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A review by bergsteiger
Dauntless by Jack Campbell
3.0
This started out as a two star book for me. It was very heavy handed in explaining military etiquette and "good" military standards. It read almost like a junior officer manual on how to be a good leader. As the book developed, some of this obnoxious military "how-to" softened (felt like I was in some god-awful training class again in the Army) and the main character started to become more believable/likeable. He also started to evolve in his own thinking, adapting to the situation he was in and the people he was leading, which made the story flow much better.
While there were certainly some big questions (faster than light travel, but only light speed detection equipment or using ball bearings (grape shot) as weapons when ships are hurtling through space at 29,979,245 meters per second), I did appreciate the technological explanations and description of fleet maneuvers. With sensors limited to the speed of light, commanders were often making guesses on what the enemy was doing anywhere from minutes to hours behind. This was a nice touch.
The book was entertaining. If I stumble across the next book of the series in a used bookstore then I probably will pick it up. Am I going to go out of my way to read the next one? No. This isn't military sci-fi at its greatest, but it's not the worst I've read. 2.75 stars rounded up.
While there were certainly some big questions (faster than light travel, but only light speed detection equipment or using ball bearings (grape shot) as weapons when ships are hurtling through space at 29,979,245 meters per second), I did appreciate the technological explanations and description of fleet maneuvers. With sensors limited to the speed of light, commanders were often making guesses on what the enemy was doing anywhere from minutes to hours behind. This was a nice touch.
The book was entertaining. If I stumble across the next book of the series in a used bookstore then I probably will pick it up. Am I going to go out of my way to read the next one? No. This isn't military sci-fi at its greatest, but it's not the worst I've read. 2.75 stars rounded up.