New orders – a review of the book “The Birth of the Fleet. Volume 2. Advantage “

Freedom on cosmic frontiers

The Fleet series tells about the beginnings of space colonization. Humanity still feels connected to the Earth and its ethnic roots, but it is slowly getting harder and harder to actually contact our cradle. Planets become home, still wild, with single cities with peculiar names. Transport ships circulate between them, trade routes are established based on the so-called jump points, places of gravitational breakdown that shorten the distances between star systems. Whoever takes control of these points will gain power over vast areas.

You probably already know what the Advantage will be about and where the spaceship wreckage on the cover comes from. While still in the Avant -garde , the first clashes took place between Glenlyon, who tried to maintain independence and the democratic regime, and the Scathans, who had imperialist inclinations. It is a conflict as old as humanity and we can be sure that if we ever go to the stars, it will follow us like a faithful shadow. In fact, it was from him that our conquest of space began – the Soviet Sputnik provoked the US to respond and gradually become involved in what was later called star wars.

Time to think about an alliance …

Let’s go back to the cover, which was really intriguing to me. As in the Avant -garde , we see a spaceship here. No wonder, it’s about the colonization of planets and a star fleet. But this time the ship is sinking, or more precisely, disintegrating under the influence of the explosion. Is this the starting point or a gloomy preview of the future of Glenlyon’s young space navy?

It turns out very quickly that at the very beginning of the book, the first battle will take place and the shipwreck of the Earth’s fleet will appear. It is a highly formalized formation, the operation of which is based on scrupulous fulfillment of procedures, and its commanders do not actually make independent decisions. Yes, treat it as a discreet criticism of the military, but also of corporations involved in the processes. This is one of Campbell’s favorite themes – the friction between self-willedness and rules that codify each subsequent action. Seeking the optimum between these extremes, Commander Geary and the politicians to whom he is subject will fight for independence and at the same time seek allies among planets who also do not want to become part of someone else’s empire.

An obvious ally of Glenlyon is Kosatka, a planet in a state of civil war… Or is it under conquest? In this thread, Campbell will show us the activities of the urban guerrilla and the beginnings of the espionage game, which may one day develop into full-blown diplomacy. These are my favorite chapters, focused on people rather than tactics.

Space Battles – checked!

As I mentioned in the introduction, Campbell does what he probably enjoys writing the most – he creates epic clashes. He sets strategies, coordinates activities with other departments, sets traps. It shows the paradoxes of cosmic distances: opponents are usually far apart, it takes them days to reach the place of combat, but direct contact takes seconds. The commander has a lot of time to think and hardly any flexibility during the firefight because it is too fast for the human mind. And then it often turns out that not all procedures are evil incarnate.

The avant- garde made a big impression on me, it refreshed the Campbellow’s format, it focused on the characters. In Advantage , the characters are obscured by the action, even if they create it, because that’s the job they have – they fight wars. This volume is more typical of the author and shows you what to expect from the Lost Fleet and Outer Space cycles , for which Fleet is a prequel. It’s a good military science fiction with political themes, in which you can clearly feel Campbell’s military experience and his mastery of the language. And yet I feel a bit sorry that he is already distracting himself from life on the surface of the planets and from everyday life in the colony.