With my appreciation of the Honor Harrington series well known to my wife, a couple of years ago she asked a guy in the local bookshop about other, similar stories. He introduced her to The Lost Fleet series, and she in turn introduced it to me.
I’ve got to say, I’ve been hooked since the first book, Dauntless!
Written by John G Hemry (under the pen name Jack Campbell), Dauntless puts us in the boots of ‘Black Jack’ John Geary, Alliance captain, and to some, saviour. He’s been absent for nearly a hundred years, frozen in stasis and with stories of his heroism growing to near-Biblical levels, and when he’s found by a beleaguered Alliance fleet, Geary is thrust into command.
I couldn’t help but warm to Geary. He’s a man out of time, having to somehow lead his fleet home whilst deep behind enemy lines, whilst teaching the fleet a thing or two about how his generation practiced warfare. He’s idolised by some, feared by others, and has to juggle so many different balls at once. I’m sure we’ve all felt like we have several competing priorities and even if you’re not in the military, if you’re in a position of responsibility you’ll empathise with Geary.
The battle scenes are well constructed and allow for both a tense buildup and a sense of directed chaos once the fighting starts. The heart of the story though, is Geary’s personal journey. He’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders, in more ways than one, and as soon as I finished the final page, I wanted to pick up the next book!
10/10
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