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Dreadnaught  By  cover art

Dreadnaught

By: Jack Campbell
Narrated by: Christian Rummel,Jack Campbell - introduction
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Publisher's summary

The first book of best-selling sci-fi author Jack Campbell’s new series "Beyond the Frontier" returns to find Captain John “Black Jack" Geary, the hero of the "Lost Fleet" series, awoken from cryogenic sleep to take command of the fleet.

Geary’s legendary exploits have earned him the adoration of the people—and the enmity of politicians convinced that a living hero can be a very inconvenient thing. The century-long war between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds may be over, but Geary and his newly christened First Fleet have been ordered back into action to investigate the aliens occupying the far side of Syndic space and to determine how much of a threat they represent to the Alliance. And while the Syndic Worlds are no longer united, individually they may be more dangerous than ever before. Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear his staging a coup, so he can’t help but wonder if the newly christened First Fleet is being sent to the far side of space on a suicide mission.

William C. Dietz, the author of the "Legion of the Damned" series, calls Dreadnaught "a rousing adventure", and Elizabeth Moon, the Nebula Award-winning author of the "Vatta's War" series, says it’s “loaded with edge-of-your-seat combat". Read by Christian Rummel, who has narrated The Lost Fleet series to excellent reviews, Dreadnaught promises to be an out-of-this-world experience.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction written and read by author Jack Campbell.

Get Lost! Listen to the rest of the Lost Fleet series.
©2011 John G. Hemry (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Dreadnaught

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A welcome new series

This is book one of a new series BUT you really need to read the Lost Fleet series to take full advantage of this new series story line. Black Jack Geary to given command of First Fleet and is to proceed to alien space to explore. Even before he got to the fleet, stupid orders were given by headquarters that almost cause to military of the Alliance to revolt. I was thinking this is not being realistic but then I thought of the history books I have read and thought oh no this is like some of the crazy things that do happen. The book has some great battle scenes, lots of suspense and backstabbing politics by governments. Overall a good story that lives you wanting more. Christian Rummel does a great job narrating the story. He also narrated the Lost Fleet series so the voices carry over and keep the continuity going. Enjoy.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

hard slog

those of you who have made it this far in the series are already familiar with it's numerous flaws...
-tedious diologue, usually centered around the fear that military success will go to the heoroes' head.
-unnecessary rehashing of the opening events of the series, as if we don't already know them.
-implausible villians, Campbell's universe is overflowing with paranoid, prudish, reckless and stupid characters.
-shrewish, unappealing female characters.
-books are short and formulaic representing poor value when compared to the Honor Harrington and Miles Vorkosigan series' ,both of which are much longer and better written for the same price.


This new installment could have corrected some of these faults but instead, it magnifies them.
The epic, realistic and detailed space battles, which are the strong point of the series don't start until late in the second half of the book, be prepared for a hard slog to get to the good stuff near the end.
On the plus side, the next book in the series should hit the ground running based on the way this one left off.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Start to a Great Series!

This is a great adventure and great first book in a new "Blackjack" series. Readers new to this author and character can start right here, you need not read the previous series. Some reviewers have criticized the first half of the book as being long on setup and low on action, I enjoyed it, the politics and personalities of the Alliance, Syndicate, and the Fleet only add interest and suspense to the story. The narration is great, my only criticism is to bring in some regional North American accents as well as British/Irish/Aussie ones.
The battles in the second half are great as is the puzzle of the aliens. There is also a good wry sense of humor throughout. The cliffhanger ending left me wanting more. Overall 4 out of 5 stars.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Got me into audio science fiction audio books!

This is one of the best books I have listened to. Normally I just listen to fiction or semi-fiction books, but i bought this on a whim. After listening I was hooked and listened in 1 sitting. I then went and bought all the beyond the frontier series books and wish i would have started with the first lost fleet books. The narrator is one of the best which makes me unable to listen to many audio books.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, narration off-putting

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd recommend the entire series; it would be hard to engage with this book unless you'd read the previous ones. High entertainment value, with interesting characters and politics to keep you brain busy between the gripping battle scenes.

What did you like best about this story?

The imagination and mystery surrounding the alien races.

What didn’t you like about Christian Rummel and Jack Campbell (Introduction) ’s performance?

I found Rummel's voice characterizations distasteful. Desjani sounds like a bitchy Stepford Wife more than a battleship captain, and some of the male characters sound like they have chronic sinusitis. The whole thing sounds cartoonish. This is just my reaction; many people obviously like the narration, which is certainly competent. I just don't care for the interpretation. I do want to read the rest of the books, but I think I'll actually read (instead of listen to) them

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Probably not (I'm not a big movie-goer).

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

First off, I love this series...I look forward to each book when they come out to answer questions from the previous book and see what happens. Unfortunately this one does nothing of the sort. It answers nothing and introduces new adversaries before you even learn about the original ones that they hyped up so much....then it just STOPS. No ending whatsoever...pretty much a wtf moment. The narration is great and I am attached to the characters but this book just went nowhere. The way this one was written we should expect another book within a couple months but I assume that wont happen and it will be another year. Just plain disappointed.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A welcome new series

This is book one of a new series BUT you really need to read the Lost Fleet series to take full advantage of this new series story line. Black Jack Geary to given command of First Fleet and is to proceed to alien space to explore. Even before he got to the fleet, stupid orders were given by headquarters that almost cause to military of the Alliance to revolt. I was thinking this is not being realistic but then I thought of the history books I have read and thought oh no this is like some of the crazy things that do happen. The book has some great battle scenes, lots of suspense and backstabbing politics by governments. Overall a good story that lives you wanting more. Christian Rummel does a great job narrating the story. He also narrated the Lost Fleet series so the voices carry over and keep the continuity going. Enjoy.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

It didn't disappoint

Just like when I went through "The Lost Fleet". I find myself now anticipating the next book in this series. I'm really hoping we don't have to wait for a year or more to see where the adventure takes us.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Fleet has a sluggish start ...

Nice start to the continuation of the Lost Fleet Series. However, I was disappointed be a couple things. First, the narration overruns more then in the past. For example, two characters will be having a conversation and then abruptly it will be the next day and something else will be happening without any pause. There were a few times it was very disorienting.
Secondly, I was disappointed that Alliance politics took up the first quarter of the book. I guess Jack Campbell wanted to create some suspense and mystery but it just confused me. I guess I was hoping the politics would all be shuffled off to the other spin-off series but I guess there is a point to it in the end.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

B.O.R.I.N.G

I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea found this book boring, boring, boring. Not even the excellent narration can save this one. Halfway through the book, nothing at all has happened yet. I am not even going to finish this.

If you want good Space Opera forget about 'Black' Jack Geary - Try Miles Vorkosigan, Honor Harrington or Miles Flint instead.

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6 people found this helpful