The Exiled Fleet

Fun and entertaining

A good continuation of the story: the Empire Strikes Back of the sequence. A little more serious than the first book, but still well-paced. Looking forward to the next in the series.

I received a digital advanced reading copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot say enough how excited I was to read The Exiled Fleet and then how much I loved it. I really enjoyed the first novel in this series, The Last Watch, so I was definitely excited to read this and immediately put in my eARC request. Honestly, The Exiled Fleet is probably my favorite of the two.

The Last Watch centered on trying to escape and prevent the collapse of the edge of the universe, This novel continues their story and focuses on their attempt to build their own fleet and gain allies to rebel against the ruling family/corporation, which controls the military and essentially all of humanity. However, their plans to rebel are put on hold while they attempt to gather supplies and figure out a way to get back to the core (human inhabited space).

This novel had equal parts action and character development but the character development was what made me really enjoy it. Cavalon carries a lot of responsibility this time around and he takes it seriously, doing his best not to let his crew down. Though an amazing leader, Rake struggles with leading this new fleet with thousands of people into war. I adore the relationship they have with each other. Cavalon has a high amount of respect for Rake and though they still treat each other as a commander and soldier should, they've also cultivated a friendship. They balance each other in everything they do and it was kind of heartwarming. I'm not sure if this will turn into a romance in the future but I honestly think their relationship would be just as beautiful if it stayed a platonic friendship.

There were a few moments that actually made me cry, which is a rare thing for me. They were all different scenes that just made me feel hopeful or sad for the characters. I even messaged the author after one scene asking why she has to write so well and make me cry!

I also just want to mention that, like the first book, the science aspects of this novel were easy enough to understand, though it felt like a little more science was included this time around. Cavalon was able to use his college degree a little more this time and had numerous conversations about things he was working on, all of which were important to the overall plot.

To summarize, I absolutely loved this book and I highly recommend it. It's a great story overall with good action, great characters, and the science is easy to understand so it'd be a great book for any scifi lover or even someone who is newer to scifi.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Books for this eARC. And, of course, thank you to author J.S. Dewes!