Tuesday, April 14, 2015

2015 Book #25–Warship

warshipI enjoy the space operas, especially military ones. Ever since The Lost Fleet, I’ve been looking for another series. I’m not sure the Black Fleet is going to be it, but I really enjoyed it.

Warship is the first book in the series. We meet Jackson Wolfe, captain of an old ship. He’s assigned a new XO, one he didn’t choose, and obviously a plot by the admiral to somehow discredit him. When he’s forced by a military intelligence agent to race out to the rim without being able to test his ship, he’s upset, but he learns that he has a mission.

He’s sent to discover why some systems have dropped off the map. He’s told it might be an attack by one of the human factions in space. Apparently lots of groups left Earth when faster than light travel was discovered and Earth has become to slum of the universe. Humans have never met aliens, and some of the older ships, not assigned to a faction’s defense, patrol around as the Black Fleet.

As Wolfe heads to the Xia system, he discovers the planet almost barren. A team heads down and investigates and a crew member is killed form an apparent alien life form like a blob. The ship heads back to another system, sending probes back to the main military command. The answer from the admiral is that he’s going to be discharged, and he should put his XO in charge. He doesn’t, but he commands like a man on his last cruise.

In another system, he meets and alien ship and manages to hurt it, while surviving. When he flees to another human settlement, the aliens pursue.

It’s a military story, with the shock of the aliens causing unrest in the crew. There’s a mutiny attempt, as well as the troubles of dealing with aliens that have vastly superior technology.

A good first book, and I’m looking forward to the other ones.

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