Good character development in this book of the series. ( )

The political infighting and his relationship status gets old but I still want to know what happens. ( )

This series started really well, but it's getting a bit repetitive. Maybe it would not be so obvious if you don't read the books back to back but when you do, you realize that some sub plots, or even the main plot, is actually not moving very fast. It's still an easy and enjoyable read but I would like to get somewhere. ( )

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67 points/100 (3 ½ stars/5)

Captain John "Black Jack" Geary woke up after a hundred years in survival hibernation to find that he has been revered as a hero. He also finds himself in command of a fleet in enemy territory with only one goal: get home. In an impossible situation, Geary has to live up to the his name and pull off a miracle. After a risky decision that lead to retreat, Geary has ordered the fleet back to where it had just left: the Lakota Star System and a large Syndicate force. Once again, he has to pull off the impossible against an overwhelming force deep in enemy territory with low supplies.

At times, Valiant felt like a rehash of what we have already learned. At other times it felt like a science fiction romance drama. But mostly, it was just one really, really long battle before continuing on our way home. There really isn't a lot new in Valiant, unfortunately. We're just getting a lot of the same things I have come to learn to expect from the first three books.

Courageous left us on the way back into battle. We had retreated, regrouped, and went back on the attack and it...ended. It was about time that Geary suffered a "loss". It was necessary. But, now we're back and not at all ready for battle. We're outnumbered, we're going to have to fight on two fronts. We're low on energy and supplies. But, we have to win. This battle took the first half of the book entirely. Which is probably why the last book left off in the middle of things without finishing.

Like I said before, there was a lot of covering old ground. There is a lot that happens that is just more on the same themes we have already scene. More mutiny and treason, this time in the form of deliberate sabotage. More behind the scenes people arranging things to make it harder on Geary, because they think they know best. There is also a lot of explaining concepts introduced in previous books. Campbell uses the one person around that isn't actually in the military force, who is a politician, to ask questions of Geary to get an answer out of him to explain what is going on. Just a lot of repetition this book.

That isn't the only thing happening, though. We're seeing a change in the way the Syndicate behave and think. Geary's changes to the Alliance force have made a difference. I'm so glad for Geary, honestly and truly. Valiant felt like a game changer.

There is also this relationship from hell. Why was I never warned anywhere there would be a love triangle? There was absolutely no hint there would be a romance, let alone a love triangle that takes up so much screen time! It is all cattiness, too! Every single time the two women are in the room together, they're just a hair's breadth away from pulling out the others' hair. This is just fueled by jealousy and anger. Every time I think they're finally done, they go back at it. Round and round they go. When they'll stop...god I wish they would stop.

We're getting closer to home, and closer to the end of this series. Two more books left. Let us see where it goes. ( )

This is the fourth book in the series. Instead of more "kung fu fighting", the book deals with some fleet treason and speculation about the aliens on the other side of syndic space. The massive destructive capabilities of hypernets are proven (to the devastation of a Syndic system) and Geary performs a rescue from a syndic world of people stranded by the departing company. A serious part of the plot involves female competition between the Ryone and the Desjani. Good book and I'm feeling better about it'sprogress as it's plot develops beyond more and more fighting. ( )