Book: The Lost Fleet: Dauntless (Jack Campbell, 2006)

A good couple of years ago I sat and watched a three-hour TV movie that was the prelude to what would be the reboot to Battlestar Galactica. Whilst it didn't persuade me to watch the rest of the TV series (not because I didn't enjoy it, I just don't have the patience anymore to dedicate the time to invest in a long running series), it had me enthralled. Part space opera, part military sci-fi, part end-of-the-world horror, it presented space wide military conflict on a scale I had never seen before. It could be said that my love for epic space opera began then (excluding my love for Star Wars) and has been further emphasised from reading the likes of The Forever War and the works of Peter F. Hamilton.

It comes as no surprise then that I really enjoyed Dauntless: part one of the six book series The Lost Fleet. It wont win any points for originality as it's basic premise borrows heavily from Battlestar Galactica (the epominous Lost Fleet is on the run from certain annihilation deep within enemy territory) and the prose is workmanlike yet, despite the timeline for book one spanning over the course of a couple of months, there is a great sense of immediacy that gives weight to the conflict. Alliance (good guys) and Syndicate (bad guys) forces have been at war for well over a century and the throws of war are all but apparent in the clichéd but battle-hardened characters.

Yet the devil is in the details. The book excels in its military elements (unsurprising as the author was in the U.S. Navy) and when our heroes aren't talking strategy they're putting said strategy in practice, all of which is fascinating and utterly gripping. The intricacies of the combat are also just as interesting with the added element of space time adding a further layer to the proceedings (battle formations in zero gravity, the lack of friction in space as a deadly element, making decisions on events that are light minutes old, etc). Campbell knows his stuff, with each conflict akin to adrenaline pumping moments that feel more like the submarine battles from Crimson Tide than the dog fights from Star Wars.

It's apparent from book one that The Lost Fleet fits into a very specific niche and if you're not a fan of sci-fi or war then this really isn't for you. But if you look past the basic prose, what Campbell has presented is a flawed yet thrilling sci fi experience. It's nowhere near as good as, say, The Forever War (few books will be) but, for what it's worth, Dauntless is an excellent and exciting read.

4/5