Perilous Shield

The Lost Stars, Book 2

By: Jack Campbell

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

A thrilling spin-off from Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series, The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight delivered "excellent tales of space battles and struggles against tyrants and aliens". Now the New York Times best-selling author returns with the next chapter in the overthrow of the Syndicate Worlds’ oppression….

Following a successful coup, the leaders of the rebel Midway Star System struggle to forge a government free enough to please its citizens yet strong enough to secure power. But in a world where former rulers have become new foes, an alien threat to humanity may turn old adversaries into uncertain allies.

General Artur Drakon knows three words describe someone who confides in a Syndicate CEO: Stupid. Betrayed. Dead. Despite his misgivings, he partnered with another former CEO to overthrow Syndic forces. Now, with an enigma fleet menacing their hard-earned independence, he can ill afford to trust her - or lose her support.

President Gwen Iceni believes Midway is humanity’s defense against the enigmas. Syndicate training taught her self-preservation in a crisis, yet she’s determined to fight for the star system’s fate…even if it means joining forces with Drakon - and an officer of the hated Alliance.

Their plan places the Midway flotilla at great risk in hopes of greater reward: recruiting the personnel necessary to man warships against the enigmas. But before facing the alien advance, Drakon and Iceni must survive hidden dangers closer to home: all-too-human threats that could jeopardize Midway’s freedom…and their own lives.

©2013 John G. Hemry (P)2013 Audible Inc.

Say What?

Campbell/Hemry comes out with another fantastic story from the Lost Fleet Universe. However I have to ask, who wrote the last chapter? Did he have writer's block and decide to get his inspiration by watching daytime TV? I mean really are we reading a space opera or a space soap opera? This book was going along great and had me buying in big time until the end. This was a five star book that tanked to a "jump the shark" moment in the last chapter. The only reason I didn't give the story a worse review than I did was because there is a chance to salvage this. I have to say that if Campbell/'Hemry continues down this rabbit hole, I'm done with this series. I realize that much of the political parts of his books he finds in our own history, but even so the ones that attempted this one always failed miserably and rarely made for good stories. In fact just the opposite, most of them are bloody sagas that we try to push under the proverbial historical rug and forget about. This needs a quick resolution in the next book to keep me interested.

Marc Vietor does a great job in his second outing in the Lost Fleet Universe. This is a much better performance than his first book and I hope that it continues with the rest of the series.

Not what I expected...

Thought it would be more of Black Jack...less about the free Syndate remainders. Too bad, I hope the next one pulls it all together.

excellent Series of books

this Series of books is exactly what Science fiction should be and the narrator Marc Vietor really pulls it together

Still Great!

The Lost Stars Perilous Shield was another wonderful Jack Campbell/Hemry novel - riveting, full of action, and with the characters we've come to know and love (even if they were once syndics!). The first half details the back story on several events occurring in the Lost Fleet: Guardian - it was great to see how it all transpired from a different perspective though admittedly some of the impetus was lost since we knew the results.

All the good Jack Campbell trademarks are here - those great space battles and machinations, traveling through gates (very little takes place on Midway planet this time), and high stakes action. Some of the weaknesses are there as well - women are still screechy, over emotional wrecks next to their calm, easily seduced, and bemused male counterparts. And yes, there is still a lot of political commentary here that can be very thinly veiled metaphors for 20th century world politics. But honestly, Jack Campbell is to military sci fi what Tom Clancy was to military fiction - one of the best out there. So I'm going to cut slack here on the above simply because I love everything else about the books.

In Perilous Shield, Midway is still teetering - CEO Boyens waits to swoop down and retake Midway once the Alliance Fleet leaves. As well, Commander Bradamont, Alliance Liason to the planet, will find herself thick in the middle of the very dangerous arena of a former syndic world - will she survive long enough to help Iceni and Drakon find the resources they need to protect Midway? Meanwhile, assistants Togo, Morgan, and Malen have secrets of their own that may end up destroying their bosses.

