Dauntless by Jack Campbell

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GreatSnowman
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Joined: 04 Apr 2015, 16:57

Dauntless by Jack Campbell

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This review is for the book, Dauntless by Jack Campbell. This is a science fiction book, and the first book starting the main series as well as the sequel and spin-off series set after the end of the series.

The book jumps straight into story, which is straight after the fleet gets defeated by the enemy fleet at their home world. The main character is someone who was ripped out of stasis before being charged with the command of the fleet before the actual admiral goes off to be executed by the enemy.

The book is the beginning arc of the series, so it focuses on building the relationships between the main character and the captains and commanders under his command. As well as the beginning of the fleet heading home. The plot is predicable, but that’s balanced by the fact it is well written and precise, no wandering on side arcs with everything advancing the story.

The plot focuses on the protagonist fleet needing to flee from the enemy fleet after a failed attempt to stop the century long war early, similar in length to the 100Year war between England and France. During the short period in command, he realises a lot of the changes made weren’t for the best, as to be expected, but the need for a voice of conscience was a new change needed.

The main character is literally a person out of their time, with views and ideas archaic to everyone around him, putting him at odds with other commanders, but also allows him see the situation in s new light. The supporting characters are introduced early on, along with the secondary antagonists in the series, the supporting characters realise that he is their best chance while the antagonists dislike him as they lose their power with him in charge.

The science, as I am going to call it, is realistic with everything in it, obviously there are some things solely in the world of science fiction, such as FTL travel as well as huge lasers, but the simple stuff, like the travel speeds, the distances as well as the various effects which come about from travelling through space at high speeds, is realistic, so because of this, it slows down the action in the book, allowing character development to occur at steady pace instead of in a quick way while doing instantaneous combat, as well as speeds it up during close engagements, for the exact same reason of relativity.

There is one major battle in the book, which shows exactly how much was lost since the start of the war, but also what can be done with good tactics and a commander who knows what they doing. This battle sets the tone of every battle within the series, but not the exact way that every battle goes.
There are also explanations throughout the whole book, for both the reader and the main character, so it doesn’t seem like they are being explained just to help the reader understand what has been happening, but is something that is needed for the character.

Overall this is a great book, one of my favourite science fiction books, and a great start to a series. It has enough action to not seem too slow or too fast, as well as a solid basis in the simple science of space which is used so far. I’ve read this series several times start to finish so I can definitely recommend it just on the basis of that, but also you can easily imagine being there with the characters, not because of a lot of detail, but just enough to start your imagination to allow you to see what is happening without overloading.
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