ridel reviewed The lost fleet : Relentless by Jack Campbell (Ace science fiction)
Review of 'The lost fleet : Relentless' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Relentless is the strongest of the Lost Fleet series, as it continues to deliver on its strengths while finally patching up some of its weaknesses. Primarily, Relentless does a lot and advances the plot much further than previous novels would have implied. I have no complaints about an underdeveloped two-arc story here! Our protagonists are still easy to rally behind: good people doing good things. And the action and naval antics are still up to the high standards that Jack Campbell has set.
That said, I still dislike the lack of characterization for the antagonists/Syndics, as well as a lack of tension / foreshadowing. POV is Geary-only, which means that we're surprised only when he's surprised, and that means as readers, the emotional rollercoaster isn't quite there.
But... this is book five. If those had been problems for you, I doubt you would have made it this far. Relentless is …
Relentless is the strongest of the Lost Fleet series, as it continues to deliver on its strengths while finally patching up some of its weaknesses. Primarily, Relentless does a lot and advances the plot much further than previous novels would have implied. I have no complaints about an underdeveloped two-arc story here! Our protagonists are still easy to rally behind: good people doing good things. And the action and naval antics are still up to the high standards that Jack Campbell has set.
That said, I still dislike the lack of characterization for the antagonists/Syndics, as well as a lack of tension / foreshadowing. POV is Geary-only, which means that we're surprised only when he's surprised, and that means as readers, the emotional rollercoaster isn't quite there.
But... this is book five. If those had been problems for you, I doubt you would have made it this far. Relentless is excellent and I look forward to the sixth.
Within spoiler tags... I found the resolution of the internal fleet problems to be underwhelming. Geary succeeded by accident, as his foes took action which resulted in the dead man's switch triggering and giving Geary what he needed to dismantle the conspiracy. Even then, the opposing Captains were underdeveloped and obvious (as they were the only named characters amongst the fleet at that point). It's too bad because the internal conflict within the Alliance Fleet had been the best part of the last four novels.
On the other hand, the Aliens have taken centre stage. This outside-context problem is marvellously shown despite actually never having any screen time. I wish the author would find some way to build the tension, perhaps by leaking information to the reader that Geary is unaware of. Most problems that face Geary are solved within the next fifty pages, and that goes a long way to reducing tensions.
Alternatively, the next book could go full-on internal Alliance politics... again, we aren't given enough characterization of the opposition to even worry for Geary. The only Admiral we're shown had less than a paragraph of action, and we know nothing about the Alliance top brass. Should we care? I don't know! I guess I should?
Sigh. These books are sooo close to perfection. And yet... so far...
