Rating: 
Summary: Probably Not Authored By David Drake
Review: LT. Leary Commanding (LLC) is an almost unreadable book. I'd be surprised if he actually wrote it, as Drake is much too good an author to have been the source of this nonsense. Reading "Superman" is more productive, since you only have to believe in ONE superbeing; LLC has you believe in commanders who never make mistakes, some subordinates who have the real desire to serve that would shame a 17th Century English nobleman, and others who have a supernatural capability to access any database at any time. Even Superman didn't have all these advantages, being stuck only with flying and X-Ray vision. Buy some other book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Rip off of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series
Review: Normally, I can't stand Drake's writing because I can't get to know or like his characters. This series different, Lt Leary is perfect as the dashing shipmaster Capt Aubrey and Officer Mundy superb as the ingenious (and clumsy) Dr. Maturin. Drake remained true to Mr. O'Brians swashbuckling series set during Napoleonic Wars... I loved it and hope for many more books. Complicated plot, heavy on the action and weak on the character... just like O'Brian. I am really amazed at how the role of the communications officer was so integral to the mission! I think I'll start on Belisarius series next. Mr. Drake is growing on me.
Rating: 
Summary: Good (Space) Sailor's Yarn
Review: This book contains good space sailor's yarn: Leary & Mundy are in space again and fighting for their Republic of Cinnabar, a cross between old pre-Caesar Rome and early Imperial Britain. However the characters hardly evolve. We learn about Daniel Leary's skills in sailing the matrix and Adele Mundy's in retrieving data from enemies, but they don't have to face their nightmares and find inner strength like in „With the Lightnings". The plot is without much depth, its basically the two heroes going on with their business. A lot of potentially interesting sub-plots get started but somehow get lost. The story ark seems to evolve slowly but then ends with a quick bang as if the author had to speed up to meet a time-table. But again: good yarn. Easy reading for a long flight or after-work hours. And with the characters of Leary & Mundy the potential for a great series is there. I'll look forward for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Good (Space) Sailor's Yarn
Review: This book contains good space sailor's yarn: Leary & Mundy are in space again and fighting for their Republic of Cinnabar, a cross between old pre-Caesar Rome and early Imperial Britain. However the characters hardly evolve. We learn about Daniel Leary's skills in sailing the matrix and Adele Mundy's in retrieving data from enemies, but they don't have to face their nightmares and find inner strength like in „With the Lightnings". The plot is without much depth, its basically the two heroes going on with their business. A lot of potentially interesting sub-plots get started but somehow get lost. The story ark seems to evolve slowly but then ends with a quick bang as if the author had to speed up to meet a time-table. But again: good yarn. Easy reading for a long flight or after-work hours. And with the characters of Leary & Mundy the potential for a great series is there. I'll look forward for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic?
Review: This is a good read on naval sailingship tradition projected into the future. It is not really believable, but if one accepts that, it is a real page turner. In the previous book (With_the_lightnings) Lt Leary was taking on a fully prepared and armed enemy cruiser waiting for him in orbit while climbing out of a gravity well in a corvette he had just taken over and that he was not familar with. In this book he has to top that and he does. One wonders what he will attack singlehandedly in the third volume? Perhaps the enemy's main naval base? A good read (not one of the David Drake bloodletting atrocities), but not believable.
