The second book in the RCN series was an excellent and engaging military science fiction story.

Lt. Daniel Leary and his Signals Officer Adele Mundy are off on an adventure. Daniel is still in command of the Princess Cecile which he captured in the first book in the series. His mission is to join a battle group heading to Strymon to show the flag for Cinnabar.

A way stop at Sexburga lets him meet the group commander who doesn't like Daniel one tiny bit. Both his luck and his lifestyle cause Commodore Pettin to be willing to sabotage Daniel's career. Daniel is also reintroduced to Mr. Delos Vaughn who has been a "guest" of Cinnabar since his father was involved in some political chicanery on his home planet of Strymon. Vaughn has some plans for Daniel which include marooning him and some of his crew and the desert-like south continent where Daniel makes some intriguing discoveries. Meanwhile, Adele is using her research skills to find Daniel before the rest of the squadron takes off leaving Daniel behind.

When the son of the deposed leader of Strymon scams his way aboard the Princess Cecile and has plans to reclaim the Presidency of Strymon, Daniel and Adele find themselves deeper into politics than either would like to be. Between Commodore Pettin and Vaughn, Daniel is busy trying to keep command of his ship and his career.

An Alliance invasion force isn't really necessary to add to the confusion, but Daniel and crew stumbles into one while be sent off for some fictitious repairs on his ship. But Daniel has a plan to foil the invasion and save his career even if it means working with pirates.

This was quite an engaging story filled with derring do, action, adventure, plots galore and surprisingly engaging characters. ( )

The second book in the RCN series was an excellent and engaging military science fiction story.

Lt. Daniel Leary and his Signals Officer Adele Mundy are off on an adventure. Daniel is still in command of the Princess Cecile which he captured in the first book in the series. His mission is to join a battle group heading to Strymon to show the flag for Cinnabar.

A way stop at Sexburga lets him meet the group commander who doesn't like Daniel one tiny bit. Both his luck and his lifestyle cause Commodore Pettin to be willing to sabotage Daniel's career. Daniel is also reintroduced to Mr. Delos Vaughn who has been a "guest" of Cinnabar since his father was involved in some political chicanery on his home planet of Strymon. Vaughn has some plans for Daniel which include marooning him and some of his crew and the desert-like south continent where Daniel makes some intriguing discoveries. Meanwhile, Adele is using her research skills to find Daniel before the rest of the squadron takes off leaving Daniel behind.

When the son of the deposed leader of Strymon scams his way aboard the Princess Cecile and has plans to reclaim the Presidency of Strymon, Daniel and Adele find themselves deeper into politics than either would like to be. Between Commodore Pettin and Vaughn, Daniel is busy trying to keep command of his ship and his career.

An Alliance invasion force isn't really necessary to add to the confusion, but Daniel and crew stumbles into one while be sent off for some fictitious repairs on his ship. But Daniel has a plan to foil the invasion and save his career even if it means working with pirates.

This was quite an engaging story filled with derring do, action, adventure, plots galore and surprisingly engaging characters. ( )

For years, my wife and daughter have raved about the Lt Leary series by David Drake. I've finally read one, "Lt. Leary Commanding", and I see why they love it. Not only is Lt Leary an engaging character, but his communication officer Adele is wonderful. Her backstory is sad, but her communication and hacking skills are awesome. Not only are the main characters delightful, but the secondary characters, Hogg, Lt Leary's armsman and Tovere, Adele's are colorful and deadly.

As far as plot goes, this is military SciFi, with space battles. If you like David Weber's Honor Harrington or Miles Vorsiegen of Lois Bujold's series, you'll like this as well. ( )

Decent action and pace, but lacks originality.: This story is the second in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy series. It takes place in the far-future, where mankind has spread through much of the galaxy, but has split into a number of warring factions.

LT LEARY COMMANDING(2000) basically picks up where the 1st book WITH THE LIGHTNINGS(1998) leaves off... the main characters Leary (Lt. in the RCN), and Mundy (ex-Librarian, turned Signals Officer) return to Cinnabar aboard the PRINCESS CECILE, after capturing that ship in battle and using it to almost single-handedly defeat a planetary counter-coup backed by the "evil" Alliance of Free Stars... in fairly short order, they are sent out on a mission to a remote system of stars that is under loose Cinnabar influence, and which the Alliance is rumoured to be threatening to destabilize.

The book is fast-paced and contains lots of action - but we have seen these shoot-em-up sequences before, and they lack originality. The best part of the book comes when Leary and a small expedition team gets marooned on a desolate part of a lightly populated planet, and encounters creatures that have evolved from humans - but, very little time is spent on this interesting turn of events.

A couple of notes about the cover of LT LEARY COMMANDING; 1) Mundy and Leary appear as statuesque blondes, where they were better-depicted brunettes on the first cover. 2) The "R" in RCN has a little "crown" on it, as if to denote that it is the "Royal Cinnabar Navy"... however, it is the "Republic of Cinnabar Navy" - there should be no crown.

The heroes of With the Lightenings (s have a spaceship to cart them about on their adventures this time. It to is not as good as the first. ( )