A Savage War of Peace

Ark Royal, Book 5

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

On her maiden voyage, HMS Warspite discovered Vesy, a world populated by primitive aliens, aliens whose culture had already been twisted and warped by human refugees from the First Interstellar War. Now Captain John Naiser and his crew spearhead a diplomat mission to the alien homeworld, hoping to ease them into the galactic mainstream. But with hundreds of others hoping to influence and shape the developing alien culture and all hell threatening to break loose as human ideals meet alien realities, events on Vesy might just mark the start of a new interstellar conflict....

And a civil war that will tear the human sphere apart.

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

India on the Move

Captain John Naiser and the crew of HMS Warspite are back on Vesy with the newly appointed Ambassador to Vesy. In the prior book Naiser and crew had discovered a world (Vesy) populated by primitive aliens. The Russians were already on the planet when Warspite arrived.

When Warspite returned they found many countries of Earth already there with India having the largest contingency. India wants to control the plant and all the tram lines in the system.

The book moves very slowly and bogs down in political rhetoric which in many ways makes it boring. Nuttall usually writes a fast paced action packed story, this is not his usual writing style. I did note the irony of the British/India twist. Ralph Lister does a good job narrating the story.

The opposite of the prime directive.

Star Trek's Federation always touted a policy of non-interference with alien cultures that were not capable of space travel. Of course that policy was violated often throughout the many different Star Trek series but those violations have nothing on this book. This is 12 hours of human beings doing their best to screw over an alien culture and use it for their own interests. Where's the Prime Directive when you need it?

Things go from bad to worse for the crew of Warspite and the Royal Navy as many different human factions vie for influence on the planet of Vesy. Despite being the most modern ship in orbit, Warspite is overwhelmed when multiple earth governments and special interest groups arrive at Vesy and ignore all attempts to contain human interaction with the natives. A combination of weapons trading and religious preaching are enough to ignite the powder keg on the surface and put Captain Naiser in a no win situation.

When it is all said and done this book is only slightly more interesting than the last one and at the same time it is slightly more boring. This is all about human politics playing out on an alien world and there is little advancement of the interstellar aspect of the story arc. So far the "Warspite" series remains a step below the "Ark Royal" series when it comes to interesting sci-fi.

Ralph Lister's performance remains on par with the rest of series.

Can't put myself through another book of series...

I've read the entire series, but the author seems to have lost his interest and his focus... dives into the minutiae where it doesn't need to and looses focus on the main plot lines when he does. Every once in awhile there is something of interest, but it's few and far between. I simply can't put myself through another of these books. Lost interest....

A disapointing let down.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The entire story should not be focused on the politics of earth and space at all.

What could Christopher G. Nuttall have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Stick to the action based story line that got the story line going in the first place.

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

Ralph's performance was the best thing about this book!

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

NO!

Any additional comments?

If I had not already bought the next book I would probably not purchase it after reading this one. The politics are not what has kept me interested in the Ark Royal series.

Geopolitics on a 3rd world planet

Christopher G Nuttall's A Savage War of Peace is the 5th installment in the Ark Royal series. This volume follows directly on after #4 which introduced a new alien species that had been partially corrupted by a group of renegade Russians. A primitive intelligent species of humanoid-like aliens combined with a system rich seven tramlines and asteroids makes this new world a magnet for governments, religious groups, and charities. With limited military capabilities, led by Warspite, the British ambassador and military commander juggle multiple potential calamities, while other governments have ulterior and sinister motives.

The sci-fi elements are limited to past space related gadgetry as well as unique biology and psycho-social customs of the alien species. The focus of the tale is geopolitical intrigue that mirrors previous Cold War era machinations as great powers vie for influence in backwater boudoirs. Questions of morality that contrast and belie the myth of the noble savage and the "advanced race's" burden abound. The intrigue is palpable as various factions and individuals stumble their way forward. In the end, there is no right or wrong, but merely consequences for others to deal with later.

