Warship: Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 1

Reviews

1. 

   Valerie – August 11, 2024

   Warship left me wanting more!
   First, let me say that I very much enjoyed this book and that my only real complaint is that volume 2 and beyond do not yet exist (as of May 4, 2015). I want more!Spoiler alert. I don’t think I’ll be ruining anyone’s pleasure, but I am going to talk about things that go on in the book and may reveal facts that are only revealed in the book over time.I found the characters to be engaging and mostly realistic though the super-spook, in his native persona, might be a bit over the top. The story is reasonably tight. If anything it may be a bit streamlined. For example, in the beginning Captain Jackson Wolfe is given command of an old, refurbished ship. His plans for taking it on a shakedown cruise to make sure it works properly are shattered as he is given a mysterious secret mission. Despite the buildup, nothing happens. The ship performs flawlessly on this part of the mission. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop but everything seemed to purr right along. The author may have missed a chance to toss a little excitement into this part of the story. And that’s what I mean about streamlined. The plot moves forward quickly without any unnecessary (though often interesting and exciting) diversions.The above is NOT to say that the book is boring. Once beyond the initial chapters where we learn about the civilization, the crew, and the ships, we get to the meat of the book and start to see some real action. I won’t go into detail but let me just say that an enemy is discovered and a running battle ensues in which the Blue Jacket (Captain Wolfe’s ship) takes a licking and keeps on ticking right up to the end. The problems they encounter are serious and the solutions are creative. I found it hard to put the book down once I got past chapter 6.If you liked David Weber’s “On Basilisk Station”, you will probably enjoy “Warship” as well. If you haven’t read the Honor Harrington series which starts with “On Basilisk Station” then you have a lot more good reading ahead of you! Meanwhile, I’ll keep watching for the next book in the “Warship” series.

2. 

   Gallandro – August 11, 2024

   Warship sets the scene for a wild ride.
   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.

3. 

   Kindle Customer – August 11, 2024

   I’ve never read a book with such attention to detail and that would also keep me wanting more to read! Amazing work, it is a must read. I would even recommend to new readers since the adrenaline rush from this BOOK was greater than anything I felt from a Netflix or prime video tv show. Joshua Dalzelle made such a descriptive wording that I was clearly able to picture everything In my mind, NO VIDEO REQUIRED. Amazing work, magnifique.

4. 

   MDE1954 – August 11, 2024

   I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I was looking for – something a bit like Star Trek, but not actually Star Trek. I agree with other reviewers that it is rather derivative of so many military sci-fi books and predecessors such as Hornblower. In some ways, the parallels were reassuring – warp drive, Starfleet, the layout of the bridge. In other ways, they were slightly irritating. A book can have a cast as big as the author likes, but to limit the officers to such a small number made it seem like a very low budget TV series. There was no sense of a proper command structure, and the supposedly 1,100-strong crew were pretty anonymous, often getting mentioned only as casualty statistics. It would have been nice to know what so many people actually do, something that is of necessity glossed over with respect to a Star Trek ship. Having said all that, the action was believable, with a lot of convincing detail and a lot more genuine jeopardy than is so often the case. Overall, some pretty good world-building too. I’m looking forward to reading the next book.

5. 

   M – August 11, 2024

   Very good space opera, with intriguing plots, deep characters, overall consistency, no oversemplifications, realistic strategies.The author knows his job, reading is quick and smooth.

6. 

   Jannik – August 11, 2024

   Da ich sehr viele Sci-Fi Bücher gelesen habe, tauchen zum Glück immer mal wieder mir unbekannte Werke auf meiner Startseite auf.Ein solcher Glücksfall findet sich hier.Im Gegensatz zu anderen Joshua Dalzelle Büchern, wie sie manch einer vielleicht auch kennt, besitzt dieses Buch einen Tiefgang den ich nie erwartet hätte. Wo seine anderen Bücher der “Omega Force” ein netter Zeitvertreib waren, konnte ich dieses Buch nicht einmal mehr weglegen.Vielleicht bin ich durch meine Zeit in der Marine ein wenig vorgeschädigt, aber der Autor hat es ohne übertreiben geschafft, ein mir völlig realistisches Szenario zu erzeugen. Die militärischen und sozialen Strukturen, die wissenschaftlichen Entdeckungen, ja selbst die menschliche Arroganz und Verlogenheit wird so dargestellt, als ob es die etwas “verfrühte” Romanversion eines tatsächlichen Ereignisses wäre.Wer ein paar Euro übrig hat, oder gleich Kindle Unlimited besitzt dem kann ich dieses Buch nur ans Herzen legen.Ich freue mich derweil auf eine gelungene Fortsetzung.