Starship Blackbeard: The Complete Series by Michael WallaceMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Captain James Drake a hero of the recent war with the Hroom is in disgrace after being court martialed for events surrounding the loss of a marine detachment. Two years punishment he can take and he's confident he can then reclaim his name and find those responsible for the unjust accusations, manipulation of records and planting of condemning evidence. Unfortunately (or not) loyal members of the crew of HMS Ajax have other plans and the path towards a honourable officer turning space pirate begins.
Starship Blackbeard (all four novels in the series) are a fun read, there is no effort made to really explain the political system of this society or how/why Albion and the other worlds exist in terms of Earth. The technology again is just there, a lot of it seems to be questionable but like Star Wars the mechanics of FTL and shielding etc are not explained they are just there, this is no Star Trek where technology becomes part of the narrative. There are many readers who will be put off by this, many like their scifi with some technological and sociological background to the main narrative but if consider this a space opera where the story and characters are the be all and end all you'll probably enjoy the series. The story certainly does evolve nicely throughout the four novels and the writing also improves and gets more complex but the basic single man and crew against a corrupt force never fails to entertain and the action is fun and fast paced.
I bought the collection off the back of a recommendation and pleased to have done so, already bought the second series of novels which, well no spoilers :)
Fun and frolics as the pirate ship Blackbeard challenges the might of the royal navy, Hroom starships, traders, smugglers and fellow pirates for booty and justice.
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