reviewed by
Jennifer Kahng
Sometime in the future, humans have colonized the galaxy and split into two factions: Alliance and Syndicate. Two factions that have been at war for over a century over a cause no one remembers.
Enter John Geary, a sailor (of the stars), presumed dead since the beginning of the war, and then found again in survival hibernation. He’s discovered, much to his dismay, that he was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain and, most disturbingly, nicknamed “Black Jack” and idolized throughout the Alliance fleet. It seems his last stand has been…embellished in the last hundred years to something he remembers quite differently. After all, since he’d been in hibernation, that battle was still fresh in his mind. Worse still, the Alliance he knew and the Alliance the fleet had become were nearly the opposite.
With the family and friends he knew long gone, all John Geary wants to do is fade into society and forget everything. But no, duty calls.
In fact, duty calls in the worst possible way, leaving Geary in the position of Alliance fleet commander when negotiations with the Syndicate Worlds goes very, very wrong. On the run, hero-worshipped by half the fleet, held in contempt of the other half, Geary has his work cut out for him in a galaxy turned on its head and I happily joined in on the ride.
Campbell could have easily turned this book into a series of near-identical space battles, but instead, he chose to deal with Geary adapting to the new world and all the challenges he faces within his own fleet, not just the threats outside of it. Geary’s last order was to take the Alliance fleet home and he intends to do just that, not only for the Alliance’s sake, but for his own as well. He wants no part of an Alliance that forgets the traditions and acts in a manner that brings them one step closer to the Syndicate they abhor. But he’s stuck and we’re given an interesting look at the thought processes of an unwilling hero who doesn’t want to be a hero but who must rise to the occasion because everyone believes he is one.
In a way, Campbell made Geary a little too perfect, just like how the fleet thinks Black Jack Geary should be. Geary vehemently denies to anyone and everyone that he isn’t Black Jack Geary, but given that he saves the fleet in two critical situations as well as leads them to a clear victory makes it hard for him to deny his own legend. But that’s because the universe Geary reawakens in no longer makes sense and he still knows the “old ways” and why they worked. Everything the Alliance and Syndicate does seems contrary to common sense: rushing into battle headlong without any clear sense of tactic, barbarically tossing aside the laws of war because the other side does so, making a habit of disregarding the fleet commander’s orders to satisfy their own bloodlust…those are but a few examples of the challenges Geary has to face and made me want to slap the other captains around just as he did.
By the end of this book, one in a series, it’s clear Geary has a good head on his shoulders and the loyalty of a good number of his fleet and not only from the legend of Black Jack Geary. But it’s also clear that some of the fleet’s most senior ranking officers are spreading discontent because Geary wants to change how the fleet works. It doesn’t matter that Geary’s “old way” tactics actually work...change is hard for everyone, especially those not used to actually working as a whole fleet instead of individual ships.
Despite the stupidity of some of the principle characters, I found it very interesting to be in Geary’s head and read how he mulls through the possibilities of what he needs to do. For once, we get to see what the protagonist is really thinking, what things he’s considered, what his insecurities are, and everything else that passes through Geary’s mind. And, just as his subordinates and the Syndicates, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
