Warship: Black Fleet Trilogy 1 (Black Fleet Saga) Paperback – January 16, 2015

After plodding through volume after volume of self published AI generated dreck, I'be found a mil scifi from an unfamiliar author that reads like an adult wrote it.Good MC, good supporting cast, familiar main plot with a nice original touch, decent editing and tight prose. I will read the rest.This is the "down and out captain with misfit crew" redemption story done properly.

Humanity has moved to the stars. War, famine, and even political infighting have become bywords of an age when humanity was stuck on one heavenly sphere. Earth is no longer the center of the human universe instead humanity has separated into coalitions of worlds that have racial and historic ties to one another. The Fleet is the organization consolidating our species remaining military power. It has been separated into fleets controlled and supplied by the factions with various political and historic ties but a duty for the safety of the human race as a whole. Their Central Command (CENTCOM) is based on Haven the planet settled after Earth and its where technological and political power has been concentrated.Captain Jackson Wolfe has battled the prejudice of his Earth heritage his entire carrier. His uphill battle has seen him in command of the Blue Jacket a destroyer and technically one of humanity's strongest warships, the only problem is that its decades out of date and part of the partially decommissioned Seventh Fleet. The "Black Fleet" is all that remains of this once united core service that patrols the space-lanes of humanity and has become the dumping ground for the disorderly, incompetent, and disaffected. His decades of service have only enabled him to see just how hard his superior is working to strip him from the ranks.His latest cruise has barely begun and a new executive officer hand picked by the admiral that despises him has been assigned. A Senator's obnoxious aid was added to his roster and the admiral has cut orders forcing him to disembark. All this before he can even inspect the ship after being in the dockyard getting the systems updated. He has always found a way despite the prejudice of his fellow spaceman and the actions of his fellow officers undermining his authority. Despite all this he takes pride in his "warship" and is determined to do the best he can but the scales are no longer even slightly in balance. He can feel the pressure being brought against him but Captain Wolfe must find a way to keep his crew in check and his ship able to meet its obligations because humanity hasn't changed and the Black Fleet may be all that can can hold the line and keep the species together.||-||-||-||-||Mr. Dalzelle has proven that he can not only write entertaining fiction but his characters shine in a darker settings. I would say that until about 20% into the story I still hadn't connected with the characters. My biggest issue was that during the slower portions of the novel the transition between perspectives and scenes could be abrupt and the poor scene phasing doesn't allow the multiple perspectives too mesh into a cohesive narrative.Overall, the story is a new and welcome addition to the space-opera genre and shows Mr. Dalzelle's imagination going strong. The book is solid and entertaining but it lacks that special "twist" that sets it apart from others in the genre. However the background for his universe is sprinkled through the novel; leaving the history and details vague enough that future books may well correct this imbalance. It feels we only have a glimpse of everything this series has to offer. In many ways this book focuses on the characters and is simply setting the stage for the series.Many aspects of Warship remind me of the first Honor Harrington novel by David Weber. We are given a strong lead character, multiple strong supporting characters, and the glimpse of a larger galactic society; all of this set on a single military vessel that is outclassed. The info says this is the start of the Black Fleet trilogy but it might just be the start of the next big space-opera.

This is a good solid sci-fi book without grand world building or the need to press over-arching philosophies or social constructs. In short, it's a alien/human shoot-em-up with a few obvious pop-culture references to boot. I won't give plot spoilers, so please feel free to read on.The jacket cover sets up the story about right. It opens with interplay between our captain and some pointy-haired boss. I groaned in the first chapter when it looked like interpersonal melodrama would rue the day, but most of that is context for later in the story. It becomes background radiation (though important to have to understand the character). In short, it sets the scene then gets out of the way.The world of Warship is not the least bit outrageous, and honestly is one of the more realistic I have found in a scifi book. Absent fusion reactors, faster-than-light travel and gravity plating (staples of the genre), there is little overwhelmingly fantastic about the future 400 years from now. You won't have to suspend much belief - or have to follow massive tech "info dumps" that try to indoctrinate you into a comprehensive world the author has invented. Warship is built in a world you understand. The tech does not get in the way.The story itself is fairly straightforward and fun: organized war between humans pretty much disappeared for 200 years once we had the ability to physically expand faster than our ambitions - basically there was no need to fight over resources when they are so plentiful. As a result, warships are largely figurehead elements - they are not called upon to do much of anything but ferry people around. Now toss in a possible existential threat to humanity in the form of an unknown alien, and the story gets interesting.Dalzelle crafts an honest story we've all heard before, and happens to toss in some refreshing updates. This is not Captain Kirk "renegade" or the out-to-pasture dude who has one last mission. This is a guy who does a job that does not even exist anymore: Destroyer Captain. Example: after the first shot is fired, he wryly notes that he is now the defacto most-experienced living warfighter in all of humanity. It unsettles him in more ways than one.All this said, Captain Kirk is seen in here, as is Scotty. I kid you not, "she's giving all she can take" is a line used for "the old girl" destroyer more than once by the ship's Chief Engineer (who turns out to be Indian, rather than Scottish). Dalzelle is having fun here, and takes you along for the ride. It is serious in tone, but Dalzelle obviously understands how to insert some light-hearted moments to bring the reader closer to his world.There are some weaknesses, perhaps. The idea of a peaceful humanity falls at odds with the fact that humanity in the book really did not set aside differences or tribalism. They just took the provincialism that is human nature and dispersed it so far apart that the factions really found it easier to ignore each other, except at some edges. With enough "stuff" to go around, those edges stay peaceful, even if tense.I am not sure that is plausible - here on Earth we find old resentments hard to ignore, even (especially?) when we have plenty of stuff to go around. The Middle East is fighting 7th Century grudges as I type, and often over nothing more than tribal hatred. Not sure distance makes the heart grow fonder. Of course, there are two more books I have not delved into here. I suspect that humanity will find a way to mess each other up again. We always do.I also appreciate the lack of grand social engineering here. People are still people, and resentments do exist between them. I like the not-so-subtle jab at elitism throughout the book: "Earthers" are looked down upon because as the space-faring took off, each faction took with them the "best" into space. Those who left Earth considered themselves enlightened, but in reality they prove to be anything but. As subsequent "elite" generations left more and more of Earth's population as castaways - not considered valuable enough to colonize the stars - they created for themselves a group of people they could look down upon in order to make themselves feel good. As the story unfolds, it is obvious that this is a false dichotomy - Earthers are just as talented as anyone else. But the elite need someone to look down upon. The elite even implement a form of affirmative action to undo their own prejudices, which only increases the seclusion of those they claim to be "helping". Like I said...Dalzelle's world is believable largely because it is not far from where you live today.I listened to this as an Audio book on a long drive. Will dig into book 2 when it comes out on Audible, or when the number of pages I am reading drops below 1000. Either way, it's on the list.Summary: good fun story without a lot of work or dreck. Uses a world you know and understand in order to focus on the story, not the infrastructure.