Anybody read this series? If you haven't and you like sci-fi, put it on your list. It's the best hard military sci-fi I've ever read, and I've read a LOT of sci-fi.

There is no reason for this book to be called Dreadnaught. I know this because I finished reading it last night.

Anybody who read it: can you believe he's writing ANOTHER series, about post-War SYNDIC life? HOLY SHIT DOES THIS MAN KNOW NO CREATIVE LIMITS? THIS UNIVERSE IS GOING TO BE AMAZING.

now i like me some hard sci-fi, but i need a hook to really appreciate it

what is this book's unique technological or alien "hook"? like, what gives the story the readability you're praising it for? :o because the armor looks pretty cool, not hulking like warhammer stuff, and not weird like star wars plastic.

What's the big neat concept that drives the story? :)

if you're worried about spoilers, I don't mind too much.

_________________
Bleedcomics Staff Writer/Editor, , and Keeper of the Jar Brain of Secret President. RIP Ku Ku Ku \(-^.^-)/ U Wuz A REAL N***A!!!!!!!
"We're quite aware of this. BR is no happy rainbow face man. He is simply our neighborhood best fucking poster." ~ Warbear
Puff Most Epic.

All of the covers show the MC in armor, but he never wears armor. It's all about space combat, and takes into account the fact that both fleets' warships are moving at either FTL or almost FTL speeds, as well as the amount of time it takes for the light of planets, warships, etc. to reach other planets, warships, etc. So you've got a massive amount of ships of all sizes running past each other faster than you can imagine and all the combat takes place in the less than a minute time frame by computers because everything's moving faster than humans can react (though everything still has gunners to take care of the gunning batteries). Also, FTL jumping to get from Star System A to Star System B.

The story of the MC is awesome, and I won't tell you anything about it because it's a lot better to read the first chapters without knowing what he's about beforehand.

Also, aliens. But the first series is about fighting other humans.

Like BR, I like Sci-fi... but so far you're not exactly making it enticing to read this book. So they have FTL drives, big whoop, 95% of all sci-fi books/shows/games have that.

You said this was the best sci-fi book you ever read, but what makes it so good?

_________________

Google a review? =O

_________________

It's as realistic as it gets. I wasn't presenting the FTL drives as a "big whoop"; it's the way he describes space combat which makes it well worth reading. Campbell takes it to an extremely intricate, strategic detail which 95% of all sci-fi books/shows/games ignore. Instead of the classic Star Wars slug-fest with dogfights in between, he takes into account the reality of FTL combat in the vast, open plane of space, in which the specific movements of ships is as important as their firepower. So you've got ships moving at FTL speeds and engage in combat going at those speeds. It's brilliant and far more realistic than the usual naval-combat-equals-space-combat adaptations. Plus, the background of the human factions, the relationship between old and new Fleet cultures, the universe's traditions/religion, and the MC in general are all fascinating.

I might put this on my list of things to read... I still got quite the backlog to wrestle through, but some sci-fi would be a pleasant change

_________________

Nice!

I downloaded a PDF of this because such books i will never find down here.

I only just last night and i have to say that before i realized it was 3 AM and i started at about 10 So i am really enjoying it. Thanks a lot!

_________________
Captain Riz: the only person who doesn't know LD is gay is LD.
Hiroko: You monster.

To the honor of our ancestors! It's fantastic to hear that you like the book.

Sounds like your endorsement is more about thought and detail than realism. I mean, FTL drives and space navies don't actually exist, so "realistic" tactics depend on the technology and politics involved. Like in Star Wars (where the fictional technology was designed to justify WWII-esque battles IN SPACE), ships can go from anywhere in the galaxy to a high orbit of choice in a few days max with little possibility of interception before they show up, and once there, they employ very effective sensor jamming. So long-range maneuvers in open space with sniping are pretty much irrelevant, and space fighters have a justifiable role.

But anyway, you like the tactics, politics, and characterization? For comparison, do you know of any other books that people here might have read with a similar reading experience? (Honor Harrington say?)

It's realistic because it's based in physics, and Star Wars is a bunch of bullshit, which is okay and cool, but still bullshit. If one were to think about how space navies were to actually evolve, this is the likeliest thing. You're into physics and reading and shit, why not read through it and tell me what you think? I'd love to hear from you about it.

"Very effective sensor jamming" = bullshit

I don't really read a lot of books anymore, and when I go to B&N, I just get overwhelmed by all of it and leave, too lazy to go on the Internet and find out what I want. That link you posted looks exactly like the extra dose of what I got from Campbell that I've been craving, though.

What then are the physics underlying FTL travel, shields, and null field projectors, why do people use particle beams rather than lasers (which are not deflected by magnetic fields), and why (contrary to how things work in real life) is grapeshot more effective against hard targets than unitary penetrators? If you want a rationale for space navies, you first need to posit social and technological situations rather removed from real life, and the nature of that removal usually involves making up new laws of physics, like those which are needed to allow proper FTL travel, sensors, etc.

As for jamming in Star Wars, a small civilian ship can jam a flight of military fighters (IV), a large ship can block all communications from a smaller ship in running combat (IV), one speeder bike can jam multiple bikes of the same model (VI), and a sensor-jamming trap (probably using the second Death Star equipment) can prevent an entire fleet from recognizing that a planetoid-scale shield is up while being subtle enough to not blind other sensors or communications. This sort of thing (like most technology in Star Wars) mostly serves to justify plot points to steer the story in the desired direction. That the movies don't make a huge deal about the technology invoked does not mean that it isn't there. And since the physics underlying it are just as imaginary as those underlying things in The Lost Fleet, it's an exercise in sophistry to make a distinction on realistic physics.

I figured you'd like Honor Harrington. If you want to check out something spacey that mostly follows the laws of physics (in the sense that it avoids what modern physics says is impossible), you might check out Orion's Arm. It's a world building project that contains some stories.