Review: Could not finish it...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 22, 2012
The premise of this novel hooked me in as soon as I started reading - a decorated captain deliberately goes rogue and destroys several allied alien ships. (Reminded me of an excellent Star Trek Next Gen episode where a Federation captain went dark and took out several Cardassian vessels.) There are implications that there is a conspiracy to destroy the empire, and that this captain has a secret agenda to save it.However, I got as far as chapter nine and could go no further. The main character, Calvin, is the acting captain of a stealth ship of the navy's intelligence branch. He even has an ominous black uniform. Yet the character walks around like a teenager, no confidence, no arrogance, no imposing presence. The navy's intel branch are the elite of the elite! Everyone would be terrified of them, and they  would act accordingly.Then comes the way he and his crew interact there is - no observance of navy titles or rank, each crew member addresses the others by their names or nicknames. On an elite intelligence vessel? I would recommend the author to watch/read several armored forces navy movies/dramas/books, and get a realistic feel for how the various ranks interact on such a military vessel.The final straw for me was when Calvin meets a princess of one of the ruling houses, and their conversation was what you would expect from a couple of kids meeting in school. This is part of that conversation, moments after they first met:The princess raised an eyebrow. "Don't push your luck. I'm not going to give you something for nothing. As much as I like you.""Well, you can't blame a guy for trying."This is an example of Calvin's vocal thoughts when considering his next move to catch the rogue captain:He shifted them out of his way and took a seat on his bed, letting his head rest in his hands. "Blah...what am I gonna do?"(Calvin and his crew caught this rogue captain once - they succeeded where everyone else failed. A much more convincing scene here would have been for Calvin and his senior crew to brainstorm how to catch the rogue captain a second time, displaying their efficiency and brilliance - the very things that puts them a cut above the rest.)