Dauntless
ISBN: 9780857681300
Description
he Alliance has been fighting the Syndic for a century, and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is Captain John "Black Jack" Geary a man who has emerged from a century-long hibernation to find himself heroically idealized beyond belief. Now, he must live up to his own legend. Now in a brand new trade paperback edition.
Reviewed on 27th October 2019
Dauntless is the first book by Jack Campbell that I’ve read, and is the first book in the Final Empire series. It’s the tale of a war which has been raging for 100 years - and the return of a legendary Captain from the early days of the war, who finds himself somehow in command of a fleet on the back foot, attempting to return home.
It’s a great idea for a science fiction novel that marries a character out of time with a series of classic submarine-style space battles. The close alignment of the narrative with Captain Jack helps not only with exposition but with grounding the space stuff in a relatable character who ties the threads of the story together.
The world-building is well thought through, with lots of tantalising glimpses of more to come in the series - giving us just the amount we need to know for now while leaving the door open for lots more to explore in future novels - some of which I hope to pick up next week.
Probably the best military/space novel I’ve read - although my copy was littered with typos and other printing mistakes.
