The Way to Glory (4) (Lt. Leary)

If you enjoy sailing epics like Hornblower or O'Brien's Capt. Aubrey books, you will like this series. Drake masterfully combines science fiction with an 18th Century twist. Put the British Navy of Admiral Nelson's time into space and you get Captain Leary. In this story Leary has to deal with not only the enemy, but internal navy politics as well.

This book is excellent in so many ways, as is the series. It's space navy adventure with TWO strong lead characters, one male one female, who are intelligent, intriguing, complex, and capable and who work together well. David Drake's Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy series stands on its own excellent merits. But I DO enjoy the nuances of other character series so skillfully woven in. For example: Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin series, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, and C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series. I recommend this book and this series for anyone interested in rousing intelligent adventure with strong lead characters. With spaceships, imperialists, colonialists, and enemy space nations galore, it's a creative, well-crafted treat.

Another great Lt. Leary book, though we all know he wouldn't be where he was without his "librarian" Adele Mundy. I eagerly await each new book in this series, though I will read most anything written by David Drake. My only quibble with this book is that nothing is resolved regarding the "mutiny" and execution of crew members by Lt. Leary's new commander in his {the commander's) previous ship. Perhaps we will hear more about that in a later book?? Also, it would be nice if we knew just exactly why Lt. Leary and his father don't get along, what the original big dispute was about?? In any case, it's a fun read.

If you just stumbled on this book out of context, here's my take on it: The Cinnabar Navy series (for want of a better description) centers around a future interstellar republic (Cinnabar) and the adventures of a young naval officer, Daniel Leary. In this installment (the fourth) Lieutenant Leary is very well regarded for his previous exploits, but instead of receiving the command he deserves, is appointed to serve under a captain who has apparently executed mutinous crew members in his previous cruise. The result of his action is rioting on Cinnabar the planet, and Captain Slidell is quickly assigned a new command to get him out of the system. Leary is obviously assigned under him to keep an eye on him and ensure that he isn't actually barking mad. The captain is quite aware of this and things don't go well from the beginning. I thouroughly enjoyed the fourth outing of Leary, Mundy and the 'Sissies'. I wonder what they will become now with their original ship out of commission? And where will our Lieutenant go now that he isn't one any more? Does Daniel's father have plans for him? Some reviews have suggested that this book was a bit two dimensional, but I found myself just as immersed in it as in the previous efforts, and at the end of it all I could do was start wondering what would happen next. And hoping that Mr. Drake is already busily plotting another!

The latest Lt. Leary book is a solid addition to the series - and it's also a lot of fun to read! The book opens with riots in the streets of Xenos (Cinnabar's capital) over the acquittal of a Navy captain, Slidell, who accused three members of his crew of mutiny and then executed them, instead of taking them back to Xenos for a regular military trial. In an effort to keep unrest down and show support for the officer (who up until then had been a reliable captain and had a good record), the Navy assigns the now-famous Daniel Leary to the ship as a first Lieutenant. Along with Leary comes his friend Adele Mundy, their respective servants Hogg and Tovera, and most of the crew of Leary's previous ship. The Navy's good intentions aside, Captain Slidell is as paranoid as they come, not to mention deeply jealous and suspicious about Leary's motives. And Leary's methods, any crew that served under Leary previously, Mundy, anyone associated with Leary or Mundy, and in general everything and anything that Daniel Leary might say, do or think that wasn't originally Slidell's idea. Other secondary characters such as Adele Mundy's secret boss Bernice Sands, and the bosun Woetjans, are also present. We even get a closer look at Admiral Anston, the head of the Navy! (Who turns out to be a pretty decent person.) While they are out in remote sections of the Republic, Daniel and company encounter philandering Navy officers, Alliance spies, byzantine planetary politics, and the usual array of odd characters. It's somewhat quiet in parts as Drake introduces the readers to new characters and situations, but there is quite a bit of action too. All in all, a good book. I do have to disagree with one reviewer who said the Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy were wooden. To me, one of the most interesting parts of this book was watching the slow evolution of Daniel's and Adele's friendship. At the start of the series, Daniel was definitely the dominant personality. But as Adele finds more confidence in herself and realizes that she now has real FRIENDS, meaning people in her life who don't just find her useful but actually CARE about her, she is developing more assertiveness. Daniel, on the other hand, has always been a very outgoing, cheerful and optimistic personality. But as his notoriety grows and he acquires more followers (who are technically only regular Navy personnel but who have served with Daniel for years and would gladly die for him) AND more notice from the movers and shakers of the Republic, he starts to build up more responsibilities and worries. Daniel and Adele are also still finding out just how important their friendship is to each other and how strong of a team they make together, with Daniel in the forefront and Adele in the background, but both equally important. As one example: There is a scene where Daniel worries about the repercussions of a very spontaneous decision he made. Daniel wondes aloud if things might have turned