Why I’m a Fan of THE LOST FLEET Books

I don’t usually blog about recent releases (other than my guest authors!), because then I start getting requests for reviews. This post is not a review. Reviews are a critical analysis of a book, with a final recommendation and/or assessment of enjoyment. I DON’T DO REVIEWS. So please don’t email me asking for one. 🙂

I just talk about books I like, because I love books and I love talking about books. I was a reader before I became a writer. It is possible that I’ll finish life as a reader if I get to where I can’t write. (If my kids are reading this, plug me into audio books if I can’t hold up my Ereader! Popular fiction, please!)

I just finished reading Jack Campbell’s latest offering in his Lost Fleet series, Beyond the Frontier: Steadfast.

Okay, mild spoiler alert here. The fleet isn’t lost anymore. It’s always a bit problematic when you take a series past its main story arc. The first book after the main story resolved felt like it belonged in the series. I was not wild about the cliff hanger ending, since I had to wait a whole year for the next book. I liked the book after that one okay, felt like the ending was just a bit meh.

There is no meh in this latest book. I kept trying to find a place to stop and go to bed when I was in the last part of the book and couldn’t. I seriously had to keep reading. Stayed up way too late finishing. It covered a lot** of space. Seriously. A lot of space. I thought it was kind of winding down, like the last book, when POW.

It does have a sort of cliff-hanger ending. But not as bad as some of them. I always felt lucky that I didn’t discover the series until the original story arc was almost complete, so I only had to wait a couple of weeks for the last book. That was good because the books had cliff hanger endings until the last two.

Things that surprised me about the Lost Fleet books:

• That I not only read, but liked military science fiction. Did not see that coming.
• That I still don’t know how old Black Jack (main character in the books) is or what he looks like.
• I don’t care that I don’t know what Black Jack looks like.
• How much I liked these books.

There are books that push my “like” button for reasons I can’t always quantify. I re-read them to figure out why and end up just enjoying them again. If you looked at my “shelf,” the one where I keep the books I go back to, you will find no common denominator, well, except what I think is good writing. But even that is subjective.

Like most books, this series has readers who didn’t like them. It happens. Not everyone likes the same things. What I learned from liking outside my usual genres is that reading outside my usual genres can result in wonderful surprises. I don’t always find books that end up on the re-read shelf, but reading outside the lines kind of refreshes my reading senses. I seem to enjoy reading more.

Do you ever read outside your genre? Or try a new-to-you author? What gets you to take a reading risk?

You know I love talking books and I reward comments with entry into my monthly drawing for an AnaBanana gift basket of awesome ($25 value). I announce a winner in the first blog post of the new month.

Perilously yours,
Pauline

“…the story is magical, romantic, and funny. It’s a hoot to see Mel, a thoroughly 21st century woman, trying to cope with the culture, and the uncomfortable shoes, of wartime England…In this homage to the Greatest Generation, Jones takes us on a wild and often poignant ride through time.” Over My Dead Body Reviews

What happens when a twenty-first century woman on a mission to change the past meets a thoroughly 1940s man trying to stay alive in the hellish skies over war-torn Europe?

You can buy this book now in digital and audio!

Also available in used paperback editions.