Ghost Fleet Review

Mini-review #18

This is a series of short reviews for military SF and mecha SF.  You will not see a review of something I don't like as it isn't worth writing about in that case, but I will tell you what works for me and what doesn't about the stories I did like. 

Back in June and July this year, there was suddenly a wave of reviews and some press coverage for the novels Ghost Fleet and Tin Men. Both involve near future extrapolations of current military technology and they are scifi-ish technothrillers.  I will say that both novels use future tech in a way that puts a great deal of military SF to shame as they are more advanced in concept than some other writing.  I went onto the waiting list at my public library to get this book as I don't buy hardcover fiction and the ebook was awful expensive.  So 2 months later, I can now review it!

Ghost Fleet in particular is very good at the showing the implications of future tech and the battlespaces in which it operates.  I really liked it and it sure didn't hurt that it had a good story behind it as well.  Some reviewers have compared it to Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising for the 21st century so far and I would pretty much agree with them.

The basis of the book is about a Pearl Harbor 2.0 event for the Americans, who are attacked by China this time (since they're the new Soviets since the end of the Cold War).  The Chinese and American perspectives are nicely done and the conflict rages across the Pacific on the surface, in the air, on the ground in Hawaii, and even in space.  The American technological advantage in this case works against them as their electronics have component manufactured in China and have been compromised (this was something that was used in David Gerrold's novel, The War Against the Chtorr decades ago).  A bit of space war against US military satellites, and extensive cyber warfare neutralizes American military power for awhile.

One littoral combat ship escapes from Pearl Harbor and the XO, Jamie Simmons, becomes captain the USS Zumwalt from the Ghost Fleet of mothballed ships in California.  The Zumwalt is outfitted as a railgun ship, but everything is experimental on board.  So there is plenty of surface action and plenty of engineering work to do below decks (where's Scotty when you need him?).  Anyways, without giving any more away, the book is a great read.

Does it have a cast of characters listing?
Nope.  But there are Russian spies, plenty of admirals on both side of the Pacific, eccentric billionaires who want to help the war effort, hackers, and of course, the crew of the Zumwalt.  Jamie Simmons is a man who is conflicted, but learns to become a great captain with the help of his father, who is also assigned to his ship. The two start with a bad relationship that develops in other directions over the course of the novel, adding some good elements to the story.

What is the scope / scale of the story?
Ship to ship action, fleet actions with plenty of missiles in the air, naval bombardment, guerrilla action in Hawaii, and even a murder mystery plot all spice things up.  There are some good sections set in space and I'll just leave it at that.

Does it have likeable characters?
You care about a number of the characters, but I found myself liking the Chinese lady engineer on the Zumwalt, Jamie's father, and all of the named Russian characters.  The Chinese Generals and Admirals were pretty flat characters, but they move the story along.

Does it have an entertaining story line?
Very entertaining.  I finished the book in one long read.  There are multiple groups of characters and they all get some good screen time so to speak.

How is the internal consistency / plausibility?
Wow, this one is a no brainer.  I think the authors nailed a pretty good vision of the future high-tech battlefield and all of its implications.  It is very well done and plausible.  China's reason for war is that is needs room to grow and it needs to remove the American obstacle.  The politics were fairly good, but it seems like all of Americas allies abandon her when she needs help the most (Fortress America mentality) and I'm not sure that would really happen since they were the victim of a massive surprise attack. The conflict doesn't go nuclear either, but that would make for a short book.

What cool bonus features are there?
Little tiny lobster recon / multi-role bots.  Extensive use of drones of all sizes.  Railguns that work. Old tech vs new tech.  Old retired veterans showing young pup sailors how to do their jobs right even if they have all that cool knowledge for the new tech systems and use "Viz" the next gen Google Glass. Plenty of scary mind manipulation and common use of stims for soldiers too.  The F-35 showing that it works when its systems aren't compromised (I don't like the plane much myself, but boy has it been getting bad press these days).

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