Steadfast: The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier, Book 4

First, a note: When I bought this book as a X-Mas gift to myself, I was in the middle of another book, from an author that has a 95%+ approval rating in my opinion. I dropped it to focus in Steadfast. I devoured as fast as I could, and came up very satisfied with how I spent my time (the other book was very good too, If anybody's interested)Now, Steadfast chronicles the events of the life of John Geary over a period of time, like all the other books of the Lost Fleet series. Unlike the others of this series, the book could be split into three novellas without any difficulty: a hostage crisis that demands an ugly solution; a police action to stabilize the frontier that turns out to be harder than expected; and the escort of some VIPs that turns very ugly very fast.At first sight, it looks like that the seires, like the civilization the characters live in, is adrift, without goals. I think that's more of an illusion than anything else - it's setup for the next crisis the characters will need to face (one that's been foreshadowed for some time now). And that's why I didn't give it five stars. You shouldn't spend a whole book with setup, no matter how interesting and well crafted it is.It's a good book, dealing with some ugly things that happens when you've been to war for too long, even if you ended up winning the damn thing. Just keep in mind that this book exists in a context, and shouldn't be taken as a standalone book. It's NOT a good jumping point for the series.Another thing: It came to my attention that the author likes to do games with the names of his characters. With that in mind, it would be a good idea to keep a aerospatial fighter jock named Galland in mind. I think that she'll become an important support character in the future.

The only problem with every book in this series is that they are so engaging that you finish them really fast. But it's worth it.This is the fourth book in the “The Lost Fleet Beyond the Frontiers” series which also includes “Dreadnaught”, “Invincible”, and "Guardian". This is the 10th book in the Lost Fleet series."Black Jack" Geary has created a window for peace between the Alliance and the Syndicates but others just keep on stirring the pot. While back on Earth two of his staff are kidnapped and while returning to his star ship they come under attack by three cloaked ships. Typical of all of Jack Campbell's books in this series there is action from start to end and this book follows that format to a T.Geary and his crew are sent on missions by Erath that really bring to question whether the politicians want him to survive or die.The various space battles are articulate in their description and you are right there for you to see it all played out.A true twist at the end reveals the answer to one question but raises so many more; that will be answered in the next book in the series out in October 2014.Highly recommended, as is the entire series. Just search Lost Fleet and they will all pop up

A good book, but one of my least favorites in the series. The first third of the book was a difficult read. The dialogue seemed disjointed at times and the prose difficult to get through. It didn't flow naturally. For example, the various meetings that Geary has with the politicians that accompanied his team to Earth had dialogue that seemed stilted and repetitive, and frankly didn't add too much to what we already knew about the politicians of the Alliance.Once Campbell found himself dealing with matters that needed fixing by Geary, whether it was combat or personal interaction, the book picked up. Geary grows as a leader, using his ideals and conduct that seems "old fashioned" persuade people to take the "right" action, rather than the self-interested action. There's a bit of cartoonish general in the book that embodies the worst of the career bureaucrat that Geary neutralizes nicely.One complaint I have about the book - it felt a bit like filler in the series. We've been told that there are forces in the Alliance that are being built to confront Geary and keep his influence in check, and that there is a leader waiting in the background to lead those forces. We don't see any of this in the book until nearly the end. The entire book is a bit of a set-up to perhaps a significant confrontation in the next book. While the story developed the main character, it felt a bit of letdown for the real showdown to be put off to at least the next volume.One theme from the book that was clear was the author's message that a government keeping secrets against it's citizens is a government that is rotting from within. This point was hammered by Campbell so many times you have to wonder if he is making a statement about our current state of affairs. It's a theme he plays on greatly...too many secrets for the wrong reasons leading to disaster.

The fourth and hopefully not the last installment of the 'Lost Fleet - Beyond the Frontiers' series and you get the feeling that it is only there to build a start for the next book. A visit to Earth, kidnapping and rescue of crew, visit to other systems and fight with an unidentified fleet of warships. Although there is plenty to keep the reader occupied, particularly the increased interplay with Alliance politicians, the Dancers and the soon to be revealed 'Dark Ship AI Fleet', it is the relationship between the main characters of Admiral Geary and Captain Desjani that is really beginning to grate. Geary has turned into a hen pecked husband who cannot have more than two conversations with his wife without apologising for some spurious misdemenour or telling her how great she is. The interplay with Victoria Rione is much better and I find myself wishing Geary had ended up with her! She has become a much more interesting and believable character.That said, I do believe this is a stepping stone book that will continue what has been a great series and I am looking forward to more in the BTF series as well as Lost Stars! Bring it on Mr Campbell.

Another good instalment, I'd worried after the dancers reached earth that it seemed like a natural end.The syndicate in disarray, the enigmas keeping their heads down and the kicks so far away that humanity could rise to the challenge when they needed to.I was expecting the next series to be set Alitalia down the line with Geary leading a fleet against the kicks,but Campbell hasn't finished with this thread yet.The earth system is hilariously beaurocratic and Geary has a few hurdles to overcome before returning to the post war swamp of alliance space.Overall a book that zips along and was finished too soon for me! Roll on the next one!

Have enjoyed the series. This was the weakest. A couple of minor who cares filler events, the kidnapping and the border patrol action. I started to skip pages, especially during the kidnap, as is it was a couple of minor characters. When you've gone for massive intergalactic war, and then a bit of small scale refugee action it feel retrograde.On another note the Alliance's politicians are so relentlessly duplicitous that Jack's loyalty to the Alliance govt must surely be exhausted. They clearly need sweeping away and at some point any reasonable person would realise "they're trying to kill me."A good series but I'll wait for the tanks to refuel before buying the next.

Jack Campbell has had a few ups and downs with the lost fleet series but they have always been good page turners, well Lost fleet Beyond the Frontier Steadfast continues that tradition. The plots are more complex than earlier and I really no longer have any idea where things are going to go but I will be there when we get there.I will not spoil the thrill of this episodes complex plot other than to say its good and I recommend it.

There were moments when I thought that Lost Fleet might be running out of steam, but by the end I had really enjoyed Steadfast. And I had also enjoyed a couple of well-written scenes where the possibility of our desperately non-political hero took another step forwards a political future. But the last part of the book showed there was still fighting to be done, so not quite yet. New readers are advised to start with the first book, Dauntless. This is a serial, not a series.Jack Campbell gave up providing star charts for his novels around vol 5 of the original series, but 4 charts compiled from the descriptions and brought right up to the current volume are available free at [...] You can argue with them if you will!