Valiant (The Lost Fleet, Book 4)

Jack Campbell (nome de plume of former U.S. Navy officer John G. Henry) has come up with a thoroughly entertaining military sci-fi series of novels with his Black Jack Geary/Lost Fleet books. I give it four stars because the books (generally) are extremely well crafted, highly entertaining efforts.

The Good:
Campbell is one of the best in his descriptive tactical and situational accounts of what large scale fleet actions in future space could be like. Detailed, but not overly-technical, descriptions of large space fleet engagements are very well thought out, yet so well written that a non-military person can grasp what's going on.

Capt. John "Black Jack" Geary is an extremely well-crafted protagonist that we immediately like and empathize with. He's the kind of man everyone wishes to known and work with and for. His struggles with his situation are grist for the mill of legends and Campbell is masterful at getting Geary and the Fleet into impossible situations and then credibly getting them out again.

In the series, the other fleet captains hinder Geary's efforts to get the fleet home safely as much as they do to help him. This makes up some of the best, most entertaining aspects of the books. This is also done in the best tradition of literary military heroes as Horatio Hornblower, Jack Aubrey and Richard Sharpe. Campbell's expert use of divisive, internal fleet politics also gives us a candid look into the military cultures of any age, not just ones in a space fleet-dominated future. Here Campbell writes with the sensitivity and authority of someone who has been on both the winning and the losing ends of such inter-personal political engagements.

The Bad:
Geary's character is very well done but other important characters are not as well-developed as you might hope. Their actions and motivations sometimes strain the credulity of the situations they find themselves in. Captain Desjani, female captain of Geary's flagship, is an interesting character but could be more so, given a little more room to breath. Her continued one-dimensional hero worship of "Geary the Legend" rings true in the first two books.

But as she is both an extremely capable and a highly intelligent, aggressive commander, she might be better served having a more visible (to the reader) internal/external conflict going on about who Geary really is and questioning his military and personal decisions, especially her continued suffering-in-silence about Geary's relationship with Victoria Rione.

Victoria Rione, as written, borders at times on clinical schizophrenia. Though an attempt is made in the third book to explain her actions over the course of the series, they often fail to jibe with the consumate politician she is initially presented as in the beginning of the series. Given all of the other problems on his plate, it is puzzling to most readers why a strong character like Geary would continue to put up with her "Three Faces of Eve" act after the first 2-3 installments, no matter how good she might be in the rack.

The overall problem is that, aside from Geary, no attempt is made to better clarify in better detail for the reader the inner thought processes and motivations that lead important characters to agree with or oppose Geary. Keeping Geary's character "in the dark" some of the time is one thing, and it's consistent that Rione might want to keep her motivations a secret from a legendary and potentially politically dangerous military leader who's seemingly returned from the dead.

What's desperately needed, most of all for Rione, is a clarification for readers of her true thoughts and motivations, especially after so many installments. By the end of Book 3, her character is not so much a difficult-to-figure femme fatale as simply an annoying, ultra-irrational sufferer of the Universe's worst cast of pre-menstrual syndrome. In book 5 (if there is one - I can't seem to find anything online about a release date) if she stays her current course, readers will be hoping that before the fleet makes it home that Madame Co_President has been inadvertantly blown out an air lock.

The Ugly:
This is nit-picking, and a relatively small burdern on the series. While it's an accepted convention to minimally re-explain certain aspects of the hero's Universe so that the individual book stands on its own, Campbell does seem to spend an inordinate amount of space re-explaining far too much that has already been covered. The series as a whole is good enough that, if you were one of those people who inadvertantly began with Book 3, you'd still probably go back and get 1 and 2 to get caught up on what you missed.

Final opinion: The Lost Fleet series is great fun and well worth the time spent in the Alliance/Syndic Universe.

Fun to read... Also gives a really good in depth character study of John Geary, the primary character.

If you enjoy escaping this world for an hour or two, are entertained by military based sci fi, interwoven with a mixed bag of philosophy, romance, and politics, and do not take yourself too seriously, read this series.

I started this series based on Amazon reader reviews. Reviewers of this installment are 'right on' in all their comments, but to varying degrees. Amazon reviewers are really quite good at pegging a book ... discount the outliers on both ends of the 5-star scale and you can pretty much take the reading expectation to the bank.

This is one of those rare ones that sucked me in for an all night read. I think the series has improved over time. I think it's the best installment ... I can't tell you why after reading the other reviewers thoughtful comments ... it just is.

Bring on the last 2 installments, please.

I was somewhat discouraged after reading the negative reviews about this book, but since I loved the first 3, I went ahead and downloaded it anyway (ebook). I am very pleased to say this one is as good as the first 3. IMO it all depends on what you expect out of your reading material.. are you the type of person who will relish a 12 book saga like the wheel of time.. or do you like your books short and sweet. I am of the former category and so.. I really liked this one. Characters get threshed out further.. yes Rionne gets even more irritating but it is necessary to allow a certain twist in Geary's personal life. Some new developments occur within the fleet captains that only adds an element of subterfuge and mystery to the day to day struggle of remaining alive against the syndicate. The alien menace storyline proceeds a little further, not much though. This is fine as I hardly expect much to happen in that direction without the syndicate problem being resolved first. The battles and ship maneuvres are as always, excellent. I look forward to Geary's return in #5!!