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An enjoyable military science fiction story that is perfect for when you need to escape to outer space and fight a space battle or two.

The war between the Alliance and Syndics has been a very long one. At the beginning of the war, Captain Jack Campbell became a legend with his brave heroics. Everyone believed him dead, but when the Alliance set out to make a daring last stand against the Syndics, approximately 100 years later, they discover Captain Jack Campbell in his life pod. Soon he is given command of the fleet and must maneuver through internal politics and external threats. Jack's problem is that his legendary status has become larger than life and he has to carefully work with and against that legend.

The overall story is fun. I found the space battles engaging as he explains them well, especially the time delay during battles and how he fights in four dimensions. Captain Jack is also a man with integrity and although his fleet is supposed to these characteristics too they seem to have forgotten a lesson or two. I found the chapter on how should treat civilians during a war and prisoners of war very compelling. This is especially true since at the time of writing the review there is a war going on in another part of the world where events are making this chapter even more significant and more emotional than it probably would have at any other time for me.

What's interesting to me is that the same things I liked about the story were also what I worried about or didn't like. In general, it is really is a light, escapist type of story. It's perfect for when you want that type of book, which we all do from time to time. But that was also a problem. The story completely revolves around Jack and the problems he has to work through. That's great, except I often found myself wishing to see events from other characters point of view and that the other characters were more fleshed out.

I also missed subplots. All throughout the story, I kept thinking 'we need a subplot'. Something that ties it all together but also gives you something else to think on or worry about. But there isn't. It's not until the very last part of the book that you start to get a hint that there may be something more to this war. But there lies another mystery. You never get any explanation of what the war is about. There's a lot happening in the book, but you never get any insight into why they are fighting.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and will probably enjoy the next one in the series too, but the formulaic writing and lack of subplots and character depth does make me wonder if I would continue with the whole series. But I could be completely wrong and may have nothing to worry about. After all, this is just the first book in the series.