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| Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jack Campbell
Publisher: Ace
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $3.24
You Save: $4.75 (59%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  104 reviews
Sales Rank: 2651
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Reissue
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0441014186
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780441014187
ASIN: 0441014186
Publication Date: June 27, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Fallen Fleet July 17, 2006
38 out of 41 found this review helpful
Captain John "Black Jack" Geary received his field promotion after everyone thought he'd died in battle. Instead, he'd been in suspended animation for a hundred years when he was found and revived. During that century of warfare that passed, the Alliance struggled against the Syndic, falling prey to the same kind of methodology employed against them by their enemy. Promoted to Fleet Commander after a Syndic betrayal, Geary wants to save as many of his people as he can. Boldly, he begins a campaign that will strand them light-years from home, with the only way back through enemy-held territory. If the Alliance had been the same Alliance he had died for, the chances would be slim. But now the Alliance is a shadow of its former self, no longer a competent force, broken down into segments of selfish officers who won't take orders.
Jack Campbell is the pseudonym for an accomplished SF author. THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS is the first book in a new series.
The authors handling of the military is pitch-perfect. He knows the rules and regs, and he conveys the feeling of battle and being under fire really well. More than the sheer action, move and counter-move, though, he also understand the politics of running a large force and dealing with the enemy in an honorable fashion. The "science" that he's set up to deal with his universe is intact and he adheres to it. Not only do readers learn that the rules of engagement do allow mercy to an enemy, but also that anything over .1 light-speed leaves every other starcraft blurred and in uncertain positions. The military and scientific applications of the story, dealing with honor and command as well as real physics regarding how fast light travels, come across as real. For a science fiction author, it doesn't get any better than that.
Geary's character is a little thin, as is the whole background of the Alliance and the Syndic. Hopefully future installments will illuminate a little more of what Geary gave up, where he came from, and what the societies are like -- other than just opponents.
Readers who enjoyed Robert Heinlein's STARSHIP TROOPERS, Joe Haldeman's FOREVER WAR, John Ringo's Posleen novels and John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR will enjoy THE LOST FLEET: DAUNTLESS.
 Military Sci Fi at it's best July 17, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless was by far a great military Sci-Fi read. The hero is found in suspended animation and revived 100 years after he `died' in a spectacular display of heroics. Now he's a legend in a time where his people are `familiar strangers' and the honor of his day is long past. To talk too much about the book would give away it's excellent points. All I'll say is that the hero is engaging, and you are sucked into his world in the firs two pages of the book, and you can't put that book down. I had to read it in one sitting, and it's been rare I can find a book that produces such an effect. I found it in a way reminiscent of Battle Star Galactica, with a touch of "Space Above and Beyond". The characters are well defined, as is the conflict and moral dilemmas. The battles are quick, and deadly. The stakes are high. Everything you'd want in good Military Sci Fi is here. My only regret: there are no more of these to read. I'm hoping the rest of the books are out soon.
Fantastic July 16, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Lost Fleet is written by John G. Henry author of Universal Law and the Stark series under the pseudonym Jack Campbell. I thought the Universal Law series was well written but lacking in action. The Lost Fleet is quite cleverly written and has non-stop action. Black Jack Geary became a martyr fighting a hopeless holding action preventing a Pearl Harbour attack on the Alliance by the Sydics. For generations his heroism has set the standard for the Allaince Navy. Now Black Jack Geary's life pod is picked up and he's back among the living after 100 years. He must lead the Alliance Fleet, cut off deep in enemy territory, fighting both the Syndics and his own legend. Black Jack shows that he is a hero, just not the one from his legend. Can the fleet live with the person who the legend was built around? Can Jack convert the recklessly brave mob that is the Alliance Fleet into a effective fighting force?
Relativistic but not RELATIVE? July 7, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
It's interesting - even puzzling, really - that Campbell could have spent so much time thinking about "relativistic effects" without realizing that they depend not on "speed" or even velocity, but on RELATIVE velocity. Hence the fleet should have NO appreciable doubt where its own ships are, no matter how fast the fleet is going. Nor does tracking error due to relativistic effects depend on the speed of an enemy, but rather, on the fleet's DOUBT as to the combatant's velocity relative to it. If relative velocity between fleets is 0.3c, the margin of uncertainty in that measurement is much less. NON-relativistic positional error IS proportional to relative velocity, of course. So Campbell repeatedly uses "speed" when he should mean relative velocity, and repeatedly invokes "relativistic" where it doesn't fit. (Unless somebody can correct my physics?)
In general, nonetheless, a good read so far. (No, I'm not done yet. I couldn't wait to get my two cents in!)
Entertaining military scifi that combines good characters and action July 6, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Revived after a 100 year sleep in a survival pod Captain John "Black Jack" Geary finds in the years he slept his "last stand" had become an inspirational legend for the Alliance. When the Alliance command structure is destroyed Captain Geary is the ranking officer left to bring the fleet home out of disaster.
This was a good read, with well thought out space battles and interesting characters. The book stays centered on the Character of Captain Geary as he finds his way in the universe of the future. It also has the best space battles I have read since Westerfield's "Risen Empire" books. This book has not been bloated out in size and is an easy read and I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series.
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