We Lead

Ark Royal, Book 9

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

The conclusion to the third Ark Royal trilogy!

The Second Interstellar War - pitting humans and their Tadpole allies against an enigmatic alien empire - appears to have stalemated. Neither side can push through to the other's core systems without risking substantial losses, neither side can gain a decisive advantage. But when a brilliant human scientist invents a way to jump across the stars without a gravity tramline, an opportunity arises to strike the enemy in their undefended rear. It is an opportunity that cannot be allowed to pass.

Now, HMS Vanguard and her crew - and the largest fleet ever assembled by the nations of Earth - heads out on a do-or-die mission to challenge their enemies to one final battle...and if they lose, they will never see home again.

©2017 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

His other series are crap but this one is good.

The Ark Royal series is pretty decent military sci-fi. This author should just stick with this series. His other stuff is not good. Very confusing how that can be. Hope he does more Ark Royal books and less of the others.

Also, he uses "grimly" a bit too much....

Great addition to the series- now I want more.

Definitely what I was expecting from Nuttall for this series- loved it. Hoping that the end was setting up a new trilogy...

great book

loved it. wouldn't mind listening to is again. every thing was just perfectly pleasant. time

Best since book 3

The first three in the series were still the best but still a great series

Bee good book

I started listening to these books because I was in between series and was looking for a new one to listen to. This one popped up in my suggested listens on audible.

I had never heard of Christofer G Nuttall before so I was a little cautious. I got through the first one and thought this series is starting off ok if a little predictable. Then about book 4 I realized wow! These books are better than my first impression. You had to listen to the first one to have the history and it is a good book but from about book 4 on they have gotten better and better. The characters get more fleshed out and change with time like normal people. It is great work.

Not a bad book but horrible narrator

I gave up listening. The narrator was too intense for the male characters and sound like he is constantly barking in my ear. It would have been forgiven if he was doing it during action.

High risk conclusion to the 3rd Ark Royal trilogy.

The latest interstellar war has been a back and forth affair so far, but an advancement in technology on the human side of the equation offers up a unique opportunity. So far the enemy has had the tech advantage due to their faster-than-light (FTL) communications, which allows them to react much faster than the humans or tadpoles, but now FTL travel without a tramline is becoming a reality. This means that ships will no longer need to take a predictable path from one star system to another and humanity can strike directly at the home world of the enemy. There is a catch though: it is a one way trip, which means it is a win or die mission for every ship involved.

Of course Vanguard is one of those ships and this one-way scenario allows for a build up to a high stakes conclusion. Susan and Georgina both find their lives on the line in very different ways as humanity goes for the knockout punch. Avoiding a long drawn out war that we probably can't win has a lot of appeal and the nature of the foxes to completely surrender when they are beaten makes this tactic a viable one. Of course this new technology is not without its kinks and Nuttall never hesitates to use that as an excuse to create some of his bigger plot points. In past books I have had issues with how contrived some of those scenarios would feel but in this case it worked for me. This book is a solid conclusion to the 3rd trilogy and a definite step up from the second trilogy.

Overall I have enjoyed my time with Ark Royal books, and there are plenty more of them, but I am not sure I am going to proceed further than this. The next two books go back in time to revisit the first interstellar war to tell more stories in that setting and then book 12 starts up a new trilogy to move the story arc forward once again. I may pick up with book 12 at some point, but for now I am happy with where things are at the end of this book. Ralph Lister narrates again with his usual caliber of performance and frankly it wouldn't be an Ark Royal book without him, even if he isn't my favorite narrator.

stop at book 3

just stop it's way too drawn out having to force myself to finish a book...

great Sci-Fi series

it's a long serious but well written. Keeps you interested with the storyline. great book.

good listen

it was a good book listen to enjoy the narrator looking forward to next episode

Next!?

Listened to the sage x3 even adding the New stories into the timeline.

KEEP GOING.

Another smahers

Wow!!!! Had me gripped managed to listen to it in a few days. Fast pace, great performance and just brilliant!!!!

5 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

great book 😀 Love the story and the narration I highly recommend listening to this book and the rest of the series

a somber end to a great story.

another excellent militaristic science fiction story. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Poor George.

Excellent sequel. Good informed story line based on,. Naval politics. But is George really dead?

The usual good stuff from Nuttall

Ralph Lister turns in a great performance once again as the narrator of Nuttall's latest offering. Grand space opera, military sci-fi, call it what you will, it's easy listening as Britain goes out and conquers the universe.

a good end

at least this was better than the last empire corps story although felt a little rushed in places still a good performance by Ralph though

another great addition to the series

as with the others in the series it's a great listen, beautifully read. perhaps a bit slow when their on earth doing the backroom maneuvering but on balance still one of my favourite sci-fi sets.

Repetitive

Overall a disappointment. Very repetitive and mostly held together by the same phrases over and over again. It's not terrible, but definitely falls short of of the standard set by the first of this third trilogy.

No more Scottish accents, PLEASE!

A really good story line can be ripped apart by a narrator who tries to do accents that he is clearly incapable of. Much better, just play a neutral part, please please PLEASE, it really is painful!