Vanguard

Starred review from March 27, 2017
Launching a trilogy in his Lost Fleet universe, the always reliable Campbell delivers an exciting tale of interstellar adventure. Robert Geary is a colonist on a newly established world, seeking an opportunity for a new beginning. The colony council is completely unprepared for the cold reality of their new system’s distance from the protection afforded by Old Earth. When the inhabitants of a neighboring star system make an attempt at extortion, Robert is the only colonist with the skills to lead a defense force. With other systems falling prey to similar attacks, Robert’s settlement must stand firm or perish unremembered. Campbell’s skillfully constructed tale keeps a riveting pace, making each character’s personal stakes into fundamental threads woven into a high-energy whole. The conclusion is well-earned and satisfying, leaving readers eager for the next volume in this saga. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary.

April 15, 2017
Best-selling author Campbell begins a new military sf series, the Genesis Fleet, with this new novel. The planet Earth of Campbell's earlier series, the Lost Fleet, has become so far removed from the frontiers of human colonization that law and order cannot prevent aggressive acts against fledgling colonies. Rob Geary, former junior officer from the Alfar Fleet, finds himself thrust into the command of an old starcutter he helped commandeer for an overly cautious planetary council. Likewise, ex-marine Mele Darcy finds herself training raw recruits to handle an escalating ground war with an illegal colony without anything like the weaponry they will face. Meanwhile, Lachan Nakamura and Martian ex-patriot Carmen Ochoa form an unlikely team who find themselves handling conflict resolution on another colony planet threatened by anonymous neighbors who have already demonstrated ruthless means to take what isn't theirs. Sympathetic characters combined with authentic details of military maneuvers on land and in space are the hallmark of a writer still at the top of his form, comparable to authors such as David Drake and David Weber.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)