Reviews

Courageous by Jack Campbell

ronsavjr's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

carlossu's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

righteousridel's review

4.0

As the third novel in the series, I think you know what you're in for from Jack Campbell. Everything that was a weakness continues: the novels are just a bit too short, the antagonists are one-dimensional feckless incompetents, and a lack of foreshadowing means that there's insufficient suspense. On the bright side, the protagonists are sympathetic, clever, and they win. It's a feel good novel with plenty of action and few flaws to be found in its primary goal of describing a military science fiction setting.

I'd normally give such a novel 3 stars, but Courageous does something different... and it shows how world-building can be shown without info dumps, and how very small changes can have cascading impacts. I'm also impressed by how much of the setting we're exposed to despite the Alliance Fleet being restricted in where they can go, as well as the viewpoint being restricted to Fleet Commander Geary. It's a pleasure to see and while I wish the villains can level up, I would be doing the novel a disservice to give it a mediocre rating.

Recommended.

Spoiler

I am not referring to the possible aliens and gates, but rather the revelation of how the Alliance's hero worship and focus on aggression resulted in a shift of talent wanting to captain Battecruisers, which in turn resulted in an effective policy of weeding out good people and protecting the idiots as they're on the Battleships. This goes a long way to explaining the current Alliance situation, and combined with the many organizational reasons (explored previously, but the core principle is that the navy has no organizational memory because they keep dying), showcases the tremendous subtle world-building that went into the Lost Fleet before page 1 of Dauntless was written.

Lovely stuff.

thetainaship's review against another edition

adventurous tense

2.5

masn's review

3.0

The series is getting a little formulaic.
Argue with captains at fleet meeting- Check
Get harangued by the shrew you're sleeping with- Check
Run into resource problems and have to harvest some more metal- Check
Fight a battle- Check
Fight a battle against impossible odds- Ooh, that one's new
Vague references to a possible alien influence- Check

Still enjoying the series, but I think I'm going to take a break before book 4. Reading them back to back to back is ruining it.

titusfortner's review

3.0

I'm really interested to know more about the aliens, but this story is starting to really drag out. This military retreat plot needs to have ended already.

asdvj's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

walts's review

4.0

This series just keeps getting better.

ryanjamesburt's review

4.0

I pounded through this whole series in a short period of time. I really enjoyed it. The thought of a long war causing such change that when a hero from the past is revived his thought process can not only win battles but lift moral. These were all enjoyable.

rxh05d's review

4.0

 I’ve already said these books are pretty thin and predictable, but fun enough to enjoy reading. This one gets a little better because the hero finally doesn’t guess right. But the female characters are starting to get annoying.