Review: not so navy
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
UPDATE: Gave it a college try, read further, gave up.  As of this writing, there are 16 reviews, and all are 4 or 5 star so I hate to be lone disenter here and I am no troll, I am a fellow writer, I understnad this man must make his living and put bread on his table with this novel, but this is not a 4 or 5 star book.  It is not horrible, and actually if I was 15, I would probably enjoy it very much.Besides being very un-Naval like, which wouldn't be annoying except when it's a book, essentially entirely about a Navy ship, albeit a future one, you need to at least try, there are inconsistencies, contradictions, and the writing is overall, apparently intended for a juvenile audience (the vocabulary is clearly restrained here - it's obvious; I understand it's probably intended but it's a bit much, most people do know how to look up words sir).  I don't want an author to go thesaurus crazy, but this is very simply written (by simple I mean, not clever) and it's not for me and actually, I don't mind a simple read.Some issues:  One minor one but to a navy guy - glaring: On a ship, the proper reply to your captain is "aye sir" or aye captain but it vacillates from para to para to different things; this would not happen.  It just doesn't help with realism and this is, of course, not the only un-navy like bugaboo here, there are countless ones, it is just a simple example that i would think anyone would know.Plot become paper thing and very predictable.  Anyone paying any attention at all knows exactly what is going to happen next.To convey something analogous to one of the contradictions, there is a part where let's say, they state "they do not have enough fuel for the return trip" (in their jet packs" and in the next page, the woudned man is using his jet pack to fly back.  This wasn't one of those gaffs separated by chapters here, it was the bloody next page.The special forces team rappels across a line to an alien ship to recon the engineering dept for some reason, and when they get there, one of the team actually says "Ah crap, it's all labeled in alien language" - well it IS an alien ship you idiot. In any case, even though he makes it clear this is a major impediment, as it should be, he figures out, somehow, that they have 5 minutes before the thing will blow up (how??) and then figures out that if he, and I am not joking here "continues to push a button, over and over again, it will buy them more time."  And thusly, the ship escapes certain death from a critical mass event.I actually could go on, and on, and all this happened in a few chapters but seriously I could think of 20 different ways to make that more clever.As someone who grew up in a Navy family, on ships, etc, I expect an author to either be knowledgeable, or become knowledgeable about the Navy if you're going to write about it and so far the author does not seem to know much about how the Navy operates.  that may not bother persons who may be ignorant about how the navy goes about it's business, but if you're going to write about the Navy you're going to get people with a Navy background who will want to read your book and it will definitely bother them and in any case, I think people (ordinary folk) can detect when something is authentic when you do it in an authentic way, and they appreciate it, whether they are expressly aware of it's accuracy or not.  But you're not even trying.For example, when the Captain issues a maneuvering order he says "let her rip." - uh, no... no Captain is ever going to say "let her rip."  It just isn't done - there is a tradition in the Navy, on a bridge/CIC that commands are rote, specific, and delivered crisply and always in the same manner.  that may sound boring but actually it does not translate so, at least, i don' t think it is and i am not some old fart or something.  There is also the part where some scientists are doing something (fairly important/dramatic) aboard his ship - and he has no idea what it is or what they are doing.  he actually has to ask about their power consumption and whether or not he'll have enough power to make a maneuver or something.  Nuts.  No way, no how.  the Captain on a Navy vessel...is God.  As far as the minute operation of the vessel, no one commands a captain - not even an admiral (not really).  They will of course issue general orders about maneuvering, strategy, destination, tasks, etc, but there is no way in hell a Navy Captain would have a couple scientists on board his vessel (who are - snicker - father and daughter), making major alterations, while he is maneuvering - without his understanding of what they were doing (as in he is literally clueless).  I know this may sound trite, but believe me, it's not, there is no way any Navy guy could suspend his disbelief about such a thing.  the Navy is very traditional and even in the decades to come, something so basic as the sanctity of a Navy Captain and his ship command and operation would never change so much.  The worst part is that the captain has only minor misgivings about taking this ship out for space flight to the edge of our solar system while these unknown things are occurring, and, well OF COURSE! Wouldn't you know it, they get attacked and because of these pesky scientists and what they are doing, they have no shields, limited guns, blah blah blah.  Bullocks.  No Navy Captain would ever agree to do something so patently irresponsible.  It's ridiculous.  Why?  Where is the motivation to risk a ship worth probably 500 billion dollars?My take is that anyone with a Navy background will quickly become irritated.I tried to finish the book but could not and I don't see a 5 star book.If you want to see what I mean, for comparison, read the two books recently written by Phillips/Honsinger.  These by the way are by far the best sci-fi Navy books I've ever read.