Courageous

All of the books in the Lost Fleet series contain more or less the same elements arranged in different ways; political intrigue, treacherous power plays, and a repeating Buck Rogers motif of a man-out-of-time; all interspersed with the Campbell's hallmark kick-ass sublightspeed space battles. It would be potboiler-grade material if it wasn't so compelling and the characters so crisply sketched out as to make even the bad guys (on either side of the seemingly endless interstellar war) relatable to.The only drawback is that the series is now five books long and shows no sign of a conclusion, which puts it at risk of alienating its audience, much like Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time books did.

Courageous, Jack Campbell’s third book in his Lost Fleet series, is decent, but not great. It’s more of the same with a few new wrinkles thrown in to make it interesting enough for you to buy the next one in the series and keep reading. It’s an effective strategy.

In Courageous, the Alliance fleet is still wandering from star system to system, trying to get home by some path the Syndics won’t know or predict. It might seem like a hopeless situation, but the legendary Captain “Black Jack Geary,” who’s been revived out of cyrosleep after his last mission of 100 years ago, is just the hero they need. He has proven himself so unbelievably capable so far that some of his commanders want to help him become Alliance dictator when show more they get home, while others just want to get rid of him. Geary simply feels like a lonely old man and wants to retire and be left in peace once he returns to the Alliance.

One of the new wrinkles is this: aliens. Or the possibility of aliens. Geary is coming to realize that an unknown alien race may be manipulating both the Alliance and the Syndics through the hypernet gates. And the Syndics may know of this race and may even be in on it! Geary and his intelligence officers are puzzled by some data intercepts they receive. The big Syndicate fleet did not intend to arrive in the system where the Alliance fleet was. They had expected to come out of the hypernet gate in a different system. But somehow, the gate had malfunctioned. But everyone knows the hypernet gates never malfunction. Did some aliens change their course? And why would this alien intelligence move the Syndicate fleet? If they wanted to eliminate Geary's fleet, how could they possibly monitor things in one system and then shift the Syndicates? Were they capable of instant communications across who knows how many light years? What to do? What’s up?

Campbell is known for his military sci fi and space opera. Not for character development. I’d say that Geary is pretty well developed in this series. As much as Campbell can do. Another character Campbell tries to work with is Captain Desjani, Geary’s beautiful, young fleet commander, who obviously has feelings for him (and he for her), but neither of them will let such emotions get in the way of their duties and professionalism. That said, Geary’s lover, Victoria Rione, a politician, is a mystery. I assume he’s written her to be intentionally mysterious and confusing, but by now, she’s turned into such a game-playing bitch, that any sympathetic feelings I had for her character I once had are long gone. It’s impossible to get to know her, her motivations, her integrity, her honesty, anything at all. Nothing is as it seems with her. I hate her so much. After listening to her bitch and moan page after page, I’m ready for a change and I think the one I want might be coming in a future book in the series, which is good enough to keep me reading in this series.

That said, I have no idea why this is a six book series. The first book is obviously essential, as the last one will be, I assume. The middle four books seem to be filler, just chases and fleet battles in different Syndic systems that all run together, book after book. It gets boring after awhile. Sure, you learn some new things along the way, some of them critical, but you have to search to find them. Otherwise, you’re just skimming. Campbell is obviously well liked by many fans. I’ve come to enjoy some of his books. But as far as military sci fi goes, he’s no David Weber. Not even close. Of course, no one is, so I’ll say Campbell is no Chris Bunch either. Better comparison. Bunch’s Last Legion and Star Risk series’ are similar space operas, in some ways, but have substantially better character development, snappier dialogue, more believable military action, etc. There are other military sci fi writers out there who are also better than Campbell. Nonetheless, this is entertaining. A decent book from a decent series. Not great, perhaps not even good, but not bad. Above average. Three stars. Cautiously recommended as a series. show less

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67 points/100 (3 ½ stars/5)
Warning: Cliffhanger (Status: There was a battle. It isn't done. Why would you end this here?)

