Warship

Much better than I thought it would be! Solid and enjoyable read.

Fantastic military science fiction. I would gladly serve on the TCS Blue Jacket and under the command of Jackson Wolfe any day.

I was in the mood for a good-ol military SF story, and this one pretty much filled that need.
Jackson Wolfe is a down on his luck Captain commanding an old and poorly maintained destroyer, the Blue Jacket, on her last voyage. He has had a long struggle to gain even this command – he is a “filthy Earther” after all. He has some personal problems and crew problems weighing on him too. But, no need to feel too sorry for him. He is one of those “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” types.
His ship is dispatched to deliver a mysterious passenger to a rendezvous and then sent to on to investigate odd occurrences including a missing ship in a rim world system. That is where they run into big trouble. Humanity has finally met up with an alien intelligence – an advanced, hostile, and very odd alien intelligence. They are not inclined to play nice.
From that point on (about halfway through the book) the action is hot and heavy. The Blue Jacket engages in running space battles with all kinds of weapons being used –heavy lasers, magnetic cannons, missiles, and plasma beams. Every engagement is do-or-die. During all this Captain Wolfe has to deal not only with the powerful enemy, but also with the creaky systems in the old ship and his less than optimal crew.
There are some unexpected twists in the story, but it finishes with a satisfactory ending that sets things up for additional stories.
All in all good military SF. To me it is more space opera than hard SF (though there is quite a bit of tech-talk).
Mark Boyett's narration is quite good.
3.5 stars rounded up.