Geary acted in a political/corporate way when he strategically got rid of the commanders he didn’t like and moved in other people he felt would follow his orders.The only group that had discipline were the marines. The Alliance started emulating the Syndics with their democratic meetings and votes on military tactics. The Sydics are modeled on a corporation – their leader is a CEO and all the complaints about virtual meetings from Geary seemed like a late ‘90s thing.The Audacious captain was never given a name (or gender) even after three pages of dialog. Some were surprised by how many women were in power – perhaps three women to every man? Others felt the women and men were basically androgynous and some of the captain’s genders were unknown.

It was interesting that Geary’s “old ideas” could be used against the new ideas and prove more effective.

Geary is the only one who sees the enemy as human which is okay, if you win….

Some people worshiped him (ancestor worship!) and others hated him and tried to tear him down because of his celebrity.

It was ironic that Geary’s last words before his 100 year sleep caused a lot of the later problems with discipline, etc.

The narrative was constrained because it was all from Geary’s point of view.

Now that he is aware of the danger, Geary can work to stop that from happening.

Co-President Rione planted the seed in Geary’s mind that he should avoid becoming a despot when they get back to Alliance space.

Most legendary characters are more heroic than Geary - he is more human.

The ship names were great – Truculent, Repulse, etc.

Some enjoyed the humor that was dropped in on occasion, like the note from the Syndic that was found at his desk and Geary sending the suicide bombers and their ships back to destroy the station that sent them.

It was ingenious that the aliens used different size drill bits and that someone (a marine!) was sharp enough to notice.The book was entertaining and fun, but without extra elements to make it really special.

Would such a breakdown of discipline and military tactics have occurred?.

Ancestor Worship was an interesting twist: “under the eyes of the stars,” where stars are ancestors.

Would Geary hook up with Rione? There was kind of a Battlestar Galactica dynamic between them.

There were too many references to Geary’s having been frozen.Military science fiction usually has weapons with more personality than the characters - this book had brief descriptions of weapons and a lot more character development.Here are some highlights of the discussion: On Wednesday, November 18th, we met to discuss The Lost Fleet: Dauntless by Jack Campbell.

The lost fleet dauntless