Starbound is marginally better than Impulse, the first book in this series titled The Lighthouse Chronicles. Starbound is essentially two stories in one. The first 100 pages are reminiscent of the old "serials" that used to be offered during the Saturday afternoon matinees when I was a child. The author creates a seemingly inescapable scenario, then in desperation Cochran come up with a new, untested weapon or procedure as a last effort to survive. Cochran is forced to overcome opposition from the other officers who are skeptical but convinces Captain Maclintock to give it a try. Of course the plan works and they survive. Once is okay, but Bara's strategy is to repeat the formula again and again until—long after we became bored with the approach—he apparently became bored also.

Then Cochran and Kierkopf are detached and sent to face an inquest into the loss of the Impulse and they wind up in the midst of a civil war. Taking a page from David Drake's Lt. Leary (Republic of Cinnabar Navy; RCN) series, it turns out that Cochran is the son of the ruler of his home world of Quantar. That makes Cochran a Prince, so in civilian life he outranks his military superiors but when fulfilling his military duties he is subordinate. Drake has been at this game much longer than Bara, however, and the RCN series much more interesting.

I had resolved during the first 100 pages that this would be the last book in this series I would read. The latter half of the book is better, however, and I am at least open to the possibility of reading the next offering. We'll see. ( )

I really enjoyed this book, cracking good old-fashioned space opera, harks back to EE Doc Smith with a touch of Dune and Starship Troopers thrown in. But I highly recommend reading the first in the series before attempting this one, I haven't and I found the backstory confusing. Who exactly are the First Empire and why are they so hostile? Why are all the Earth colonies seemingly only just re-discovering each other? Why is Earth such a peripheral player in this story? Who are the Earth Historians? None of these things are satisfactorily explained in this book and I'm hoping the first book does the job. But if you can put all that aside, this is just a terrific read, and I want more. ( )