Warship (Black Fleet Trilogy #1)

Mr. Dalzelle notes that he started writing the story for his Black Fleet saga when he was 22–and it shows. The seeds of a possibly interesting military SF series are there, but the current version isnt even close to fully baked. Its the story of Jackson Wolfe a black-sheep, underdog captain who single-handedly fights off his irrationally hostile superior, a group of mutineers, and a powerful alien invader–but neither he nor anyone else has more than a single facet or deep motivation. As I read, basic world- and character-building questions kept coming up.

For example, about the hero himself: If Wolfes Earther status is so much of a black mark in the Fleet, and he compounded it with poor leadership and heavy drinking that made it easy for his prejudiced superior to torpedo his career, how did he get a command in the first place? Mr. Dalzelle tells us that Wolfes crew doesnt respect him–but we see no reason for or evidence of disrespect, and he barely interacts with anyone but his bridge crew and ever-faithful engineering chief anyway. If Wolfe is such a screwup, why is he consistently the hero–taking command of fire control himself, leading an expedition to an alien attack site, easily subverting the ships computer systems, and shooting a custom-made Colt 1912 .45 with cool efficiency? [SPOILER: Not to mention pulling a blaze-of-glory solo kamikaze run against the alien–and surviving.]

Everyone else is painted in the same broad, unsupported strokes, and there is no real setup/payoff anywhere: Why is the chief engineer friends with Wolfe? What is their shared history or bond? Why did Peters, a member of the bridge crew, hate Wolfe so much that he staged a mutiny in the middle of a battle? That along with a slobby drunk/druggie sergeant who can barely wear a uniform–but somehow convinces a bunch of officers and crew to go along with said mutiny. Who are these bridge people, and why are they so surprisingly competent for the supposed dregs of the Fleet? Why is the only physical description that of Ensign-then-Lieutenant Davis, who is ultra-competent, crushing on Wolfe, and shapely?

The only surprise in the flow of stereotypes was that the Senator and CIA agent turn out to be on the sensible side–but even they are cliches. The intelligence agents name is Pike, and his cover ID is Lynch? (Someones been watching the A-Team.) Hes brilliant, sneaky, and one step ahead of everyone–but still has time to make unwanted advances at the buttoned-down, competent female XO who immediately supports Wolfe despite his (supposedly) harsh treatment of her.

As I said, maybe the bones of a good story are in there somewhere, but those bones need to be rearranged, re-articulated, and fleshed out better this time. It would also help to have an editor smooth out the rough spots–and change all those instances of try and to try to (yeah, that one makes my brain itch).

Ive had this book and this series on my reading list for quite some time. I just couldnt seem to get to reading it until now. Boy! Why didnt I read these a long time ago? This is a great science fiction space warfare series. I really, really like the way the author has taken present day military terminology and used it in his book just the way its supposed to be used. No more weird rank structure or having to figure out where someone fits in the chain-of-command. Hes also developed his characters very solidly especially his main character, Captain Jackson Wolfe.

Those of us who have seen their military careers wind down to an ending, probably never wanted that career to end or didnt fully understand why it had to end when it did. And most of us probably had a superior officer that at least thought we were significantly to a purposeful mission even while are careers were coming to an end. Not so for Captain Jackson Wolfe. Hes an Earther, which in his universe, is about a bad a planet of origin as can be. Earthmen may have moved off their mother planet and settled the galaxy, but they also quickly forgot where they came from. Now anyone from Earth is considered a backward neanderthal and certainly not fit to command a Confederate star ship. Yet, Captain Wolfe has fought his way through the ranks and now commands the “ISS Blue Jacket”, an integral part of the Black Fleet located in the Alpha Centauri system and ported on the planet Haven.

Now, the “ISS Blue Jacket” is not a sleek state-of-the-art spacefaring destroyer you might imagine it would be in 2423. Instead, its a bucket of bolts thats barely being held together. It hasnt been updated in hundreds of years and probably should have been retired a long time ago. The Blue Jackets crew also isnt the most highly prized crew around either. In fact, this is where the mis-fits, trouble makers and rift-raft of the Black Fleet get assigned. They are sent on extremely long voyages to keep them from Haven and out of trouble. Admiral Alyson Winters is Captain Wolfes immediate superior office and she hates him with a passion, mostly because hes an Earther! So, now hes been ordered to take on an unknown Commander as his XO. He knows with certainty that Commander Celesta Wright has been hand picked by Admiral Winters to replace him as soon as possible. This next mission could be his last and will be if Admiral Winters has the final say.

