Admiral John Geary helped to fight a great war and has been frozen in stasis for, well, a long time. He's not merely made a name for himself, he's become a legend. Specifically, "Black Jack" Geary finds himself viewed with a great deal of respect, reverence and fame that he would rather do without... and an equal amount of fear, distrust and fanaticism from those who worry he will parlay his reputation and following into political clout - as well as those who fear that his return will fulfill a prophesy and bring the end of days. Fun times.
Admiral Geary returns to Unity, the planet that serves as the capital for the Alliance, to deliver evidence of treachery that had been committed by high-ranking members of the Alliance in covert operations. The "bad guys" are afraid of this evidence, while the "good guys" are afraid "Black Jack" will decide to take control of the Alliance into his own hands and "straighten the whole mess out." And while there are a lot of citizens of the Alliance that actually hope that he will do just that, Admiral Geary doesn't want that job. He merely wants to continue to serve in the Alliance Navy as he always has. He dislikes the legend he has earned and wants nothing to do with it. As it was for his forefather, some of the more treacherous waters this Geary has to navigate are those of politics and policy. It's never good when those who fear you are also those who can give you orders, and a power play between the Senate and Fleet Command causes some dicey moments for Admiral John Geary.
If you've read the Genesis Fleet books, don't fear... there is more maneuvering than just political to be found, here. Jack Campbell's realistic and exciting space battles are present and accounted for, featuring the type of tactics and strategy that made Rob Geary so interesting in a firefight and, evidently, this same mind for battle dynamics built Admiral "Black Jack" Geary's legend.
After some excitement and tense negotiations at the capitol, the Senate sends Geary and his large fleet away from Unity on an escort mission for diplomats to meet the alien race referred to as the "Dancers" (the ugly, helpful ones), but simply having Geary leave Unity and head for the outer reaches is possibly half of the importance of the mission, at least from a political perspective. In the meantime, while waiting for ship repairs and preparation for the mission, Geary and his ship stop for a visit to Glenlyon, Admiral Geary's family's home world. Geary is reluctant to return there, as it's been lifetimes since he had been there. Captain Tanya Desjani convinces him, however, that he owes it to the people of Glenlyon to celebrate their hometown hero. Plus, it will give the two of them a bit of alone time to have the closest thing to a honeymoon that they could hope for, given that Desjani is Geary's subordinate and that while they live together on a ship, they have to act strictly as naval personnel, not husband and wife.
While Geary doesn't want to control everything, he is amazed at how wrong people are getting things. Specifically, two of the alien races that humans have encountered are very different. One has a cute and cuddly appearance, but is extremely hostile and can't be reasoned with. Another looks very unappealing to humans, but has shown interest in humans and has come to their aid against a deadly alien foe, before. However, most of the populace - including those in governments - want to try to befriend the teddy bears and attack the ugly aliens.
The objectives of his fleet's mission is twofold: first, to negotiate with the system of Midway to add their warp gate to the Alliance network and then to continue on to Dancer space. That sounds so nice and tidy, doesn't it? Of course, nothing goes smoothly. Trying to manage a fleet through hostile territory to escort diplomats who aren't quite what they seem to meet an alien race that is an unknown. All, while dancing around the diplomacy of it all. It's an interesting and entertaining read, but not something you would have wanted to experience firsthand.
If you've enjoyed Jack Campbell's books before, Boundless will give you more of what you love. If you've read the Genesis Fleet series, just do bear in mind that this book takes place long after Vanguard and that Admiral "Black Jack" John Geary is not your father's Geary, as similar as they might seem. I feel like someone could approach this book without reading the Genesis Fleet and still enjoy it, but I read the three books in the Genesis Fleet series before reading Boundless and recommend that approach highly. Now, I'm looking forward to the next installment of the series.
