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The Lost Stars Perilous Shield Jack Campbell Books

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The Lost Stars Perilous Shield Jack Campbell Books

This, the second volume in the "Lost Stars" series, was a good and a rather exciting book, although I enjoyed it a bit less than "Tarnished Knight", the previous one, which it is preferable to read before.

Both books have very much the same ingredients. The story is told from the perspective of the former Syndicate system of Midway, a strategic hub with some eight jump points that has declared itself independent under President Iceni and General Drako, two former Syndicate leaders in charge, respectively, of its space navy and its ground forces.

Their position is somewhat unstable as they try to make the regime evolve towards something less totalitarian and (a bit) more democratic. They face multiple and unknown external and internal threats and do not know to what extent they can even trust each other, especially since they both originate from the ultra-competitive and murderous former elite of "CEOs". So suspicions, plots and intrigues, whether real or not, create an atmosphere of paranoia throughout the book where just about everyone suspects everyone else of being about to betray and murder them.

The first part of the book is similar to "Tarnished Knight", with the events seen in the corresponding "Lost Fleet" volume (which are part of Guardian) as Admiral Geary ("Black Jack's") Fleet comes back to Midway on its way home to Alliance space after having encountered (and defeated, of course) a couple of nasty alien species and allied with a third. The same story is, again, told from the perspective of the Midway leaders, with the same events unfolding. This was both well done and interesting as it showed a rather different point of view and perception. It did, however, have a strong sense of "déjà vu" and was therefore not as original.

The rest of the book is about the efforts of Iceni and Drako to ensure the independence of Midway, with the help of the Admiral Geary's liaison officer, amid plots and multiple assassinations attempts. Two of the book's strong points here were to show the challenges in having to work with the former enemy and the disorientation (to put it mildly) suffered by former prisoners of war freshly released after years of captivity.

One of the book's original features was the way the combat scenes were dealt with. There are no major battles this time, either in space or on the ground. There are however a couple of fire-fights, both part of assassination attempts (of which I will say no more) and a prolonged attack of a Midway space convoy by a Syndicate squadron (and the corresponding defence of the convoy by its escort) which, in my view, largely make up for of the lack of "big battles".

A relative weakness of this book, in my view, is that the author has felt obliged to finish it with a somewhat implausible "coup de theatre" (the last 15 pages or so) when explaining the bitter rivalry between General Drako's two main lieutenants. Despite a conscious effort to suspend disbelief, this did not work very well with me.

If this had been possible, I would have rated this book slightly above three and a half stars (perhaps 3.6). Since fractions are not possible and a three star rating would have been a bit too harsh in my view, I will give a somewhat generous four stars.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield (9780425256312): Jack Campbell: Books,Jack Campbell,The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield,Ace,0425256316,Science Fiction - Military,Imaginary wars and battles;Fiction.,Science fiction.,Space warfare;Fiction.,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction Military,Fiction-Science Fiction,GENERAL,General Adult,Imaginary wars and battles,Monograph Series, any,Science Fiction,Space warfare,United States

The Lost Stars Perilous Shield Jack Campbell Books Reviews

I've consistently enjoyed reading Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series and its follow ons even though I found the obsession with "honor" and propriety rather ridiculous. It is fantasy after all and the author is free to postulate any kind of society that he likes. Nevertheless, the idea that you have this huge fleet involving millions of humans who apparently never have sex was a little over the top. I know, I know, it is OK to have sex as long as you are not in the same chain of command but if you are sex is out (or even being in "close proximity" like in your stateroom) even if you are married. Feels very puritanical and very contrived.

