Book List
27. The Lost Fleet: Courageous by Jack Campbell
28. The Lost Fleet: Valiant by Jack Campbell
29. The Lost Fleet: Relentless by Jack Campbell
30. The Lost Fleet: Victorious by Jack Campbell
These were the second half of a six-book space opera series I began reading several years ago, then set aside until recently.(Book one is "Dauntless") They're loosely based on Xenophon's Anabasis, or March Upcountry. Anabasis is an ancient Greek autobiographical novel about an army whose top officers are all slain in a sneak attack, and whose men must then do a long overland retreat from Persia back to Greece.
Similarly, this series is about the efforts of a fleet of ships to return to their home space after their devastating defeat. In this they're led by Captain John Geary, who fought in the first battle of the war, ejected into an escape pod, only to be found a century later by ships from his star nation's fleet. In the intervening century, his heroic last stand has become the stuff of legend. Some factions within the fleet think he's a savior sent by the spirits of their ancestors. Some fear him (or want to suck up to him) as a potential dictator. And some think he's a coward and a fraud. So with enemies surrounding him, and lots of enemy fleets chasing him, Geary must find a way to get all his people home, for information stored on his flagship just might be the key to ending the war for good.
These books are formulaic but fun, with well-depicted, exciting space battles but often flat characters. They worked really well as audiobooks going to and from my girlfriend in TN, since I could work through an entire novel on a round trip. I stopped at the end of this series; there are two sequel series I might read eventually, but for now this is enough.
28. The Lost Fleet: Valiant by Jack Campbell
29. The Lost Fleet: Relentless by Jack Campbell
30. The Lost Fleet: Victorious by Jack Campbell
These were the second half of a six-book space opera series I began reading several years ago, then set aside until recently.(Book one is "Dauntless") They're loosely based on Xenophon's Anabasis, or March Upcountry. Anabasis is an ancient Greek autobiographical novel about an army whose top officers are all slain in a sneak attack, and whose men must then do a long overland retreat from Persia back to Greece.
Similarly, this series is about the efforts of a fleet of ships to return to their home space after their devastating defeat. In this they're led by Captain John Geary, who fought in the first battle of the war, ejected into an escape pod, only to be found a century later by ships from his star nation's fleet. In the intervening century, his heroic last stand has become the stuff of legend. Some factions within the fleet think he's a savior sent by the spirits of their ancestors. Some fear him (or want to suck up to him) as a potential dictator. And some think he's a coward and a fraud. So with enemies surrounding him, and lots of enemy fleets chasing him, Geary must find a way to get all his people home, for information stored on his flagship just might be the key to ending the war for good.
These books are formulaic but fun, with well-depicted, exciting space battles but often flat characters. They worked really well as audiobooks going to and from my girlfriend in TN, since I could work through an entire novel on a round trip. I stopped at the end of this series; there are two sequel series I might read eventually, but for now this is enough.