Dreadnaught (Lost Fleet Beyond/Frontier 1) by Jack Campbell (9-Sep-2011) Paperback

It was an interesting continuation of The Lost Fleet saga. As much as you want things to change the more they remain the same. Politics, personal vendettas, history repeats itself. If you are to busy taking about a problem rather than handling it, it will turn into a bigger problem that you might not be able to correct. Don't try to talk a problem to death take the bull by the horns and solve it - don't try to be politically correct.

Admiral Geary’s First Fleet of the Alliance is on the move and in trouble again. I don't know how Jack Campbell does it but this series continues to be a hit. Read the short description to see what the story line is. I do think this is better if you have read both the Lost Fleet series and the previous books in the Beyond the Frontier series. Geary just keeps fooling the powers that be.

I love the Lost Fleet series but "Leviathan" felt too much like one overly long chapter in what could have been a much better book. The narrative of the series is moved forward only by inches. I would have to read the next installment to determine is this one is even worth reading.

Spoiler: The death of a major character seems wasted in this (my least favorite) volume of the Lost Fleet saga.

The flow of the story was great. Reading this story was like you just finished the previous one; never broke stride. The author has a great way of getting you attention and not letting go until the tale is concluded and you are ready for more. Can't wait for the next installment.

Unlike some of the others that reviewed this issue I did like the 'rehash' of the previous elements of this tale. In this issue there are plenty of new elements to keep a person looking for more.

I can't wait for the next issue. It is true the books are a little expensive but the Kindle is still not a bad cost. I'm willing to pay the cost because this is one of the best.

The prior books in the series focused on battles between powerful fleets. This title's focus is on asymmetrical warfare and how to combat a militarily weak foe that uses unpredictable tactics to weaken their enemy through attrition(the death of a thousand cuts strategy). A good read that kept your attention until the end. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

This part consist mostly of people repeating themselves about the stuff we already know about.

The two military puzzles that Geary & CO face are the most interesting parts but don`t move the overall story forward and are inconsequential.

The large reveal at the end should be the main focus of this book, without the filler.

Excellent book, of an excellent saga, of an excellent writer i've been following the stories of BLACK Jack Geary since the moment he was woken up fromo crio sleep until today and enjoy this very much... must buy but buy the whole series to enjoy 100% the book, it stands alone though.

This has been a great read from beginning to end. Anyone who enjoyed the previous books in the series will not be disappointed!
The now political fight between the Syndic's and Geary on one hand, and Geary and the Alliance polticians continues and escalates, while the mysterious Dancers' have their reasons for travelling to human space revealed.
I won't get into too many details and thereby spoil the story, but the ending was very emotionally stirring!

I enjoyed this space opera and was disappointed when the 2nd book ended. I'm waiting for the 3rd and will purchase it when it is published. The main character is interesting and I enjoy the social commentary. The 2 books kept me entertained and were hard to put down.

Plodding cross section series of end points for the Lost Fleet, unfortunately it mostly is just a functional closing to characters. The original series depended upon the merits and skills of the crews, but this series builds upon a different set of problems and lacks the 'heart' of the original. All the what if's explained, But! Here goes if courier ships and stealth shuttles can stay on station in deep space to make attacks, they functionally become fighters. It seems a suit case A bomb is more powerful than a missile nuclear attack to destroy the super dreadnought???? Filled with theses kind of inconsistencies. A given was that somehow the starscape of the Alliance was blocked by the Syndicate Worlds configuration, that was wildly, and numerically impossible and it just got worse. I would have sworn that the early premise was that 'gate travel' was instantaneous yet know it is just like the original jump pt travel and takes time. Again Yuk! Nearly every chapter has another blah blah expose that just reeks. Bloch is back! and how could an author every fall into that pit. Top yuk of the long list! Politicians lie to the people to get things done and hence have some moral integrity! Welcome, to the Democratic party's hubris now in SF, Republics are NOT a democracy NOR is necessary to fall into the democratic hubris of "bread and circuses' that the author outlines for the Alliance. Granted the Alliance is just as bad as the UN, and such is a great reason to discard such. Overall this sub-set series ends with a palsied hand trying to clear up the odd bits and NOT succeeding. Thanks, Harry!

Excellent book, of an excellent saga, of an excellent writer i've been following the stories of BLACK Jack Geary since the moment he was woken up fromo crio sleep until today and enjoy this very much... must buy but buy the whole series to enjoy 100% the book, it stands alone though.

This has been a great read from beginning to end. Anyone who enjoyed the previous books in the series will not be disappointed!
The now political fight between the Syndic's and Geary on one hand, and Geary and the Alliance polticians continues and escalates, while the mysterious Dancers' have their reasons for travelling to human space revealed.
I won't get into too many details and thereby spoil the story, but the ending was very emotionally stirring!