So, now the fun starts. The “Blue Jacket” is sent to the far frontier to find out whats going on for real and report back to Haven. There have been some alarming activities going on that make it appear that one or more of the different colonial factions are preparing for war. This is extremely frightening to a number of military people since a war hasnt been fought between humans for several hundreds of years. With the colonial expansion going on and the fact that no one had ever found an alien civilization to contend with, anyone and every one with the money can colonize whatever planet or system they desire and reap the economical benefits of doing so unopposed.

That is going to come to a sudden halt. The “Blue Jacket” finds two formerly human colonized planets that have been wiped clean. Nothing left on them other than a slick, smelly sludge. Humanity has finally found someone that doesnt like their presents and is wiling to go to war over it. Unfortunately, humanity will be represented by a ancient, barely space capable starship. Guess whos going to win this first battle?

This series is so good that I immediately bought the second book, Call to Arms and will more than likely buy the third book immediately after reading the second.

Well written story of first contact with a difference. Humans have expanded across space without meeting any sentient alien races and have colonised many star systems, each one based on a particular political, religious or ideological system from Earth. In the scheme of things Earth-born humans are considered the lowest of the low and Captain Jackson Wolfe has been relegated to an obsolete CentCom battleship the Blue Jacket. To compound his problems the Black Fleet ships are used to dump any difficult crewman who cannot be discharged from the fleet due to political or family connections. He is taking the ship on its final patrol before being decommissioned when they come across a colony world which has been totally destroyed by forces unknown, but probably alien.

In Dalzelle’s favour is a slightly different way of looking at first contact with an aggressive alien race and the writing is generally good. Unfortunately the story strolls along for quite a while before anything really interesting happens. Did I really need to know about the nitty-gritty of deploying the FTL drive mechanism? Not really. Dalzelle seems to explain a lot of the mechanics just to defer moving the plot along. There is a lot of political chicanery and backstabbing of the main character which seems to be a major plot device for this kind of story and there are, at first, some similarities to the film Battleship, Chris Nuttall’s Marines stories and Nick Thomas’s Battle Earth series.

For the price a passable read which improves once first contact has been made. Some of the characters are interesting, others merely sock puppets or stereotypes. Dalzelle really shows his talent when the poorly maintained and supplied Blue Jacket starts trading blows with the massive alien ship. The outcome is a foregone conclusion but how this comes to pass is what makes the book worth reading. Recommended but with reservations.

A really good read and I can’t wait for the next one to be released.

If I’m being honest it’s a typical story, nothing really new or not done before, but it’s well written and the characters are engaging. Its the typical underdog/ unappreciated Captain comes good story, but dont be discouraged as the pace is good and the story maintains a high tempo.

The main character works well and fits in with the story, but theres nothing really surprising about him. His interaction with his XO adds to the story and is part of the driving force of the books success. The book also relies on the battle scenes to add drama and thankfully these are well thought out and well written.

Overall this is definitely worth a read and I look forward to the series continuing.

Warship is the story of the despised captain of an ageing destroyer who, together with his crew, makes first contact with a rather aggressive and predatory alien race. He survives to tell the story to a complacent humanity that has colonised numerous planets and which remain divided into rival alliances but has known no wars for about two centuries.

As you will see for yourself, there is nothing terribly original about most of the elements or most of the events that take place within this book. Those who are familiar with space opera and military science fiction will recognise a number of themes and features that first appeared in others books belonging to the same genre.

Despite all this, Warship is a good title. The story is well-told and it just about plausible. In particular, the author has taken care to avoid some of the most obvious and annoying stereotypes that similar books can sometimes exhibit.

To begin with, Captain Jackson is no young and dashing super-hero. He is despised, lonely and suspicious because of his origins and has a bit of a personal problem that I will not mention to avoid spoilers. He will, of course, rise to the occasion but this is achieved by being an extremely competent and dutiful officer, not through some totally implausible heroics. There is one such scene towards the end but even this smacks of despair more than anything else.

Then there is the alien scout ship about which nothing is known except that its capacity for utter destruction is soon seen to be considerable and it proves incredibly difficult to destroy because of its very nature.

Then there is the action itself. The long travelling and the jumps through space are well-told and so are the space battles. Here again, the author has managed to avoid drowning the reader in pseudo-science although he does provide enough information about spaceship propulsion and faster-than-light technology for this to be interesting. The battle scenes themselves are also well told with a sobriety that makes them all the more efficient.

Four stars for a good, solid and exciting story, and I will certainly read the next instalment.

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