Review: Enjoyable, light, entertaining
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 15, 2013
The main character is very enjoyable, and the universe the author has created is interesting, and the stories are just colorful enough to maintain interest.  The author has a military background which definitely helps give some realism, but this book is woefully short of Naval related military customs and traditions, and simple living environments. The girls in the book are fetching and their storyline continues throughout the series, which is a welcome change from many other light SF books.  The bad guys are a bit too stereotypical, but plot doesn't really need them to be more than what they are to keep things moving along.  I really didn't like the lack of dimensionality in the crew.  He writes about the several different helmsman, and differentiates to the point where one is notably "better" than the others, but he never ever gives them a name or personality.  On a ship with a dozen or so people out on patrol for weeks or months at a time, I am quite sure the caption of the ship would learn the Helm's name!  And a nickname!  You really see the difference between the authors Army background and a real Naval environment, where you are all packed into a tiny tin can for long periods of time.  Personalities is all you have in that environment, and this series of books glosses over that too it's detriment.I picked up this book because I am huge fan of SciFi, and I like taking chances on inexpensive books.  This one was sufficiently enjoyable to hold my interest and I've gone ahead and purchased later books in the series (at escalating prices which I do NOT like!)If the author were ever to go back and rewrite this, it would be wonderful if he added far more naval related military culture, a dash more actual science, more explicit love scenes (he has some great potential there!), and a crew!