I enjoyed this space opera and was disappointed when the 2nd book ended. I'm waiting for the 3rd and will purchase it when it is published. The main character is interesting and I enjoy the social commentary. The 2 books kept me entertained and were hard to put down.

Plodding cross section series of end points for the Lost Fleet, unfortunately it mostly is just a functional closing to characters. The original series depended upon the merits and skills of the crews, but this series builds upon a different set of problems and lacks the 'heart' of the original. All the what if's explained, But! Here goes if courier ships and stealth shuttles can stay on station in deep space to make attacks, they functionally become fighters. It seems a suit case A bomb is more powerful than a missile nuclear attack to destroy the super dreadnought???? Filled with theses kind of inconsistencies. A given was that somehow the starscape of the Alliance was blocked by the Syndicate Worlds configuration, that was wildly, and numerically impossible and it just got worse. I would have sworn that the early premise was that 'gate travel' was instantaneous yet know it is just like the original jump pt travel and takes time. Again Yuk! Nearly every chapter has another blah blah expose that just reeks. Bloch is back! and how could an author every fall into that pit. Top yuk of the long list! Politicians lie to the people to get things done and hence have some moral integrity! Welcome, to the Democratic party's hubris now in SF, Republics are NOT a democracy NOR is necessary to fall into the democratic hubris of "bread and circuses' that the author outlines for the Alliance. Granted the Alliance is just as bad as the UN, and such is a great reason to discard such. Overall this sub-set series ends with a palsied hand trying to clear up the odd bits and NOT succeeding. Thanks, Harry!

This series continues to grow on me. There are occasional blips where it seems a character behaves a bit inconsistently, but overall I am enjoying this. I am not, generally, a huge fan of space battle novels, but these have enough interesting twists. The twist at the end of this one actually caused me to tear up a bit, which is very rare in sci-fi. You'll enjoy these books.

Steadfast is a good way to think about this series. This is the latest in the Lost fleet series, and doesn't fall of the pace of the other books. If you've gotten this far you'll know what you are in for, if not you will be lost and need to go to the first book.Still, if you like military Science fiction, you will enjoy this series.

Another great book in this exciting series. Black Jack and his Flag Ship Captain are amazing in a fight. Their personal relationship is also intreging. I guess it does take a good women to make a good man. You will not believe why and where this book ends. Read it to find out.

The installments of this space opera have all been very entertaining. I get apprehensive about how an author will execute closure after the years of storytelling installments. Campbell succeeds! This is great techie stuff and well worth the reading time.

If you're looking for quality space opera, I don't think you can wrong with the Lost Fleet saga.

Another great installment in a great series. What happens when you confront an enemy that is led by an entity that was created to be you? Jack Campbell answers that question in an intelligent and exciting story that keeps your interest for the entire book.

Everyone thinks Black Jack wants to take over the Alliance via military coup. That is the last thing he wants. All he wants is to protect the Alliance. The politicians just can't be convinced. Back stabbing is at an all time high. Also a mysterious second fleet is being talked about. Is it real? Who knows?

I have REALLY enjoyed this series. The true test is whether I re-read the series when a new one comes out, I did. Good characters, exciting battles,unexpected humor and the books have kept up with the initial volumes. (I also had to draw pictures to understand the fleet maneuvers clear in my head.) Highly recommend.

The character development was fully realized and consistent at the beginning books of this universe and this continues in this book. Surprises and plot twists, sure, but more just really consistent writing done well. Great series.

Consistently a great read through the entire series. Great space opera as usual! The hard part about reading them is knowing when you finished you have to wait another 6-8 months for the next installment.

This episode opens a whole new arc for Geary. Very excited about where this is going.

Really like this entire series. Author does a great job of making the stories feel real. Addresses the challenges of coordinating actions across stellar distances in direct manner that is very believable. Depends on human motives to drive the story and the technology comes along for the ride.

Jack Campbell continues to pump out interesting stories. I keep wondering why he has not been snapped up as the next "Star Wars".
It seems to me that the imaging guru's could "go to town" on his description of battles in space.
I live in hope.

These books keep getting better and better. Fantastic series. The author continues to maintain realistic physics in space battles, develop characters, and keep the plot going at a pace that justifies another book.

This is one tired series: Hemry is clearly tired of writing it, Geary is tired of living it and disappointingly for a fan of the entire series--I found it tedious and of much less substance than the first few books.

Black Jack is henpecked by Desjani; he's befuddled at times, nothing like the strong, confident icon of the series. The supporting cast of Duellos, Tulev and volatile Badaya are mere cutouts to be shifted around the board silently and mostly, at a distance: we only hear from them firsthand in a tightly choreographed final conference.