Rating:
Summary: Good space opera, but a step down from the first book
Review: This is a sequel to WITH THE LIGHTNINGS, which I really liked. I didn't like it as well as the first book, and it comes close to being a three-star novel rather than four. The book delivers the expected thud and blunder, though I got a little confused about what was happening in the middle of the book. The only serious complaint I have about the book is one that sometimes pops up in David Drake's work: One of the characters is EXTREMELY morbid. To the point where it becomes annoying. Ms. Mundy is repeatedly described as having thoughts along the lines of "It made no difference to her whether the spaceship blew up and incinerated everyone aboard, or took off as planned. But she admired competence, and wasn't going to let failure be her fault." At one point, I found her perpetual morbidity to be so bad I considered not finishing the book. Fortunately, this seems to let up about halfway through the book, and I really enjoyed the last half. Worth reading, but read WITH THE LIGHTNINGS first.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Space Opera Stuff
Review: Very enjoyable read. Hoping to see more. Kind of of like Dewey Lambdin or Patrick Obrian in Space. Definitely some flavors of Awbrey and Maturin from Pat Obrian, crossed with some Honor Harrington. I like this series a lot, and look forward to more! Drake is nearly always a great read, and nothing disappointed me on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Space Opera Stuff
Review: Very enjoyable read. Hoping to see more. Kind of of like Dewey Lambdin or Patrick Obrian in Space. Definitely some flavors of Awbrey and Maturin from Pat Obrian, crossed with some Honor Harrington. I like this series a lot, and look forward to more! Drake is nearly always a great read, and nothing disappointed me on this one.
Rating:
Summary: A great night's entertainment
Review: Very readable, as always with Drake, but less brutally descriptive of battle injuries than his early work. Action without angst if you will. Less obsessed with convincing us of the horror of war than was the younger Drake. Without spoiling the plot, Lt Leary's success in the first episode of this series ("With The Lightnings") brings attention that makes him the intended pawn in a political scheme. Action is the essence of the book rather than debate about the issues. (If you care about the issues, they are sketched from actual historical conflicts, so pick up any non-fiction book about the period from 1500 to 1900 and meditate away. Drake assumes you took a history class or two and know where to find such discussions. This book entertains you with the people, not the issues.) The characters are easy to enjoy, but not to understand, unless you read the first book in the series where their relationships are formed. Having done that makes evident the development in the characters. The earlier comparison to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin is apt. A good many references in POB novels are obscure if you haven't read the early books, and the interaction between the POB characters occasionally startles you, if you don't know their shared background. The books of this Drake series offer a light meal from the same ingredients POB uses to create a banguet. I'd give POB five stars for most of his novels and I'm only rating this one four. I've read the POB books several times and still found more each time. I'm not sure that's a recommendation for POB if you just want a "cracking good yarn" to fill an evening. Drake provides that. Worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: Not commanding my attention
Review: With the Lightnings (precursor to this story) was interesting enough that I read Lt. Leary Commanding. It is now residing in the box heading towards my local used book store. I was still interested enough to finsh the book to see if it ended the way I thought it would (it did, no big surprises). Drake continually interrupts his writing to explain the motives of the characters - as if I wasn't paying attention or too dim to pick it up myself. (I am not speaking of filling in the gaps for those who hadn't read the previous book, which were expected.) Stylistically, this really disrupts the flow of reading. Drake can write well and can write good action. I was disappointed to see the quality of his work disrupted. The overall story line was interesting. There was a more than satisfactory amount of action, political and military. I enjoyed the brief descriptions of the various crew members. They weren't detailed, not being major characters, but they were at least interesting and varigated. Occasionally to the point that I wonder if the author's acquaintences could put names to them... However, the two main characters (Lt. Leary and PO Mundy) are flat. Very nicely painted, with much potential, but still flat. Am I really expected to believe that a physically bumbling and aristocratically arrogant communications officer who knows nothing about, and apparently has made no effort to gain knowledge of, the Navy in which she serves, is supposed to be a welcome crew member? The rest of the crew is a collection of crack, top-notch sailors, but not her? The book reminds me of some civilians' over-done portrait of the military: accept the structure presented and don't wonder why it's done that way. Perhaps it is not the characters, but their motivations which are flat. How many times can Adele Mundy be offended because someone adddressed "A Mundy of Chatsworth" in that manner? How many times will we read Lt. Leary thinking that "A Leary of Bantry"....?? If you want an aristocratic tradition painted into your far-flung futuristic space faring navy, avoid this book and head for another David: David Weber.
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