A Galaxy Unknown – Thomas DePrima

This is the first of a currently-twelve-book series. It’s a space opera in the Horatio Hornblower tradition. Ensign Jenetta Carver is an underestimated science officer with a latent genius for tactics and strategy. In this book she takes command of a barely-armed space freighter and uses it to win several battles against incredible odds.

In each subsequent book in the series she rises in rank, faces ever-worse odds, and never fails to pull a battle-winning rabbit out of a hat. (The enemy always has an overwhelming force advantage and always falls for her tricks.)

I would have given this three stars - formulaic but fun to read - but I then read the next dix books over the next few days, so it gets another star for being an effective page-turner.

I lost interest at the end of book seven. The next enemy is getting ready to invade because they’ve heard ominous rumors and it’s apparently easier to cross the galaxy with a fleet than it is to try some diplomacy first. These books were fun to read, but at some level it’s the same book each time, and I read them until they wore out their welcome.