A lot of pointless fingerpointing and handwringing precedes a disappointing final "battle" and an unlikely, final scene way too posed and preachy. The series expires. I miss Black Jack, but if you're looking for him, you won't find much left of him in this book.

As Black Jack continues to do the orders of Alliance officers, it seems to be getting harder and harder for him to stay out of Alliance politics. Geary continues to perform capably and morally but the politicians are pushing back. Keep Black Jack coming, Mr. Campbell.

Having followed the series over the last several years the end was somewhat unexpected but it does seem there was a plan at work throughout.

These books are fun reading but I also liked the perspective expressed overall by the author. Interesting take on the future of earth in this book.

Reading both series is quite a bit but I hardly noticed the long flights I was on reading these.

Love these books and I am always saddened to finish one because it means a long wait for the next. This is a good addition with plenty of action and lots of the characters getting involved. Definitely worth the read.

Compared to previous books in the series there is less action here, but it's a good story and I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes next. This definitely had the feel of being a transition to the next story arc. If you haven't read the early books start at the beginning. This wouldn't be a good book to start with if you haven't read the earlier ones.

This book starts fast and gets faster. Great sci-fi. Great battle scenes Great back story about how the paranoid politicians think the know best and do not trust the people. But it blow up on the politicians. Must read

Fragmented, cartoon character development (relies too heavily on whatever you as a reader invested in the characters inhabiting the previous novels). I felt cheated not getting more development of the people I remembered from the previous novels in the series. I think the series is running out of gas.

Jack is one of my favorite authors. I appreciate his writing style, the clean, crisp, character that he employs in his characters, and substance! I love the lost fleet series as well as the spin off series. They are all great reads!! So, looking forward to the next books with great anticipation!! Keep up the great work!

The action is constant and fast paced. The author mixes in political and psychological subplots which make his characters very believeible. Once you accept the technology that the author postulates, his combat scenarios are very god.

This may be the best series of space adventures I've ever read. Read the whole series.
Amazing and realistic battle scenes with well thought out strategies. Well formed characters and a collection of villains.

How do the syndicate worlds fight back against an opponent with the few assets available to them? By using them in new ways. Very little of the combat we've come to expect from Campbell and it makes for an intelligent change. I was getting worn out by the constant ambushes, wouldn't even want to think what people who've faced the real thing were going through. And after you've read the section about "crossing the line" ask anyone you might know who has been in the Navy about it. We find out what the Dancers want and it appears the Alliance may be headed for civil war. But that is in the next book.

As always, this was a really great read. It hasn't been out for long and I don't want to give anything away... hmm... I think I can say that the last surprise with the Dancers was very unexpected.

There was a bit of comedy in the final scenes. I don't know what else I can say. Read and enjoy!

Once more Mr. Campbell tells a compelling story in the Lost Fleet series! He delivers true suspense and doesn't descend to dwell on the technology involved but describes the human decisions and their result that make for the best suspense reading there is! He has laid the ground work for the next book in the series, and I can hardly wait!!!

Another good installment. While I would like for the repetition of concepts being spelled out over and over again, it does seem like there are fewer of them.
By this point, I get it that space is big and space combat happens very quickly.

My review of the previous instalment in this series was less than stellar. It was luckily not a bad book but, nonetheless, my disappointment with this series have been growing since some time. Therefore I am quite happy that, to me, this book represents a big improvement compared to the previous books.

One of my gripes with the previous books have been the unbelievable obstructionism and stupidity of the useless politicians, their endless machinations and how great a role this played in the story. Another one was the lack of direction. Geary was simply solving one problem after another that was thrown at him and a goal to strive for was sorely missing.

Happily this is not the case with this book. Sure, the utterly useless politicians are very present in this book as well but this time they are finding themselves trapped in the hole that they themselves have dug. Not only that but in said hole there are a whole lot of sh-t sandwiches that they also made themselves and now they are all forced to take a bite. Naturally it is Geary and the men and women serving under him that have to pay the biggest price for the politicians stupidity but, at least, it is a somewhat humbling experience for these a--holes and, as it turns out, there are one or two of them that are not as useless and morally corrupt as the rest of the f--kers.

The book also have a clear goal. The path to said goal have a few twists along the way but there is no mystery about what Geary have to achieve. How he is supposed to achieve it, well that is not so clear until after quite a few revelations, twists and a LOT of action.

Some of the aliens, the “Dancers”, the friendly ones, that Geary had encountered during his adventures are back and they do indeed play a rather crucial role in how things play out. I quite liked this since I felt that all those aliens that Geary encountered were kind of left out of the story arc in the previous book. Not wanting to leave too many spoilers around but the communications between the “Dancers” and the humans do improve quite substantially which in turn improves the changes for Geary to succeed in his quest by an equally substantial amount.