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. The fleet is also running into a problem: lack of supplies. Deep in enemy territory, they have no safe way to resupply, and the Syndicate isn't to be trusted.

Courageous sees us to the midway point of our journey home. We're still deep show more in enemy territory, the end is nowhere in sight, and Black Jack Geary is getting tested again and again. This series is exhausting, and we are only halfway through it!

The big problem in Courageous is that we are quickly running low on supplies. Resupplying is tricky at best, impossible at worst. It is a war of attrition, and they are on the wrong side. They have nothing to barter with, even if the Syndicate would barter with them. They have to make demands, and they cannot trust the Syndicate. They've already shown themselves to be utterly untrustworthy. We're jumping from system to system to system, fighting more and more. It is only logical that this is going to be a problem.

Since Courageous deals so much with the logistics, I was really disappointed when I realised that we, the readers, knew nothing about what was going on. We just get a basic "oh we're running low on this and that" message from others every so often, but it is always just one or two things with a vague "plus a whole lot more". Only Geary really knows what the fleet has and what they don't have. As a reader who wants to become the main character while reading, I'm just not able to do this with this series. I'm just incapable of doing it because I know so little that isn't actively happening on screen at the time.

Courageous is also very heavy on the character interactions. It still only has a handful of real side characters. Yet, two of them are apparently love interests. Seriously, no one told me this was a romance series. There is just so much relationship drama in this book! I think it should come with a sticker "Warning: Love triangle, jealousy, denial, avoidance and drama!". There was almost as much relationship drama as there was plot related to us getting home again! There was just so much going on with them, and so much of it was annoying.

On a more personal level, Geary is also frightened that he is becoming the Black Jack everyone thinks he is supposed to be. The void is calling on him, and he wants to act on it. He wants to rule the fleet with an iron fist. Yet for some reason, he won't let himself. He has to stay human. So there is a lot of internal struggle in Courageous, too.

Yes, I'm a reader that focuses on characters. While Courageous managed to give me more of what I wanted, it was also in about the opposite direction of what I wanted. The side characters are still completely forgettable except for the love interests who are becoming increasingly annoying. While plot is important to me, too, the battle ended off in the middle of the entire thing, and I felt betrayed at this. I just hope it improves from here. show less

Originally posted at FanLit. http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/courageous/

In Courageous, the third book in Jack Campbell�??s LOST FLEET series, the Alliance fleet is still wandering from star system to star system, trying to get back home by some path the Syndics wonƒ??t predict. It seems like a hopeless situation, but the legendary Black Jack Geary, whoƒ??s been revived out of cold sleep after his suicidal mission 100 years ago, is just the hero they need. Heƒ??s proved himself so capable so far that some of his commanders want to help him secure a dictatorship when they get home, and others just want to get rid of him. Geary could decide to be a dictator, get rid of the people who are causing him problems and do things show more the way he thinks they should be done, but then how is he different from their enemies?

Geary isnƒ??t as confident in his own abilities, however. Heƒ??s still uncomfortable in this new military where the pursuit of self-glory is tolerated and the best commanders are put on the ships most likely to be destroyed. No wonder discipline is shattered and the war has been going on for so long. Geary is starting to understand how the Alliance fleet got this way. Heƒ??s also learning more about their enemies ƒ?? the Syndics ƒ?? and the possibility that an unknown alien race may be manipulating both the Alliance and the Syndics. A scary thought.

Meanwhile Gearyƒ??s lover, Victoria Rione, who used to be reserved, reasonable, and icy, has turned into a fickle drama queen. This subplot is tedious and exasperating and it feels contrived to elevate the tension. Itƒ??s clear that Campbell is setting things up for a romantic change of venue for Black Jack, though our hero isnƒ??t aware of it yet. After listening to Victoria rant and rave for so long, readers will be eager for a change.

I love the hero of the LOST FLEET series ƒ?? Captain Geary is awesome and Campbell has done a great job with his development over the series so far. Geary is what keeps me reading LOST FLEET because I donƒ??t much like anyone else in the book, or at least I donƒ??t know them well enough to like them.

