With the Lightnings

Daniel Leary isn't your typical space hero, which is okay, because Adele Mundy isn't your typical space heroine. He's a shortish, kind of pudgy, officer in the Royal Cinnabar Navy. Not long on heroics thus far, infact he'd prefer never to carry a weapon, but well-liked and good with people. She's a tallish, leanish, librarian; an expert with computers, and dead shot with pretty much any type of projectile weapon, she's not good with people and has very few qualms about shooting them. On the surface they have nothing in common. Under the surface? Well, it's worth the read to find out.

After a somewhat rocky start (to both the book and the relationship), this odd couple grew on me. Haven't read much of Drake's other work, but once I show more flipped the last page I found myself curious to see where he'd send Leary and Mundy off to next. show less

WITH THE LIGHTNINGS begins a space opera series. Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy has been posted to Kostroma. He has quarreled with his politically powerful father which means that he has no money and no influence. But he has more than his share of dreams and ambitions.

Adele Mundy is a librarian and about the only survivor of the Mundys of Chatsworth who ran afoul of those in political power on Cinnabar and were murdered. Daniel Leary's father was one of those in power when the purge happened. Adele was off planet in school when the purge happened leaving her broke and subject to the kindness of strangers. She has recently taken a job on Kostroma to organize the head of government's library.

Kostroma is in a show more difficult position as it tries to remain independent from both the Republic of Cinnabar and the Alliance of Free Stars. The internal politics on Kostroma is also in flux with frequent political coups changing who's in charge frequently.

Daniel and Adele find themselves in the middle of one of those coups, this one engineered by the Alliance. They team up to survive and defeat the Alliance's plans.

This was excellent space opera. The worldbuilding was well done with interesting politics adding frequent twists to the plot. The characters were well-developed people. The action was fast-paced and frequent ranging from being shipwrecked on a deserted island to rescuing other RCN people from the palace to pitched space battles.

I really enjoyed the characters and the world that was created in this story and look forward to reading more episodes. show less

This is a pretty dumb book, but I nevertheless really enjoyed it. Read it in Deep Creek on vacation (mainly) - had seen the series recommended a few years ago and I remember starting it and then quickly bailing out.

Then Jody Bottum wrote about the series a few months ago, inspiring me to revisit. Jody said it was "better than it needs to be" and I think I can agree with that.

It's funny how much I still just want to enjoy my reading. I should learn to be a little easier on myself.

A great start to one of my favorite series. I love military sci fi space opera. This one delivers with a light touch. The writing and plotting are clear and the characters while familiar are a little something different. Daniel with his sort of endearing womanizing and his extra pound or two and Adele which her tack sharp mind and her inability to really relate emotionally to the world around her.

This book introduces us to one of the more intriguing pairings of science fictional couples introduces us to Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy, both scions of Great Houses of Cinnabar - one of the pre-eminent Great Powers in the rebuilding galaxy after the destruction of Earth and her Empire. Daniel is a lieutenant in Cinnabar's navy and Adele is an information specialist working as a librarian on one of the more backward worlds. Daniel is sent to Kostroma as part of a delegation sent to remind the current ruler why its a good idea to stay on Cinnabar's good side but events have spiralled to far out of control as the former rulers of Kostroma plot with the Alliance to get themselves back into power. This is full-blooded space-opera written show more with its own reasonably consistant internal consistancy while it harks back to the time of wind powered ships back on Earth. Rather surprisingly, the technology doesn't actually feel that out dated. show less

  With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary #1) This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer


Synopsis:
Young arrogant, rich and snotty Lt. Leary gets all pissy with his dad, gets cutoff from the family fortune, joins the space navy to spite his father and ends up saving a whole world from the badguys. And he makes a good friend of a sexy librarian.

My Thoughts:
Pure escapism. I'm usually ok with that, especially since 90% of what I read is just that. But when reading about a show more spoiled, uppity, privileged beyond belief brat, my working man's blood just boils sometimes and it is hard to enjoy the read.

I enjoyed the overall story of a small group of plucky heroes retaking a world from the dastardly bad guys. Lots of fun fighting, explosions, thrills and brazen and ballsy decisions. And a Librarian, with a Capitol "L". Always good in my books [hahaha]

I just didn't like Leary. I got this for free and am glad I read it but it bears out what I think of Drake already: I enjoyed his Lord of the Isles fantasy series but very little else. I just don't quite click with his stories or writing. If I can get the second book for free I'll probably try it but unless it is super-de-duper better I won't continue after that.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Author: David Drake " show less

To my mind, David Drake's Republic of Cinnabar Navy series is the best of the SF sets based on the Royal Navy's war with Napoleon. Lt. Daniel Leary's no superman--but he's a very good officer and tactician. His friend and Comm Officer Adele Mundy is the tech wiz all these series seem to need, but she's flawed in interesting ways.

And the starships in this series have masts, and sails, and riggers. I've always liked that touch.

Never really understood this book's title, though....

This review was also published on a dabbler's journal.