Tarnished Knight

The Lost Stars, Book 1

By: Jack Campbell

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling author puts the Alliance fleet’s enemy in the spotlight as the people of the Syndicate Worlds attempt to rebuild their lives after Admiral John “Black Jack” Geary defeated them....

The authority of the Syndicate Worlds’ government is crumbling. Civil war and rebellion are breaking out in many star systems, despite the Syndic government’s brutal attempts to suppress disorder. Midway is one of those star systems, and leaders there must decide whether to remain loyal to the old order or fight for something new.

CEO Artur Drakon has been betrayed. The Syndic government failed to protect its citizens from both the Alliance and the alien enigmas. With a cadre of loyal soldiers under his command, Drakon launches a battle for control of the Midway Star System - assisted by an ally he’s unsure he can trust....

CEO Gwen Iceni was exiled to Midway because she wasn’t ruthless enough in the eyes of her superiors. She’s made them regret their assessment by commandeering some of the warships at Midway and attacking the remaining ships still loyal to the Syndicate empire. Iceni declares independence for the Midway Star System on behalf of the people while staying in charge as “President”. But while she controls the mobile fleet, she has no choice but to rely on 'General' Drakon’s ground forces to keep the peace planet-side....

If their coup is to succeed, Drakon and Iceni must put their differences aside to prevent the population of Midway from rising up in rebellion against them, to defend Midway against the alien threat of the enigma race - and to ferret out saboteurs determined to reestablish Syndic rule....

©2012 John G. Hemry (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Military science fiction at its very best..." (Catherine Asaro, Nebula Award-winning author of Carnelians)

Didn’t keep my attention

I loved the other series, I was so interested listening that had to force myself to put it down and get some sleep. I had no such problem with this book

Enjoyed

I finished listening in two days. I went ahead and purchased the next book in the series.

The Beggining of a Great Spinoff Series

I just want to applaud Jack Campbell for expanding his Lost Fleet universe in this direction. I've always been a sucker for the reluctant hero, and in this story you get 2. The portrayal of CEO Drakon and Iceni as they try to survive the downfall of the Syndicate Worlds and in the process become heroes that you can easily identify with is truly an enjoyable experience. The plot line, of course parallels the story of the Lost Fleet series but from the other side. This makes the events in the last couple books in the Lost Fleet series much more understandable. The action is great, as always with Jack Campbell, but it is the twists and turns and intrigue that really draws you in. I also liked the fact that Jack Campbell portrays his Heroes with all their warts and how they struggle, inspite of them, to make a better world. So if you liked the Lost Fleet Series you're definitely going to like this book.

Sometimes sensitive, sometimes simplistic!

Excellent narration. Each Character had their own voice and were clearly delineated.

As for the story itself, I was quite intrigued as the main protagonists grew out of their suspicious cynical syndicate ways into a more 'human' way of looking at events and motivations. After the rather sensitive handling of the "good guys", I was repelled by the paradoxically broad brush with with the enemy was painted. First of all, they were called "snakes" and they had absolutely no gradations: they were all evil, underhanded, sly, and lying.

There were some good battle scenes and the negotiations between the main characters were fascinating!

solid story and performance

The reason I gave this 4 instead of 5 starts is because it seemed to start out slow. I'm not familiar with the previous series and it took me awhile to catch on to what was going on. maybe an introduction for the uninformed world help.

After the first few chapters I was totally onboard with the characters and the story and enjoyed it enough to move on to the second book.

Very good

I like this one a lot. I'm glad the story is being continued. This is a little more negative in tone than the previous series.

An intriguing, but flawed start to a new series

What did you like best about The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight? What did you like least?

The best aspect of this new series is the interesting look into the Syndic mentality, which is very different from the Alliance in many respects. It was also an opportunity to see war from a perspective other than the space engagements and limited Marine ground engagements of previous books.

The story itself is more of a political intrigue book than space drama/action, so fans of the previous series may or may not find it as engaging. I confess to having lost a bit of interest and found this series less addictive than the previous one.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Marc Vietor?

Christian Rummel would be my first choice. His range of voices and accents really adds life to a story, and when he narrates he feels like he is *acting* the story. Marc is a great narrator in that he *reads* the book well, but I never felt like he was trying to inject any real amount of life into the characters. This may have been a conscious directorial choice and not the fault of Vietor or an indicator of his abilities as an actor.

Any additional comments?

I'll stick with this series for one more book. If it doesn't grab me by then I'll probably focus on the adventures of Blackjack instead.

Love this series but...

Would you consider the audio edition of The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight to be better than the print version?

I love listening to all books in the series but I wish when they change readers that they make it a qualification that who ever takes over reading the book know's how to pronounce the names of the characters. This is not only true for this series but for all books where the reader has changed.

Good story, but breathless reading

The performance was clean, but entirety in a breathless monotone. Voices were done well, but it seemed hurried and stressed throughout.

A saga of the Syndic worlds.

Not a bad book, but I miss Black Jack and the exquisite tension between the man and the legend. This book has the political and military content, but struggles to separate principal characters from the general background.