Relentless (Lost Fleet Series #5) Book

Another fun volume in the Lost Fleet story. Geary and the Fleet are drawing near to the frontier. They are almost back to Alliance space after wreaking havoc with the Syndicate navy. Victory is at hand!

But of course there are complications... The Fleet is running low on just about everything. There aren't enough fuel cells. Their munitions are nearly exhausted. The Syndicate reserve fleet is massing to trap them. The unseen, mysterious and nefarious aliens are maneuvering against them. And, to add to their troubles, the traitors within the fleet move to rid themselves of Geary once and for all. Geary, of course, resolves all of these threats (or at least the immediate ones) in his usual fashion: he out-thinks and out-bluffs his enemies.

I admit it. I like these books. They are fun, quick reads, but they are not without their faults. First, everything comes a little too easy for Geary. Curve ball after curve ball is tossed at him, but he comes through with flying colors. The author does write in a bit of an internal struggle, but due to the cardboard nature of the characters it just doesn't quite feel right to me. I want him to sweat it more. Related, the characters generally feel stiff and formulaic to me. Especially the Space Opera elements.

Despite it's faults, I recommend the series to fans of military fiction, and big, smashing star ship battles. The battles at relativistic speeds are phenomenal. And, despite me knowing he's going to win, I'm generally on the edge of my seat during the combat. Layer on top of this the uncertainty and mystery around the aliens and you've got a winner. If the author could fix the other flaws, we'd have a solid five star set of books here.

Four broadsides out of five.