The Nelson Touch

Ark Royal, Book 2

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

Ark Royal - the Royal Navy’s outdated space carrier - has won a smashing victory against the enigmatic aliens, capturing one of their starships and returning to Earth. Now, Admiral Theodore Smith and his crew are assigned to command a fleet charged with making a deep-penetration raid into alien territory, a fleet made up of carriers from four different nations. But with a crewman who isn't what he seems, untested pilots and international friction - and a new and dangerous alien plan - can Ted and his crew survive their mission...or will they die, alone and unremarked, hundreds of light years from home?

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

The story arc remains engaging in book 2.

I wrote in my review of Ark Royal that I found the overall story to be a bit dry and the characters to be stereotypical.. Not much changes with book 2 except that the characters do get fleshed out a bit more. However, it is the overall story arc that carries the day with this series and that continued to fuel my desire to keep listening.

Theodore Smith is promoted to Admiral and must lead a fleet of human ships, led by Ark Royal, back out to confront the Aliens. Humanity has progressed their technology somewhat but Ark Royal still remains the only ship in the fleet able to stand up to the enemy plasma weapons. Their mission is high risk as Earth will be left without Ark Royal's protection so a lot is at stake.

I found this book to be a bit more enjoyable than book one with one new key character added - a star fighter pilot with a secret. This helped a bit with the level of character presence but it was the overall war with the aliens that held my interest throughout. For my money you can just skip the forbidden shipboard romances and launch fighters! This one is worth picking up if you enjoyed book one and again I would peg it at 3.5 stars.

Ralph Lister was solid again as narrator.

A bit odd...

From what I expected this book was strange. The author has a strange obsession with the female anatomy and sex in general. Not like there is anything wrong with it, but when it's used it seems out of place and random. Also details about ships, places etc are constantly repeated as if the author was trying to just fill space.

captured

I got book one for $4.95 on special, then used a credit for book 2, now I'm hooked. it's interesting that unlike most sci-fi novels, there was no immediate and miraculous way that the aliens were able too speak our language, just another wrinkle in a war that seems from the human to have no reason for starting. I'm looking forward till book 3.

Almost excellent

Needs just a little more effort on the physics to be a great not just very good yarn. Some sting similarities to "The Lost Fleet" series. But worth a listen.

Great for naval history buffs who like sci-go

As a fan of the Aubrey-Maturin books AND sci-fi, this was a pleasant mix. The narrator was good, but could have varied the voices a little more. It was enough to tell who was speaking, but it was more like being read to by a parent as opposed to a professional narrator.

Commendable sequel with an evolving story arc

The Nelson Touch is a great sequel that builds on the above average introductory story of the Ark Royal series. Basically Nuttall has created a future universe with faster than light travel, while preserving the current geopolitical structures during an era of expansion akin to 18th and 19th century colonialism. In the opening salvo, mankind encounters an alien race seemingly bent on human annihilation. An old, mothballed British "carrier" is the only spaceship that can put up a fight and takes the lead with a crew of rejects in defending humanity.

In this installment, humanity goes on the offensive and takes the fight to the aliens with several surprising developments. Details about the aliens are slowly revealed. There is the addition of a "mystery" crew member this time out and Nuttall does a great job of alternating big picture developments with a host of personal revelations with the major characters, including career advancements. Nutall also displays an excellent sense of portraying the fog of war throughout. Finally, the author sets up the 3rd installment with Earth hanging in the balance and a potential diplomatic solution. Sci-fi elements are limited largely to alien biology.

The narration is excellent with a great range of voices, tone, and mood.

Good Second Installment

A decent follow on to a pretty gripping story. I generally haven't enjoyed British Sci-Fi but this one is good. Narration is first rate although it took a bit of getting used to. By the end of the first book though you'll not even notice. I do think the stuffy British Officer attitude is a little overdone. Commands and much dialog are barked instead of spoken and it's almost a caricature of a British Officer. But it's not a deal killer. I liked the Prince Henry angle. Perhaps more should be played up as Henry the Warrior King since he has become a genuine war hero.

Waiting for the next book and that's the problem with Mr. Nuttall. He has two excellent series going at the same time. This one and the Empires Corps. While the print version of the next in this series (The Trafalgar Gambit: Ark Royal, Book 3) is out the Audio version is not scheduled until October. The next in the Empire's Corps series is not scheduled until November. I go through these things like once a week and am left holding my breath for the next installment.

When you're done with this check out the Empire's Corps. You'll like that one too.

Good characters, too much battle details

What did you love best about The Nelson Touch?

How do you deal with an alien race that makes war on you but won't talk to you? Looking for motivation and trying to figure out what they'll do next is really difficult in that situation. How do they think? What do they want? Could we ever find peace with them? The aliens are smart enough to learn from their experiences with humans, but refuse to communicate in any way other than battle.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The fleet Admiral is a flawed man, a recovering alcoholic thrust into the public eye and given greater power and responsibility than he had ever dreamed of. I prefer characters with depth and contradictions who are basically good people.

