Book Review: Fearless: The Lost Fleet Book 2

Fearless: The Lost Fleet Book 2

The Lost Fleet is set in a far future and concerns the battle between the Alliance and the Syndics, deep in space. Ostensibly the Syndics want to conquer and the Alliance wants to be free. They've now been at war for over a hundred years. The soldiers fighting on both sides have known nothing but war in their lifetimes, and this colors their actions in battle. Thrown into this is John Geary, an officer when the war began who through suitable Buck Rogers mechanisms has been frozen and reawakened at the time of the story. Complicating matters is the fact that John Geary is now known as the legendary hero Black Jack Geary to the modern fleet, and he is thrown into command of the fleet just as it faces a devestating attack from the Syndics.

The first book in the series, Dauntless, layed out this premise and its consequences. John Geary is out of touch with modern tactics, but the tactics from his time are much better suited to survival and long term victory.

This second book does not advance the overall story arc very much. The main action has to do with several large space battles that occur as the fleet tries to advance toward home without facing overwhelming resistance from the Syndics. This is a cat and mouse game that was established in the first book. As in the first book, the battles are interesting in how tactics and communications are affected by ships moving at speeds significantly impacted by speed of light effects, but really nothing new is added there beyond the first book. The main new elements involve some character development for John Geary in the way of personal relationships, and the discovery that some party outside of the Alliance and the Syndics may be influencing the events of the war, possibly for nefarious reasons.

The writing is good except for the dialog, which doesn't ring true, especially in the audiobook version. The book is interesting enough as a step in a series, and I will continue reading the series, though I hope things pick up. This entry is kind of like episodes 5-10 of a long running TV show: not much meat but a few interesting tidbits thrown in to maintain interest. Here's hoping it turns out to be more Lost than Twin Peaks.

The books in the Lost Fleet Series:

1. Dauntless
2. Fearless
3. Courageous
4. Valiant
5. Relentless
6. Victorious