A review by mlejoy
The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren

3.0

This isn't bad for a first book from an author. However, one of the top rated reviews here compares Caledonian Gambit to the Vorkosigan series, and I can assure you that it doesn't really compare to that in anyway (other than being a sci-fi book). The humor, characters and plot don't even come close to Bujold's work (the Vorkosigan books are my favorite sci-fi series - so it's a very high bar).

That being said, it was a pretty good spy-caper, as long as you're not expecting anything new or surprising. I'd call it a "beach read" - something you read when you just want mindless entertainment (in a good way). The main character Brody was pretty vanilla, but I did like the special ops team characters. As others have mentioned in reviews there really aren't any women in the book except as background.

My main gripe about this book is that a lot of it felt forced or unrealistic. There's a lot of "current-era" jargon and technology - it didn't feel especially futuristic. A lot of the dialog seemed formulaic - like "insert wise ass comment here", "insert brooding, cryptic comment here". My biggest issue was the ending - it wasn't believable & everything works out too perfectly

Spoiler

The head spy guy swipes the identity of another spy - and then gets into an ultra top secret base with no challenges. He has no plan and just hopes the bad guy won't shoot him, then he's taken prisoner and just one guy escorts him to the brig. Of course our hero manages to get the jump on the lone baddie. Really? What would have happened if the one guy had been competent? If they had handcuffed him? If they sent more than one person? So now our hero, who has escaped, opens up his storage container that has the bodies of his friends that he smuggled in, and they barely had enough air to survive - really? Then, they have to figure out how to do a wormhole jump with the super secret ship, something no one has ever seen or done before, and they manage to figure it out in just 2-3 stress filled minutes while under attack from enemy ships. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? EYE ROLL

I realize it's science fiction, but rules of believably still apply. That being said, I think this author has potential and I did like the book despite a few flaws.