Book 3), Destroyer (Expansion Wars Trilogy

Good read. Well written. Jackson's atta boys come I the form of notations added to crew members service records. Log after you've retired from service and are thumbing they your evals toy see his n notations and smile because the man you respected and thought hated your guys actually thought highly of you.
Note quit laying about, skating your azz of and pound out OF 9 thru 100!
Ps thanks for using "aye" instead of yes with sailors and marines.

Throughout this trilogy, the protagonists are well written and I enjoyed the main characters. I cared about the captain and thought he really improvised some great strategies. The author never loses track of war in space constrained by the limits of light speed.
What I didn't like was...well, just don't expect any fleshing out of the alien enemies. Never once described in any detail. Even when they sent assault troops to the surface of a planet they invaded. Just the broadest description of suited beings. Headshot knocking helmets off all over the place, gas escaping, but never a look as to what's inside. You hear about the motivations of this rogue alien terrorist only second hand. He/she/its race, the race they splintered off of, their society, never described. What the symbols on the rogue faction's ships meant, why they looked unfinished, never more than speculated at. I kept reading the books in the trilogy hoping for explanations. But in the words of the Dread Pirate Wesley, "Get used to being disappointed.".

My Review of an Audio Book, may have misspellings. 3rd and final book of the 2nd Black Fleet series. Jackson Wolfe is now in command of the latest version of Destroyer, the Nemesis. He also has a new XO, Chamblis. Admiral Pitt is now the fleet admiral. Celesta Wright is promoted to Rear Admiral, commander of Black Fleet, and is Wolfe’s commander. President Wellington is dead of a heart attack. The new President is Nelson and he wants Black Fleet to stand down and not go against the new Darshik stealthy super ship that has killed so many Terran ships. XO Barret is now a Captain. Agent Pike is still assigned to the President.
The stealthy Darshik ship is still wreaking havoc with unusually good intel on Terran secret facilities, Agent Pike wants to know the how and why.
Action abounds with political intrigue that is the usual elements of a Dalzelle book. The space battle at the end is awesome and what I have come to expect from Dalzelle. The end leaves open the possibility of a 3rd trilogy.

Please note this is the third book of an offshoot of the author’s Black Fleet trilogy. You will need to have read that trilogy in order first, then the first title of this offshoot series, or the characters and background won’t make much sense to you.

This installment of the series continues the story of Captain Wolfe, Celeste Wright, Agent Pike and others and I enjoyed it. Without having a spoiler, if you enjoyed the Black Fleet series I am sure you will enjoy this one, also. While this is the final installment of this trilogy, the door was left open to continue the story of the characters in another series: if it happens, I would read it. I read this with my Kindle Unlimited subscription vs. paying the full price of $3.99 and certainly received more than $3.99 worth of entertainment value.

Destroyer, The return of Jackson Wolfe! While Captain Wolfe has been around this is the book that places him where he belongs, in the captains chair of a Destroyer and once again facing an implacable foe. Along with Wolfe is the full agent Pike, his boss, Admiral Wright, and his fan, the cube (an ultra-advanced computer created by an alien race that has developed sentience and really likes Captain Wolfe). Then throw in the usual political intrugue, missing scientists (including Former Admiral Marcum's daughter), and a powerful corporation. This all leads to a thrilling conclusion you'll love!

While the first two books brought other characters to bear a greater role in plot formation, it was an homage to the heroic, the dedication and love for fellow man that draws us to Jackson Wolfe. Fully expecting this would be Jackson's last ride at the helm of a ship of war, it was especially satisfying to see the way he was treated by the author. All the way through surprises kept coming so it wasn't mundane at all. Excellent series. Excellent book. Thank you.

A disappointing end to a series that started out ok, but didnt quite match up to the previous trilogies and fell flat. It was all over the place with scenes and characters . And for some reason I noticed this trend through out the trilogies the better the ship Jackson had the worse his performance as a captain was. He over performed when he had BJ destroyer and the carrier. I think he had a out as much kills in the carrier in the last book as he did in the destroyer in the fights. And underperformed in the new top of the line ships.

Sometimes, when authors decide to produce a trilogy, they cut corners, usually padding out subsequent books, or trimming plot lines to spread out the story. And typically one of the books is weaker than the the other two. I was gladdened to see non of that here. Each book stood on its own, with very interesting plots & characters. Nice job.