I am constantly surprised at where Jack Campbell can take these books and especially love that Perilous Shield had so much space action. The one thing that kept this from being a 5 star book for me was the ending (a cliffhanger for the next book in the series) which ended up playing out too much like an overwrought Mexican Telenovela soap opera. I think it would have worked better in the middle of the book rather than being the random punctuation on an otherwise wonderful read.

Greatly looking forward to the next in the series.

The Midway Star System viewpoint

The Lost Star Series is Jack Campbell’s the second spin off of the Lost Fleet Series. This series takes the view point of the Syndicate Worlds primarily, The Midway Star System. This system has been featured in a number of the recent book. This book is the alternate view point from the book “The Guardian” from the Beyond the Frontier Series. The key players are President Gwen Iceni and General Artur Drakon head of the ground forces of Midway Star System. The last half of the book is new material relating only to Midway. The story has lots of space action as well as intrigue, suspense and some humor. Commander Bradamount, the Captain of Dragon, a cruiser in Admiral Black Jack Geary fleet is assigned to be the liaison officer to Midway and stays behind when the fleet leaves the system. Togo is President Iceni’s body guard and Morgan and Malen are General Drakon key assistants these three provide a lot of the intrigue and suspense of the story. Bradamount accompanies the Midway fleet to Alliance Space to retrieve 5000 prisoner of war. These highly trained spaceship crews are vital to the needs of Midway. There are about 1500 of these that chose to go to their home worlds and some promise to get their families and come on to Midway. But the underline suspense, are there SNAKES (Syndicate secret police) hidden in the POW’s? Marc Vietor did a good job narrating the book. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

wow. just wow.

What did you love best about The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield?

I enjoyed all of it. from the beginning where we got to see different points of views for the events at the end of invincible and the beginning of guardian, I suspect you will all enjoy how Iceni, used to being a paranoid (I.E. alive) CEO, interprets Geary's words and actions. to the end and the last two twists. I for one saw the second to last one coming and with the time left thought it would be the last big event, I was somewhat dissipated as I had seen it coming and had hoped for an end that gave me something new to think about, then the last twist blindsided me, though there was enough info others may have suspected it. the way Drakon discovers this last twist is also hilarious as are his final thoughts about it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Its a hard call. my two favorites are Drakon and Morgan.

Have you listened to any of Marc Vietor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He narrated tarnished knight. he also acted as the main, and in my opinion best, narrator for the black company series. I have enjoyed all of his performances.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes and no. while I did not want to stop listening and in fact did not I also wanted the book to last longer so as there could be more sittings.

Any additional comments?

while I would recommend this book I would also recommend reading both the lost fleet books and tarnished knight first.

deeper relationships

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I'd recommend this book. I'm a fan. This book is another fast easy listen with more focus on the tensions between characters than prior books which hooked me with "at time point 1.2 initiate maneuver." Good listening and good entertainment.

Mirror Mirror

What did you love best about The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield?

Have you ever wondered what happened after Captain Kirk left the bearded Mr. Spock in charge after giving him a powerful weapon system and a sexy concubine...... well this is it.

Any additional comments?

Great ending (almost too good), sequel has "High Bar"

Gripping Novel but Cliffhanger Ending

The Lost Stars series describes many of the same events as the Lost Fleet series and the Beyond the Frontier series but from a different point of view. I like the approach, borrowed from the Alexandria Quartet. I find the characters compelling, the plot lines interesting, and the political and military detail very plausible and insightful. I would have given the first 95% of the book five stars. However, I did not like the ending, which leaves the key issue in the novel unresolved and has two major plot twists. Campbell abandons his normal approach of careful, plausible plot development. I had been completely drawn into the reality of the story and suddenly, in the last few minutes, found the spell broken as the author introduces a stereotypical megalomaniac plot line that seems implausible.

I hope the author rescues the plot line quickly in the next novel in the series. And I hope the next novel actually has an ending that is not yet another cliffhanger.

Still worth worth reading or listening to, but I suspect it would be more satisfying to be able to read the sequel right away.

Great series

Love this series. Really enjoyed listening this book.
My brother recommended this book to me, good thing I listened to him as well.