As usual the writing is very good, the characters are well done and the action, the manoeuvres in space and the combat physics are really, really good. Speaking of combat, the losses on both sides are quite staggering and this is one thing that annoys me somewhat with this series so far. Not that there are losses in combat but in every book Geary’s fleet is whittled down by a fairly substantial amount and nothing is really replaced except possibly for Geary getting some already worn out leftovers. I really hope that we are going to see Geary getting some new hardware sooner or later. Especially since, in previous books, Geary encountered quite a few hostile species and I certainly hope that, when the formerly mentioned politicians, climb out of their self-made sh-thole that they actually start to use whatever brain cells they might have left and actually consider this threat to humanity.

The ending, although generally on a positive note, is not entirely a happy one. There are sacrifices that have been made and several characters that have been with us for some time are written off which saddens me somewhat.

It took me some time to get around to read this book after having purchased it due to my disappointment with the previous instalments but after having read it I have to say that I was quite happy with this one and I am now looking forward to the next instalment. I certainly hope the author continues on this path and, above all, keeps the political stupidity toned down. After all, if I wanted to read about political stupidity all I need to do is open a newspaper and read about the latest nonsense from the EU oxygen wasters.

I feel sorry for "Black Jack". Mr. Campbell continues in his saga of "Black Jack" and his crew. Another chapter that builds on the continuing story line. A good read with a few more questions answered while generating several new questions.

Admiral "Black Jack" Geary leads a powerful and intensely loyal fleet of starships that is perceived as at least a burden and possibly a threat by its political masters in the Alliance. Another, secret, fleet of robotic dark ships makes an appearance and (minor spoiler alert) it seems to have been created by the Alliance itself in the days when victory by the Syndics was a real possibility. The fleet is now fighting Alliance ships, albeit empty, robotic ones, instead of strange aliens like the Kick. This struck me as a foreshadowing of a looming conflict in future volumes.

The familiar personalities are all present, the fleet's ongoing deterioration is acknowledged but not a major theme, and alien races are given more color and play important and interesting roles. But at bottom this book is about two things: the magnificent fleet actions in which Black Jack's anachronistic skill set give him a critical advantage; and the tension between Black Jack's old-fashioned ideals and the Alliance's political system that, on top of the problems that exist in all political systems, has been warped by a century of interstellar war.

There is a further twist in the tactics applied by the dark ships that was wonderful but must be left to you to discover. It made the battles against the dark ships even more challenging and interesting.

One complaint: Geary's wife, who is also his flag captain (!), has become a cardboard figure who gives every sign of a plot decision Mr. Campbell made earlier and now regrets. She plays a perfectly adequate if stock role as ship captain. but as a wife there is nothing, even when one takes into account the peculiar circumstances of their fleet roles.

The Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontier Guardian (2013) by Jack Campbell is a good read. The story is told third person past tense from Admiral John (Black Jack) Geary’s point of view. Every time I read the name Black Jack I thought of Black Jack Pershing, a famous American general from the first half of the Twentieth Century. I’ve read a couple of other Campbell books in The Lost Fleet series, Dreadnaught and Invincible. I liked Guardian the best.

The thing I like best about this series is the use of CEO’s and syndicates as the bad guys, too many CEO’s are overpaid. The thing I like least in the series is the use of stimulants (drugs) by the good guys to stay awake instead of getting some sleep.

I lost interest in the series after reading Perilous Shield, which is part of the follow on series The Lost Stars. It felt like a rehash of some of the story material from The Lost Fleet, told from a different point of view, Drakon’s POV instead of Black Jack’s POV. I decided to reread some Robert A. Heinlein instead of reading more of The Lost Stars.

Starship Troopers (1959) (not like the movie) by Robert A. Heinlein is the book that got me started in sci-fi adventures, and has remained one of my top five favorite military science fiction adventure stories for decades. The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman, Armor (1984) by John Steakley, Ender’s Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card and Old Man’s War (2005) by John Scalzi, round out my top five military sci-fi adventure stories.

I haven’t seen any of the movies from the following series, but I did read the first books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Twilight, Outlander, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Long Earth, Divergent, etc. I sample a lot of first books, but I don’t read many complete series. (Who has that much time?) The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, and The Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George Martin are a couple of exceptions. I’ve read both of those series more than once.

If you like any of the above you might also like Taylor Anderson’s Destroyermen series, Andre Norton’s Star Soldiers, Andy Weir’s The Martian, or Frank Herbert’s Dune. Other sci-fi and fantasy authors I like include Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Earnest Cline, Abe Evergreen, Hugh Howey, Larry Niven, George Orwell, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.