Jack Campbell continues the series with Admiral Geary as the lead in Implacable. Admiral Geary with a large support armada has come to the alien Dancer space to negotiate a deal for humankind with them. Tensions among the military, diplomats and scientists are balanced by the incursion of unwanted humans who have to be controlled, sent away or destroyed. In the last incursion a human military authority tries to take over from Geary and militarize negotiations which would be genocide and a failure as the aliens have superior weapons and ethics. Geary puts his life on the line to stop this and meanwhile the negotiators try to find a suitable approach to relations that the Dancers will accept. High stakes military and diplomatic negotiations with wonderful portrayal of differing aliens.

If you have enjoyed Jack Campbell's other series, Lost Fleet and Beyond the Frontier, and Lost Stars, Genesis Fleet series, you will love this too. I started reading Jack Campbell in 2015 when I was sent an ARC of one of the Leviathon, which was the final book in the Beyond the Frontier series. Of course with my OCD, I had to read the previous NINE books before I could read it. I was in the middle of moving from Minnesota to North Carolina, so I got the audio CDs from the library. And thus, my love affair with this world began.


Everything I have said in previous reviews is still true. I am hopelessly attached to these characters. They have been through so much with the battles and betrayals and greedy businesspeople and politicians. In spire of everything, they remain smart and compassionate. Yes, you need to read this series in order for the world-building and character developments. And you want to read every book because I love them. So much.

Our main character, Geary, has been sidelined a bit. The Council sent him off to deal with aliens, starting with the Dancers (also called spider-wolves). They've sent along a diplomat who is "in charge" but Geary has his own long time team who has communicated with the Dancers. They also meet the Taon and Wooareek.

Then the Syndics show up with not just their usual plan to control everything but long jump insanity as well. The Dancers leave Geary and his Alliance to handle them. Geary doesn't want to fire on them because he doesn't want the Dancers to see him do that but he also doesn't want the Syndics to harm the Dancers. The Dancers are determined to stay out of it as human problem is human problem.

So goes the rest of our story. Another group from the Alliance shows up with new orders for Geary to get on with making an agreement to secure Dancer technology even if they have to battle them! But they don't even know about the Taon and Wooareek, who also have technology well beyond the human capabilities.

The Dancers finally say they want to settle the agreement in 6 days or the Alliance should leave their star system. Everyone tried to figure out how to create an agreement they will accept. In the end, Geary comes up with an idea based on history. It's brilliant.

Implacable is the third in the new Outlands series which is the farthest into the future of the Lost Fleet world. I love the chance to see these many beloved characters in their new mission forming relationships with other species. The politicians want Geary out of the way as he is too popular with the people and there are assassination attempts as well. Geary is outstanding in the military missions and commanding the fleet, but he is also a great strategist and is learning politics and diplomacy. I highly recommend all these series in this world.

Tension, protection for a diplomatic mission, and alien species kickstart an excellent book by Jack Campbell: Implacable . Admiral John Black Jack Geary’s Alliance fleet has been sent to protect a diplomatic mission to the territory belonging to the Dancers. The Dancers are called that due to their movements. They resemble spiders with a wolf’s head and their intentions are unknown. When another alien species with superior technology arrives, the mission becomes even more complicated. However, the most serious danger comes when Admiral Geary is presented with orders that he believes are contrary to the ideals of the Alliance. Will he obey them or risk tearing apart the Alliance and endangering his fleet?

It was amazing to see Admiral Geary respond to events as they occurred. His outlook on the Alliance as well as the fleet he is responsible for is always clear. He is viewed as a hero by many, but some of his actions in this novel are questioned by some of his fleet officers. Many characters brim with personality. But which of their agendas are for the good of all and which ones are self-serving?

This book is the third one in The Lost Fleet: Outlands series. There are several other subseries in the The Lost Fleet collection as well. Since this is the first book I have read by this author, it took me a short while to get into the story and understand who was who. There are many characters in this novel, but several have been in prior books. If you’ve read them, it will likely be easy to reconnect with old friends.

The plot is twisty with harrowing scenes, plenty of layers, thought-provoking instances, and a larger-than-life protagonist. The multiple conflicts and the diplomatic challenges move the story forward rapidly. Relationships, power, knowledge, and understanding others who are different play varying roles in this tense science fiction thriller. A new threat seems to lurk around every corner. Trying to understand the fallout from the actions of Admiral Geary, aliens, and other Alliance officers expanded the story and kept me turning the pages. While many of the threads in this story line are brought to a satisfactory conclusion, there are some things left to be revealed in the next book in the series.

Overall, this is a tense and exciting science fiction thriller that kept me on an emotional rollercoaster. It was engaging, atmospheric, and suspenseful and did a great job of keeping me hooked. I can’t wait to see what happens next. I recommend reading this series in order. Enthusiasts of space exploration science fiction thrillers will likely enjoy this novel.

Berkley Publishing Group – Ace and Jack Campbell provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for July 04, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

I'm a fan of Black Jack, the hero of these books. This is another solid installment of his adventures. We get the addition of a couple new alien species (one of which is completely hilarious.) I look forward to more of Admiral Geary and Captain Desjani.
One thing to note is there's a lot of character dialog/exposition along the lines of "hey don't forget this thing happened a few books ago" and also "here's some stuff central to this story that makes it less confusing." When you're a binge reader like me (I went back and re-read every single Black Jack book before reading this one) that comes across as a lot of repetition and sometimes paragraphs that are pretty much lifted word for word from earlier books. Somehow it still manages to sound natural though, so it's not really a big deal. It does make it a little easier if someone wanted to start the series in the middle though.

Implacable by Jack Campbell, a good installment of the next book in the series. Campbell is keeping Black Jack busy with new problems and new aliens.