Lost warriors and journeys back home are themes that never seem to get old in science-fiction. In military science-fiction particularly, these themes display the strength of the human spirit when freedom and survival are threatened.
Such is the case in Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet: Relentless, the fourth installment in the Lost Fleet series, about a war hero leading a disorganized fleet of starships through hostile space back home.
The premise
Seeing as The Lost Fleet: Relentless is the fourth book in a series, and some readers may not have read the previous installments, let me bring readers up to speed.
In the near future, the human race is divided into two interstellar empires: the peaceful Alliance and the renegade Syndicate Worlds (nicknamed "Syndics"), the main antagonists of the books. Both factions are in a struggle for territory, resources, and preservation of their ways of life.
In the beginning of the Lost Fleet series, an Alliance mission that turned out to be a Syndic trap sends a fleet of ships deep into enemy space. The long, tumultuous journey back to the Alliance homeworld of Lakota is the driving force behind the series.
Same scenario, different timeline
Preceded by Valiant, Relentless reacquaints (or, for some readers, introduces) readers with the soldiers of the Alliance, lost deep in space controlled by the Syndicate Worlds. The enemy is lurking in orbit of every planet, ready to ambush the Alliance fleet and leave it in ruins (the real gem of these books is the battle scenes).
The protagonist, Captain John "Black Jack" Leary, is thawed out of cryosleep after a century to find the fleet populated with descendants of the men and women with whom he once served. Nevertheless, he re-assumes his firm command, first by authorizing a rescue mission for Alliance POWs in the Herandao system. While successful, the rescue alerts Syndics to the fleet's presence.
As the Alliance stragglers look to leave the Herandao system behind, a reserved Syndic flotilla is discovered near the wormhole needed for escape, dead set on annihilating the fleet once and for all. Now, it's up to "Black Jack" to pull the daredevil tactics that made him a hero out of his gun holster to continue the journey home.
Turmoil aboard and beyond
Subplots throughout Relentless are mostly similar to the norm in the Lost Fleet books.
There's opposition by other officers to Leary's command and judgment, trust in and reliance on officers to confide in, and, most interestingly, the speculation of a third, alien faction watching the Alliance-Syndic war from the shadows in the hopes that humanity will wipe itself out. All aspects give the reader a vision straight out of Battlestar Galactica. Campbell ranks right up there with William C. Dietz in terms of believable military science-fiction. The final installment, The Lost Fleet: Victorious, is a title to check out to see how the century-long journey of "Black Jack" comes to an end.
Publication details:
The Lost Fleet: Valiant by Jack Campbell, published by Ace Books, 2009
Ryan Greenham - Hi everyone! My name is Ryan Greenham. I am 24 years old, live in Ottawa, Ontario, and am an aspiring science-fiction writer. I have ...
Join the Conversation