Which scene was your favorite?

I have no favorite scene, but several that I didn't like. The characters and basic story line interested me enough to buy this book after reading the first. What I had forgotten is that this author goes into deep detail with each battle. Long, long detail about tactics and other minutia that I am not interested in. Many people do like that in a story, I don't. I'm more interested in the characters and the plot line. I enjoy Larry Niven's books, including ones written with Jerry Pournell. I find the ones written by JP alone to be too battle heavy for my taste. That's how this book was to me (and the first one too, but I had forgotten about that when I bought this book).

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

The narration is excellent and allowed me to continue slogging through the parts I found so very tedious.

Well executed military sci-fi

What more could you want? Can't wait to start the next book in the series. Five more words needed to finish.

Engaging storyline.

I like the way it was written and narrated. I've enjoyed this and the first book in the series so far.

Couldn't put it down

Would you consider the audio edition of The Nelson Touch to be better than the print version?

For me, yes. Kindle is abridged so shorter and the Audible version is not. Therefore you get the full work and it is a good story

What did you like best about this story?

The very end, but I won't spoil it for the readers

What does Ralph Lister bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He is a good reader and once you get used to him he is very good

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, emotional right at the very end

Any additional comments?

It is a good book, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone but if this is your think then better than Asimov.

Great space opera

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Following on from Ark Royal, the adventure of the Royal Navy in space moves up several gear to deliver a fantastic vision of what the Earth might do faced with the circumstances.
As well as a developing plot, there are new characters to involve the listener and we learn more of our existing heros. This is looking to be a great series, ideal for a TV series.

Any additional comments?

I have preordered the third volume in the series

Garbage

The writer is a misogynistic wanker with a hard-on for the Royal Navy, and the narrator forgets that commas are not full stops.

Every woman character has her breasts talked about, there are weird sex scenes which go into specific detail that adds nothing, each chapter mentions Sin City (a lunar Las Vegas with none of the laws regarding sex workers. Like, literally every chapter).

The narrator has three voices: Man talking through mouthful of potato, Man talking to wife he is about to beat, and Breathy Woman.

It is, all in all, a fairly shit book.

Tom Clancy does Battlestar Galactica for the Brits

Great fun space military drama. Live the sorry and characters. Performance is mostly very good, but I can't forgive the Scottish accent! "they're going to take us from behind captain"

Drags its anchor a little, but is worth a listen

Much like the first in the series, this book is flabby in its reuse of phraseology - particularly noticeable if you consume audio books at a rate of knots. It also has a tendency to switch away from the most critical action to some of the central relationships in the story.

If you've read The Forever War (and you should, you'll enjoy it) you'll be acutely aware of scientific inaccuracies which while not wholly detracting from the story, do seem to be leisurely skipped over.

I'm faced with the third book in the series and normally I'd jump straight in, but the poor narration and repetitive storytelling and causing me to take a break right now. I'll finish it as the yarn is worthwhile, but it's not the most satisfying experience.

Worth listening to in order to continue the story.

Book B+. Narration B-. Editing C. Ending A-.

The good:
Excluding accents - good narration.
Building the series in a way that makes me want to keep reading.
Deepening relationships and flawed characters. Always a welcome thing in a military space opera.
The ending.

The bad:
Caricature accents! French - Inspector Clouseau. Chinese AND Japanese - Charlie Chan. Scottish - Over the top Star Trek Scotty. American - Weak. Also Admiral Smith sometimes sounds like Admiral Ackbar. :-) Ralph Lister has a good "narrator voice", but accents? Shudder!

Same repetitive phrases as in the first book. (Couldn't disagree. Bloody nose. Sooner rather than later. The odds were staggeringly low/high). Helloo! Editor?

Lots of unexplained military/naval acronyms.

The royalty / nobility stuff takes up too much room. Getting old fast.

poor story line & getting worse

technically poor, repetitive lines. won't be buying any more in the series. disappointed overall. narration voices horrendous.

Good Listen

Like listening to a good space "soap" good character development ,enjoyed episode 1 and 2 ..looking to episode 3 soon..😎

Grew on me over time

Books 1 & 2: At first I found it difficult listening to this type of story in a British accent (I grew up on American movies!!).
The Audio directing was a bit off. I could tell each time the reader took a break. The volume was reduced on the last words (like a fade-out).
But, by the tme book 2 ended - I was hooked. At least I only have to wait 1 month for book 3.
Get past the "non-stereo typical" British Accent and all the characters come to life and a are pleasure to experience.

Amazing

What a brilliant novel, love it just amazing story well read and just away to start number 3.