I still don’t think this character was fully developed. I am not knocking a good story. He was a good man, complicated, arrogant, sentimental, reasonably unreasonable and could second guess himself into a mess. He was real, but I still don’t know him.

Jackson Wolfe has again survived, pulling off yet another miracle, although he wouldn’t have done so without the help of Captain Wright, landing troops onto the surface of the planet that the Darshik had blockaded, and in the process, breaking the blockade. However, the battle has uncovered an even more dangerous foe, a ship with the ability to jump in system, with possible cloaking technology, incredible firepower and manoeuvrability. The ship, designated as ‘Spectre’ is a renegade Darshik captain, and he appears to be one step ahead of the crew at every opportunity, taking out research stations, manufacturing and other vital resources that they cannot afford to lose.
With no other options left, and before they can be stopped by a weak government, Wolfe is unleashed with the newest class of Destroyer to seek and destroy this threat permanently.
This is a brilliant story, of a Captain, returning to the chair of a Warship, surrounded by crew that are not just loyal to him, but idolise him. Wolfe has grown so much through these stories, from the alcoholic misfit old Captain, bitter at his career and life, and distrusted and hated. Now he is the hero of Starfleet, revered amongst his peers, and thought of as one of their best strategical and tactical hopes against the enemy.
One of the reasons that make Dalzelle’s books such a standout in this genre is his grasp and use of concepts such as orbital mechanics, astrophysics, starship combat and the list goes on. He uses these concepts to bring his stories to life, but give the reader the feeling that they are actually immersed in a real-time simulation, sitting with the crew as they have to wait the hours to drop down or climb up the well of a star-system, move to a hyperspace point etc, giving his books such a feel of realism, but not bogging them down in pages and pages of explanations so that the reader wants to throw themselves out the nearest airlock.
The combination of exceptional characters and a skilful use of realism, added to an outstanding storyline, makes this one of the best reads in the genre.
Destroyer is the culmination of not just the Expansion War Trilogy, but also the Black Fleet Trilogy, showing us how far Wolfe and Wright have developed in their careers, from the grumpy old drunk on the outer rim and the eager young officer, too eager to please and too shiny around the edges, as they are now, 2 of the finest Officers in the fleet with more combat experience than the rest of the fleet combined. The other character that has grown, and continues to grow on you (kind of like mould in a bathroom sink), is Pike. Pike’s character is still one of the best in this book, not just for his antics and amusing commentary, but the way he shows that no government or military can operate without an efficient spy organisation. His character provided some unique story arcs, but also gave some interesting side views into what might happen behind closed doors.
This is another outstanding Sci-Fi thriller, and I can only hope that Dalzelle will continue to develop the series and give us another trilogy. This is a must read for any fan of Sci-Fi – Dalzelle is just brilliant.

While the first two books brought other characters to bear a greater role in plot formation, it was an homage to the heroic, the dedication and love for fellow man that draws us to Jackson Wolfe. Fully expecting this would be Jackson's last ride at the helm of a ship of war, it was especially satisfying to see the way he was treated by the author. All the way through surprises kept coming so it wasn't mundane at all. Excellent series. Excellent book. Thank you.

I would recommend this book and all the trilogies to anyone who enjoys good hard military science fiction. It was a fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed Captain wolf and the crew of the nemesis. I am awaiting the new trilogy immensely.

This is a really awesome series and this book brings it to a close in an interestingly open ended way. After all, just because the hero fades into history, does not mean the rest of humanity does as well. This book brings that feeling to this series, and I can't wait to see what Josh does with it. Thanks for another amazing read, now onto Omega Force 10. Cheers!

My Review of an Audio Book, may have misspellings. 3rd and final book of the 2nd Black Fleet series. Jackson Wolfe is now in command of the latest version of Destroyer, the Nemesis. He also has a new XO, Chamblis. Admiral Pitt is now the fleet admiral. Celesta Wright is promoted to Rear Admiral, commander of Black Fleet, and is Wolfe’s commander. President Wellington is dead of a heart attack. The new President is Nelson and he wants Black Fleet to stand down and not go against the new Darshik stealthy super ship that has killed so many Terran ships. XO Barret is now a Captain. Agent Pike is still assigned to the President.
The stealthy Darshik ship is still wreaking havoc with unusually good intel on Terran secret facilities, Agent Pike wants to know the how and why.
Action abounds with political intrigue that is the usual elements of a Dalzelle book. The space battle at the end is awesome and what I have come to expect from Dalzelle. The end leaves open the possibility of a 3rd trilogy.