Teaser

Admiral John Geary has served the Alliance his entire life, even as the hero worship around him makes Geary himself the Alliance’s greatest danger. Now, far from human space, Geary will discover just what his breaking point is . . .

Review

It’s not easy to keep a long-running series fresh. Twenty-one novels into the Lost Fleet universe, and Jack Campbell knows this all better than most. Campbell’s approach has been to break the narrative into distinct subseries. The Genesis Fleet, The Lost Stars, Beyond the Frontier, and now Outlands have all built on the original six-novel series. I admit, there have been times when the series has, if not faltered, then failed to excel. Campbell’s insistence on repeating the rules of the setting in each book does grow wearisome. But at the same time, the sheer weight of accumulated narrative has been building to something. The promised moment when Geary’s sense of morality finally conflicts with the desires of the Alliance.

Ladies and gentleman, Implacable is this moment.

John ‘Black Jack’ Geary is a character I’ve been reading about for a decade now, and Implacable provides an incredibly satisfying pay-off for tensions that have been building through all these prior novels. One of the aspects of these books Campbell has always handled well is the internal politics of the military, and so it’s no surprise that, while there’s plenty of space-based action going around, the scenes that had me turning the pages the quickest were the boardroom meetings. Few authors can pull off these (almost literal) talking heads scenes, but Campbell is among their number.

But even if all this politicking and shooting isn’t for you, this book is chock-full of the good stuff. The Outlands trilogy has given the previously firmly military SF series a tinge of space opera with it’s introduction of numerous alien species, and Implacable introduces another. The Wooareek are possibly the most entertaining so far, and inject some much-needed levity to the book, all without simply being comedic relief. Aided by never having their perspectives as a reader, Campbell’s aliens all feel unique, and between Dancers, Taon, and Wooareek, there is now a counterpoint to the more malignant Enigmas and Kicks. Some readers might be frustrated that we end with more questions than answers, but to my mind it’s in keeping with the focus on Geary that the series has.

As with previous series in the universe, Outlands ends on an open note. their is a reckoning promised fore Geary and the Alliance after what happens in Implacable, but there are also broader implications for the galaxy at large. My hope is that Campbell gives us some non-Geary perspectives in the future. After all, Midway is right there, and The Lost Stars set up narratives that are yet to be paid off. Yet at the same time, I for one am desperate to know what happens to Geary from this point on.

Campbell’s next novels are set in an original universe, but I’m confident that he’ll be back with The Lost Fleet before long. And I for one am already queueing at the door to see what he comes up with next.

Book Stats

• The Lost Fleet: Outlands #3
• This edition published by Titan
• First published in 2023
• Military SF
• 446 pages