Review: Ebooks can be uneven
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 12, 2012
Pros: this title character benefits from several opportunities to demonstrate bravery and leadership- and he is rewarded. There are space battles, which Jacob survives. He fondly remembers lessons from his family, tries hard to earn the respect of crew, and rehearses battle maneuvers.Cons: Other characters speak and act, but are two-dimensional. He learns commanders are lonely(?). And despite his military schooling, he's unable to overcome an inferiority complex, or to form new friendships.Mysteries: he rebuilds some ships without their original mix of weapons- but expects to maneuver them as a squadron, ignoring their different reach and rate of ammo usage. To use an example, there is a reason that 20th century carrier air groups segregated fighters from attack craft and torpedo bombers.Scanning my bookshelf, I find the following space opera characters:Captain 'Black Jack' Geary, created by Jack Campbell, is an ethical man struggling against his heroic legend.Commander Wilson Cole, from Mike Resnick, is brave, clever, and insubordinate by turns.David Drake summons the swash-buckling Lt. Daniel Leary, ladies' man, who achieves impossible assignments despite great odds.David Weber visualizes Honor Harrington as an elegant, lethal member of space-faring royalty.Each one pulled me into their reality. Campbell emphasizing the importance of logistics, Resnick imagining interactions with other races, Drake encountering rulers wise and petty, Weber with the symbiotic Human/Treecat combination.but... Captain Jacob Hull does not have the depth or dimension to take his place among the others. He is a space sailor- why doesn't he take some 48-hour leaves, practice emergency drills, or just drink a mug of coffee while on the bridge? He's surrounded by stereotypes: stingy politicians, an irascible engineering CPO, frontier craftsmen who rebuild damaged ships stronger than new.Does anyone suspect an editor at a publisher like Baen or Ace would have Mr. Debenham rewrite before accepting this book?