The narration is well done, except for the aliens who all sound too similar. Pacing and mood are well rendered, especially given the multiple viewpoints the story offers. While closure for the tale is less than satisfying, the setup for #6 is less a cliff hanger, and more the next round in a geopolitical winner take all grudge match

Anthropology 101

This book reads like a poor imitation treatise on cultural anthropology. A primitive planet (Vesy) is populated by iron age sentients. After star farer discovery, a number of nations wish to colonize the planet to extract local wealth and claim tillable land. Cultural relativists are in ethical conflict with colonial exploiters, leading to a battle between the "leave them alone" group vs. the "uplifters." Local Vesy loyalty is purchased with guns, which leads to conflict between some colonials and the Vesy. You could substitute the name Belgian Congo for Vesy and retell the same story as if it were the rise of Congo and Zaire in Central West Africa (during French colonization).

This book is cliche, pedestrian, and sophomoric. It is not a solid continuation of the first four books in the Ark Royal Series. I give it two spears down.

A Savage Disappointment

The Ark Royal series was amazing. An antiquated battleship with an alcoholic commander fighting an unknown alien foe. Warspite had interesting elements. New hybrid ship. Homosexual captain that was a starfighter pilot who lost his companion in the war. Geeky yet attractive first officer. Mentions of another space faring race that has bat-like ship. Whetting our curiosity for more space adventures and the unknown.
This book expands on none of that. It consists of meeting notes in a conference room. That is ALL this book is. Warspite just floats in orbit, doing nothing, while on the surface, everyone just meets and talks and meets and listens and talks. Will I listen to the next book? Yes. If anything, just to hear if the Royal Marine strikes up a relationship with the ambassador that is 10 years his senior. It was a real struggle to finish this one.

Great Story!

Finally breaking from an Anglo-centric story, this was a refreshing story of what happens when a super power loses its influence while hungry 2nd grade powers move in for the kill. I hated the cliffhanger ending but look forward to the next book. Performance was very good as usual.

disappointed

I love the series, but this book was a disappointment. this whole book could have been condensed into a few chapters

Great

Great next book in the Ark Royal series, can't wait to see where we go from here!

boring

The previous books were ok in fact quite good but this last one started off slowly and became more and more boring and by chapter 26 it really felt like a fill in with little or ne story as if the author had said ah book 4 in the series what can we fill these pages with. It has put me off buying the others in the series. sorry not impressed

The usual boys own stuff from Nuttall

Military sci-fi is Marmite and divides opinion. I'm pretty much a fan, so I can't claim to be fully objective. Nuttall writes simple stuff, with little other than adrenalin driven excitement to commend it, but I'm hooked and can't wait for the next book.

disappointing

I have listened to the previous books in this series and this one was sadly disappointing. just a political story. no real action as such. a shame.

Infuriating!

I give up on this series.
There are 5 phrases that the writer has lazily used over and over and over again throughout the series.
It’s gotten to a point now where it’s like nails on a chalk board.

“All hell is going to break loose”
“God only knows”
“Wallowing pig”

Jesus - just come up with a different phrase!
The concept and general story is pretty good.
But the writing is lazy.

Decent

Decent follow on in this highly engaging story arc. Highly recommended for a entertaining listen.

great book 😀 👍

very good book 😀 the book series is great I highly recommend listening to this book 😀

star trek was right.

this is why we have a prime directive in star trek and why we shouldn't interfere in other cultures and tell them how they should act.
anyway good story

better narration this time

the narrator is better than last time. But if I had one criticism of the text it would be that the phrase "I say again" seems to be endlessly used in the text. Just started to grate after a while.

filibuster crawling paint dry

yawn yawn yawn. come on pass take mate. do you think your readers are idiots? blah blah blah rubbish

all politics no space

it felt more like a political drama rather than space action which I was looking forward to. This is probably one of the best narrations so far by the narrator of this series. It was an ok story.