Book: The Lost Fleet: Fearless (Jack Campbell, 2007)

It seems apparent that The Lost Fleet series will fall into a pattern. Much like a Star Trek style TV show, the crews of the epominous fleet will move from star system to star system whilst having to deal with threats from their Syndicate enemies as well as conflicts within the fleet itself. By the time I’ve reached book six, I’m worried this pattern may become repetitive but with each book clocking in at around 350 pages, there is very little, if any, fat to be found and as with true military space opera, the meat of the story is the chase.

With Fearless (book two), there is the prospect of mutiny within the fleet as a rescued prisoner of war has ideas above his station. Whilst this didn’t come to full fruition (the mutinous crew members separate from the fleet before any real fight for command can happen), it added an additional layer of tension on top of an already tense fight or flight scenario as the fleet still find themselves stuck deep in enemy territory. As with book one, there are space battles aplenty and coupled with the heated discussions within the senior ranks, the story moves at an unrelenting pace.

As I with book one, the prose isn’t great but much like the movie Unstoppable; you can look over the flaws with a novel/series as entertaining as this. At any rate, I’m still eager to find out what happens to Cpt. Jack Geary in his next adventure.

4/5