I'm really sorry to see this series end. It has been an enjoyable ride since the very first book. I've loved to watch all the myriad ways that Black Jack Geary has pulled the Alliance fleet's butt out of the fire time and again. The series has been realistic in that not everyone lives but it hasn't been so maudlin and depressing with everyone dieing so that you couldn't enjoy it either.

This book started a little slow but once they left Alliance space and headed out things picked right up. Good space battles and convoluted political thinking, and plenty of mental acrobatics that we've come to expect from Jack Geary. Several enjoyable speeches by Black Jack and a satisfying ending.

This isn't a series that you can read out of order and you definitely shouldn't read this one first. It's a great story arc. Do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. ( )

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71 points/100 (3 ¾ 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. Geary has managed to do the impossible and they are once again in Alliance territory. He has a goal though - prove to the Council that he is not going to stage a coup and convince them to let him return to finish what they started.

Wow, what a book. What an interesting end to the series. We deal with politicians, aliens, alliances and more throughout the course of Victorious.

In the beginning, the slowest part of the book, we're just dealing with the Alliance politicians. Throughout the last couple books leading up to Victorious, we have slowly been trying to kill any hope for a military coup on returning. We have to walk through a minefield as soon as we start this book. Too bad it wasn't a literal minefield.

Then there is the really quick jaunt back to the Syndicate homeworld. Along the way, we can see just how much the Syndicates have changed over the course of the series. They are fracturing, splitting off into groups who look after themselves. Then, when we get there, it is a slow battle of the wills. We see the dying vestiges of what was once the mighty Syndicate empire, nearly extinguished by one man once thought dead.

We also cannot forget the mysterious alien race. The one that was littered throughout the first five books of this series. We've seen hints, we've theorised they could exist. And now we know. Well, we know some things, at least. We're not done yet. If you have looked into this series at all, you know that book six is not really the end. It is the end of this arc, perhaps, but not the end of the story. There are currently 3 separate series that take place before and after this series starts. We do not experience a hard ending with these aliens in this book. It is a jelly sort of ending with room to do whatever Campbell wants to do in the spinoffs with them.

All this said, I felt it was just too easy. Everything was basically just laid down in front of John Geary by almost divine intervention. The sort of divine intervention that Geary has been trying to deny the entire series. There was only a token resistance. The hardest part of Victorious was dealing with the politicians. It was a slow burn to the end that seemed to just get pushed off to later. I'm kind of disappointed, but I enjoyed my time reading this series. I'll probably continue on at a later date. ( )

This is the book I have been waiting for! Finally, questions are going to be answered and issues are going to be resolved, right? Not so fast. Syndics are defeated but Geary and the fleet must return to defeat the aliens....check. But, who are the aliens? Why are they here? Yet, there are more books? What about them? Will this series go on forever? ( )

Victorious is the final book in the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. Having finally got the fleet back home Admiral Geary has to turn it around in order to save the Alliance’s enemies from an un-known alien race. While I enjoyed the story I found the explanation about how ships are pulverised by core explosions weak and unconvincing. Space is a vacuum and so any debris not actually caught up in the direct core fireball would only be given a different vector by any “shock” wave. At least that is how I see it.

I found the series as a whole a better than average space opera. ( )

Awesome space battles against huge odds. ( )