With that as background I thoroughly enjoyed most of Perilous Shield even though these soldiers and space cadets still were not interested in normal human activities, that is until the last few pages. The Soap Oprahesq finish to the book entirely turned me off and left me wondering if I should bother reading the next one. I won't describe the ending as that would presumably constitute a spoiler but it seriously ruined the book for me.
I really liked the Lost Fleet, especially the start of the series, the Lost Stars is entertaining but not quite up to the earlier books. I just finished Perilous and liked it more than Tarnished Knight. What I dislike the most is the incessant bludgeoning about how awful the Syndic system is/was. A major plot blunder also occurred which was simply not credible. I'll try to avoid a spoiler, but let's just say that one Syndic delegating investigative authority to another, and even more implausible, to one not unfamiliar to him, even while said person is doing suspicious things, very suspicious things (which unaccountably are ignored), is RIDICULOUS. Campbell's isn't the smartest writing, but I enjoyed it. Although you have to suspend disbelief that while characters 'know' that everyone else will act like its a dog-eat-dog world, and they've lived in that world all their successful lives, that they just turn that off randomly, and allow those around them with the most power without the least amount of checks and balances (morgan and malin are NOT checking each other, they're colliding - in fact so frequently that no one with any sense would put up with it - leadership is difficult enough without having to expend enormous amounts of mental/emotional energy dealing with squabbles amongst your closest subordinated...no one has that kind of energy...or if they do, there are better uses to put it to.) Iceni seems just as hand's off about Togo. It's simply inexplicable.And the last plot twist at the end left me incredulous. A betrayal of monumental proportions, and the response? If acting like a worm underfoot is the mark of a leader, then the co-president is being a leader here. Although I didn't think leader was spelled v.i.c.t.i.m. I.don't.think.so. I liked it, but wish its characters were both more realistic and more consistently drawn.
This, the second volume in the "Lost Stars" series, was a good and a rather exciting book, although I enjoyed it a bit less than "Tarnished Knight", the previous one, which it is preferable to read before.

Both books have very much the same ingredients. The story is told from the perspective of the former Syndicate system of Midway, a strategic hub with some eight jump points that has declared itself independent under President Iceni and General Drako, two former Syndicate leaders in charge, respectively, of its space navy and its ground forces.

Their position is somewhat unstable as they try to make the regime evolve towards something less totalitarian and (a bit) more democratic. They face multiple and unknown external and internal threats and do not know to what extent they can even trust each other, especially since they both originate from the ultra-competitive and murderous former elite of "CEOs". So suspicions, plots and intrigues, whether real or not, create an atmosphere of paranoia throughout the book where just about everyone suspects everyone else of being about to betray and murder them.

The first part of the book is similar to "Tarnished Knight", with the events seen in the corresponding "Lost Fleet" volume (which are part of Guardian) as Admiral Geary ("Black Jack's") Fleet comes back to Midway on its way home to Alliance space after having encountered (and defeated, of course) a couple of nasty alien species and allied with a third. The same story is, again, told from the perspective of the Midway leaders, with the same events unfolding. This was both well done and interesting as it showed a rather different point of view and perception. It did, however, have a strong sense of "déjà vu" and was therefore not as original.

The rest of the book is about the efforts of Iceni and Drako to ensure the independence of Midway, with the help of the Admiral Geary's liaison officer, amid plots and multiple assassinations attempts. Two of the book's strong points here were to show the challenges in having to work with the former enemy and the disorientation (to put it mildly) suffered by former prisoners of war freshly released after years of captivity.

One of the book's original features was the way the combat scenes were dealt with. There are no major battles this time, either in space or on the ground. There are however a couple of fire-fights, both part of assassination attempts (of which I will say no more) and a prolonged attack of a Midway space convoy by a Syndicate squadron (and the corresponding defence of the convoy by its escort) which, in my view, largely make up for of the lack of "big battles".

A relative weakness of this book, in my view, is that the author has felt obliged to finish it with a somewhat implausible "coup de theatre" (the last 15 pages or so) when explaining the bitter rivalry between General Drako's two main lieutenants. Despite a conscious effort to suspend disbelief, this did not work very well with me.

If this had been possible, I would have rated this book slightly above three and a half stars (perhaps 3.6). Since fractions are not possible and a three star rating would have been a bit too harsh in my view, I will give a somewhat generous four stars.