Warspite

Ark Royal, Book 4

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Peace is not freedom. Peace is merely the absence of war.

The First Interstellar War is over, but the Royal Navy still has plenty of work to do. As Earth struggles to recover from the bombardment, Captain John Naiser is placed in command of HMS Warspite - an experimental heavy cruiser - and ordered to escort a squadron of colony ships to a star system of immense strategic importance. But as the crew struggle to survive hundreds of light years from Earth, they find themselves dealing with the legacy of the war...and a threat that may sow the seeds of renewed conflict or a deadly civil war that will rip the human sphere apart.

Like my self-published Kindle books, Warspite is DRM-free. You may reformat it as you choose. There is a large sample of the text - and my other books - on my site: chrishanger.net. Try before you buy.

©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2015 Audible Inc.

I hope the next one doesn't spend so much time on political musings.

I loved the first 3 books but this one was a bit too full of too much PC talk. I felt like all the worrying about inside political structure of the navy just took away from the story. The book spent at least a third of the story worrying about the political fall out with only the last 6 minutes of the book showing the results of all the other hours of musings. It just felt like it got in the way of a good story.

Not bad, but not great

What did you like best about Warspite? What did you like least?

Moves very slowly until the end. This is a small slice of life drama following the recent war without any significant movement for the bigger picture regarding the alien race and humans

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Need to move the global war issues forward

What didn’t you like about Ralph Lister’s performance?

Very harsh British voices which became irritating very early in the book. I suspect this may be a realistic reproduction of how the military carries on conversations, but it gets old very quickly

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Well worth the time...

What did you love best about Warspite?

The advancement of the story from the end of the Ark Royal saga... moving into the next generation of concepts and diplomatic interactions. Brilliant opening... and a few well played plot twists. Overall a well written story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Percy would have to be my favorite character because of his dealing with his father's legacy and how he made the decisions he made (i.e.- Joining the Royal Marines). Also dealing with being thrust into command.

Have you listened to any of Ralph Lister’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He is a great performer. I have only heard him in this saga, but it is another great work by a great orator.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The discovery of the Vecy...

Any additional comments?

If you are familiar with the rest of the Ark Royal series, this is another great addition to a really good saga...

Ark royal

another good story to go with the series
Got to keep going so many left

This narrator is bad.

I hate this narrator. His feeble attempts to replicate other people's accents is horrible. His normal voices of British people use poorly placed theatrical inflections. His reading is droll and laconic. It makes me wince when he adds his whispering to provide literary tension. I've felt this way throughout the series. I've stated this in other reviews. Never give this guy another voice over job again. Unless its portraying a character on a show like Family Guy where he can be a caricature of a British snob.

Horrible "Southern" accent.

Generally a good read/listen, but the narrator's version of a "Southern" accent was laughable. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book.

Son of Ark Royal rides again

Warspite is Christopher Nuttall's 4th installment in the Ark Royal universe. This time, the British have built a new military spaceship called Warspite and her new young captain and green crew are rushed into service to chaperone a group of ships critical for establishing Her Majesty's primacy over a new star system. Beyond that simple duty, they are testing out new drives for smoother, faster access to the "alien" tramlines. Along the way, they assist another British colony that is on the brink of destruction by both nature and themselves. They also stumble upon a renegade group of Russians who haven't kept up with the rest of the universe, stage a major battle with humans and aliens, violate nearly every rule in the book, and manage to recover some missing and kidnapped British citizens. Whether Warspite's captain ever emerges from the Board of Inquiry for this maiden voyage will be left for the next installment.

The sci-fi elements are minimal with vague references to the physics underlying the faster than light travel speeds. The aliens are unremarkable as well. The notable attraction of this series is the traditional and classical British cultural adherence. From mannerisms to preferences and loyalty to the royalty, the characters are indistinguishable from their counterparts today or 500 years ago. While the entire geopolitical structure of this universe is unchanged from late 20th to early 21st century Earth, all the action takes place off world.

The narration is excellent with a solid range and attention to the 'stiff upper lip' British attitude throughout. This is an enjoyable easy listening with little hard sci-fi to follow closely. The pacing of the tale is consistent and effortless.

Warsprite--Just OK

Would you be willing to try another book from Christopher G. Nuttall? Why or why not?

I enjoyed listening to the first 3 books in the Ark Royal series, but Warspite was just OK. The story was rather weak and the dozen or so references to the Captain's dead male lover and his same sex preference seemed out of place and tiresome. I like Nuttall's writing, but I would not listen to another Warspite novel.

Ark Royal IIII?

This is not ark royal book 4. It is the start of another series five years after the events in ark royal book 3. It should be relabeled Warspite 1. Good book and performance very misleading title.

Very political

This was a good read. It had several layers to the story. I'm interested to see what happens in the next book.