individual elements are, it's how they add up. The sum total of this series is an excellent little space opera punctuated by Hollywood-worthy battle scenes, and I absolutely must see how it all ends. Bring on the next book, Mr. Campbell!

And in case you're wondering about the plot- Geary's still trying to get the fleet home and treachery abounds. Sound familiar? Good. If you're expecting much more, you've honestly missed the entire point of this series.