At this point, though, Iƒ??m starting to wonder why the series needs six books. It could have been cut in half. The truth is that even though I like hanging out with Black Jack Geary, not much new happens in Courageous. Theyƒ??re wandering around at the beginning and theyƒ??re still wandering around at the end. In the last chapter of Courageous, Geary and Victoria make some really wild speculations about what might be happening with the alleged alien race and though I thought it was far-fetched that they would jump to those conclusions, I want to know what happens. Campbell leaves us with a cliffhanger that made me glad Iƒ??d already downloaded the next book, Valiant. show less

The third book in The Lost Fleet series by military science-fiction writer Jack Campbell, Courageous continues the story of the Alliance fleet, lead by Capt. John Geary, as it works to evade the Syndics and make its was home.
Unfortunately, for a vast majority of the novel, the only thing Courageous gives us is a “continuation” of the story in the strictest sense of the term. In fact, it’s largely a rehash of the previous two books, Dauntless and Fearless. Although Campbell’s writing hasn’t necessarily taken a turn for the worst, the story and plot conventions in Courageous are boring and repetitious. Essentially, this book is a 300 page summary of the previous two books, but worded differently. We have the same characters, show more same personalities, and same type of space battles, only the scenery has changed. Not that it makes much of difference anyway.
To make matters even worse, the character of Victoria Rione, Geary’s lover, has decided to develop some kind of schizophrenic, bipolar disorder on us. She constantly flip-flops between supporting Geary and second-guessing his decisions. One minute, she’ll go along with his plan and the next she’ll be calling him power-mad and crazy. Campbell’s intention to make Rione a sort of moral compass for Geary, has instead warped her into a nagging, nutjob. I found it hard to swallow or even take seriously. If she’s not yelling at him, she’s sneering. The rest of the characters don’t fare well either as their personalities aren’t developed any further and instead, like the plot, we get a rehash of what we already know if we followed the previous two books.
Perhaps the one good aspect of this book comes in the last 100 or so pages. Here we have a battle in which the Alliance fleet has found itself in a very bad situation. It’s low on ammo, fuel, and is badly outgunned, with little means of escape. It’s the most serious trouble the fleet has been in since the start of the first novel. It is a somewhat tense situation, but unfortunately, it’s short-lived. Furthermore, the evidence of an outside alien race influencing the war is only briefly touched upon in a handful of pages and then the novel ends on a cliffhanger.
Obviously my biggest gripe with Courageous is that it doesn’t take us anywhere. The battle stations are manned, the fleet is assembled, and the engines are running, but we don’t make any progress in terms of character or story development. Dare I say that this book is unnecessary and redundant to the Lost Fleet series? I’ve read similar reviews of the fourth book Valiant, and that both this and that novel could actually be either combined into one, or even skipped entirely if the reader so desires. However, this reader has decided to review each novel on a separate basis, as I progress through the series. Just to try and be fair to Campbell.
Overall, I’d give Courageous 3 out of 5, which is being rather generous in my opinion. The writing is the same as the previous two novels in the series; however what Campbell gives us is a differently worded revision of those particular books. If you’ve read those, then you already know pretty much everything there is to know about this book. I guess I’ll have to see if the next book, Valiant picks up some of the pieces at all. show less

Book 3 of the Lost Fleet series. Continual wandering though space with inter-tribal politics and a moody woman or two. 90% of this book is very boring because that's what's covered..Really need to move past the whole running around in enemy territory" thing. This was almost a carbon copy of the 2nd book. Different names and places, but same idea. I want something new.

I’ve come to truly enjoy Jack Campbell’s “Lost Fleet” series and his third book “Courageous” is no exception. Mr. Campbell, whom I discovered is actually John G. Henry, is able to portray future fleet-to-fleet space combat on a grand scale with style and brevity. And Mr. Campbell does this while bringing to the fore its inherent eccentricities and idiosyncrasies better than other sci-fi writers and a number of nautical warfare writers I’ve come across. I impatiently await my next opportunity to crack open his succeeding novel.