Dauntless (Lost Fleet Series #1) » (Reissue)

"Jack Campbell" is the pseudonym for John G. Hemry, a retired Naval officer (and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis). As Jack Campbell, he writes The Lost Fleet series of military science fiction novels. He lives with his family in Maryland.

The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century, and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who has emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief.

Captain John "Black Jack" Geary's legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic "last stand" in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics.

Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance's one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic "Black Jack" legend.

KLIATT

In the first of what looks to be a new series, Campbell (a pseudonym of John G. Henry of the Stark's War trilogy), introduces legendary Captain Black Jack Geary, back from the dead (so to speak) after being rescued from his survival capsule launched over 100 years before. The war continues and the Alliance is not faring well. The Syndics once again have the Alliance fleet surrounded and after executing all Alliance officers, they expect that fleet personnel will become fodder for their mining operations. Captain Geary assumes command, and miraculously extricates the fleet. Thus begins a hide-and-seek jaunt around the galaxy, as Jack tries to elude the Syndics long enough to retrain the Alliance fleet in basic unified maneuvers (a skill lost over the years with the loss of experienced officers and their replacement by younger and younger new troops). Ending with an obvious set up for the next installment, Jack has so far eluded the Syndics, but has also discovered that the Syndics may have originally started the war as a response to an encounter with nonhuman intelligences. A good, solid military space action/adventure novel.