author : Jack Campbell

Liam is a spoilt, obnoxious only child. Then he gets called into the Principal’s office to take his sister home. She has come to find him for a quest to save her world. His world changes forever.

I’ve only read Jack Campbell’s military SF up to now. This shows he can do fantasy, too. The quest-plot is a little linear, as this is a YA novella. But the fantasy world is imaginative, and Liam’s character change during his first-person narrator reactions to the quest and his sister seem realistic, if somewhat rapid.

Good mind candy.

Captain "Black Jack" Geary died in the opening battle between the Syndics and the Alliance. For a hundred years, his legend has grown. And now, in the Alliance's hour of greatest need, he returns, when his survival pod is discovered drifting in space. Recovering from over-long hibernation, stunned by the passage of time, John Geary is thrust into command of the Alliance's last hope fleet. He's not sure what is harder, living up to his legend, or persuading some that there are parts of the legend that should not be emulated when he discovers that his "last stand" battle tactics have become the only response to any conflict.

This is good solid space opera fun, as a legendary leader has to whip a demoralised fleet into shape. Because a hundred years has passed, technology has improved, and Geary has to learn how to use it. But also, given the depredations of the war on personnel, there are some things that have been lost, including battle tactics, which means he plausibly is a better fleet commander than either side of the war currently have.

I'm not sure how well the premise will hold up over a whole series of books, but that won't stop me reading them to find out!

Still a long way from home, Captain John Geary has convinced most of his fleet that he is their best hope. But on the one hand, Co-President Victoria Rione thinks he is a dangerous glory hound, whereas some of his more entrenched commanders think he is too timid. Things come to a head when the fleet rescues a group of Alliance PoWs, including the notorious and charismatic Captain "Fighting" Falco. Geary has a plan for getting home, but it involves going deeper into enemy territory. Mutiny ensues, just when he can least afford it.

Campbell has kept up the pace and drama here, as Geary continues to train the fleet in his way of fighting, with the enemy beginning to learn how to fight back. And we learn more about the mysterious hypergates and their potential.

Captain John Geary is still trying to get his fleet back home. But the Syndics are beginning to catch on to his unorthodox tactics, which compels him to be even more unorthodox, maybe disastrously so. And the more uncooperative of his ship commanders appear to have learned nothing from the mutiny. Meanwhile, Co-President Rione appears to be completely ignoring Geary.

Good fast paced stuff. I particularly like the changes of pace: nothing happening for a week in hyperspace; nothing happening for a week in normal space, except politicking, as they jockey for position around each solar system; frenetic activity as battle ensues. This one ends on a massive cliff-hanger.

Captain John Geary, struggling to get his fleet home safely to Alliance space, jumps back into the middle of a battle, and discovers just what lengths the enemy Syndics are willing to go to. Coupled with that, he has to cope with a group of loyal captains who want him to take over the Alliance, and a covert different group who want a military take over, but not led by him.

A further good segment in the series, as the slam-bam military action continues to take its toll on Black Jack, and as the alien menace becomes more credible.

The fleet is as close to home as they've ever been, and Captain John Geary worries they might lose it all in the last push. And even if they do get home, how to convince his allies not to lead a coup in his name, and how to convince the authorities of the seriousness of the alien threat?

More good action and interesting plot developments. It's clear that despite the relative safety, Black Jack's biggest fight is yet to come.

Captain "Black Jack" Geary has finally brought the Lost Fleet home to Alliance space. But now he has even bigger challenges: how to persuade a terrified Alliance leadership not to arrest him, but let him take the fleet back into Syndic space to end the war, then confront the shadowy alien menace?

This is a satisfying conclusion to the tale. A bit rushed, maybe: five books on getting the fleet home, then only one to tie everything up! But it's fun getting there. I want to see more of how Geary copes with being an "ordinary" person again, and I want to find out more about those aliens. According to the Wikipedia entry on the The Lost Fleet, there will be a follow-on series: I'll be looking out for it.

Sergeant Ethan Stark has one goal in life: to keep his squad alive. Even while taking back the moon from Third World corporations. This is hard, as equipment is scarce, ratings are low, and worse still, incompetent officers micromanage battles through the troops' head-up displays. (In fact, the officers here make Star Trek High Command look like geniuses.) But he manages. Right up until an extraordinarily incompetent General has a grand plan for a massive victory.

This is somewhat clunky and wooden. In fact, by about half way through, I had decided to finish it, but not to get the rest of the trilogy. However, it hots up towards the end, right after the Somme-like battle. So I did after all get the others, just to see how Ethan manages in the situation he ends up in here.

This series was originally published under the author's real name, John G. Hemry. Campbell's prose and characterisation has definitely improved by the "Lost Fleet" series.

!!! SPOILERS for Stark's War !!!

Sergeant Ethan Stark and his fellow non-coms are now in charge of the American moonbase, fighting off attacks from the other bases, worried about attacks from home, and having to work out from scratch how to train effective commanders. Their most difficult job, however, is to learn how to get along with the moonbase civilians they are protecting.

This is a bit better than the previous volume: less clunk, more action; less tell, more show. Some plot points are still telegraphed rather heavy-handedly, but there are some interesting developments. I like the idea that some of Stark's colleagues are waiting for him to tell them what his plan is; after all, no-one would start and lead a rebellion without a plan for what to do after, would they?

Sargeant Ethan Stark is still firmly in command of the American moonbase troops, but what happens next? How does he make sure he doesn't turn into a despot, how does he handle dissent in the ranks, and what happens if the Colonists vote for independence?

This is a good conclusion to the trilogy, as mutinies, killer robots, and surprising decisions make Stark's life hard. The writing is smoother, although there is a heavily-telegraphed subplot, and some clunky history-dumping to justify other bits of the plot. However, it didn't go in the direction I was expecting (wrong historical analogy!), and if the end is a little too convenient to be believed, well, it is after all a fairy tale.