What do you think?
Rate this book
Ark Royal #1
Ark Royal
"If you wish for peace, prepare for war." (Royal Navy Motto)
Seventy years ago, the interstellar supercarrier Ark Royal was the pride of the Royal Navy. But now, her weapons are outdated and her solid-state armour nothing more than a burden on her colossal hull. She floats in permanent orbit near Earth, a dumping ground for the officers and crew the Royal Navy wishes to keep out of the public eye. But when a deadly alien threat appears, the modern starships built by humanity are no match for the powerful alien weapons. Ark Royal and her mismatched crew must go on the offensive, buying time with their lives And yet, with a drunkard for a Captain, an over-ambitious first officer and a crew composed of reservists and the dregs of the service, do they have even the faintest hope of surviving....
And returning to an Earth which may no longer be there?
©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Seventy years ago, the interstellar supercarrier Ark Royal was the pride of the Royal Navy. But now, her weapons are outdated and her solid-state armour nothing more than a burden on her colossal hull. She floats in permanent orbit near Earth, a dumping ground for the officers and crew the Royal Navy wishes to keep out of the public eye. But when a deadly alien threat appears, the modern starships built by humanity are no match for the powerful alien weapons. Ark Royal and her mismatched crew must go on the offensive, buying time with their lives And yet, with a drunkard for a Captain, an over-ambitious first officer and a crew composed of reservists and the dregs of the service, do they have even the faintest hope of surviving....
And returning to an Earth which may no longer be there?
©2014 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2014 Audible Inc.
14 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 14, 2014
789 people are currently reading
1659 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
January 30, 2014
I saw the reviews on this on the amazon.co.uk kindle store, and then saw it was top of the SF chart, so thought it was worth a read. Although I enjoyed it, I definitely think the large volume of 5*s it had received was way over the top. The story itself is quite good, but fairly typical military SF. My main concern was that it is desperately in need of a good edit. Not only are there multiple typos, but considerable repetition and some clumsy sections that cry out for a good editor. I appreciate that it is self published and so has not gone through the "traditional" process, but these issues definitely reduced my enjoyment of the book.
June 16, 2014
If you review this without referencing Battlestar Galactica, you're clearly doing it wrong.
Let's give the author the benefit of the doubt and say "homage" instead of "ripoff," because I think it would be hard to copy so many elements and convince anyone you were totally unaware of the existing media.
To wit:
* Otherwise obsolete eponymous starship, critical to humanity's survival
* Alcoholic senior officer (in this case, the CO rather than the XO)
* Fighter pilots having relationships with each other that cannot possibly be legal under any sane military code
Despite (or partly, because of) all that, it was still very good. Instead of a desperate search to find a new (or old?) home, we're fighting to defend Earth and its colonies, so there's not this bleak hopelessness that permeates BSG. Also missing is any of the religious overtones that made BSG so weird near the end, and while we will reference politics in passing, they don't seem to have a significant impact on the story through the first novel.
Basically, aliens (We Though We Were Alone) attack an earth colony without warning, and We Can't Communicate With Them. The way FTL travel works in this series allows us to predict with high certainty a spot they will have to pass through on their way to Earth, so we mass a fleet there of our best ships. And in order to correctly setup the Older is Better plot, this fleet is completely destroyed. Turns out modern design philosophy focused entirely on carriers, with minimal supporting units, and that putting armor on carriers was overrated, so they can't take any sort of punishment. This is a little hard to believe, but whatever, that's how we did it, and we're stuck with it. Fortunately, Ark Royal was built in a much earlier time, when it was thought that putting armor on your ship was a good idea, and so it is sent to raid the enemy, hoping to give the bad guys something to think about.
I won't spoil how the battles turn out, but this is only book 1 in the series, so use your imagination. Overall, if you can get past the somewhat far-fetched setup, the story is enjoyable. You're not going to get the detailed space battles from David Weber's Honor Harrington series, nor the desperate journey home of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet. This is a far simpler story, with an attempt to show characters as neither wholly good nor wholly bad. Generally, it succeeds. I borrowed book 1 via the Amazon Prime lending library in June, and currently plan to snag book 2 in July to see if the series is worth continuing. With three books out already, and this book 1 only being published in January, I'm worried that the author is just cranking them out too fast. Even this one had several glaring typos and grammatical mistakes (possibly self-published without an editor): its vs it's, "date" as a typo for "data," and that's just what I noticed in the span of two pages.
Recommended for: people looking for a less weird, less depressing BSG.
Let's give the author the benefit of the doubt and say "homage" instead of "ripoff," because I think it would be hard to copy so many elements and convince anyone you were totally unaware of the existing media.
To wit:
* Otherwise obsolete eponymous starship, critical to humanity's survival
* Alcoholic senior officer (in this case, the CO rather than the XO)
* Fighter pilots having relationships with each other that cannot possibly be legal under any sane military code
Despite (or partly, because of) all that, it was still very good. Instead of a desperate search to find a new (or old?) home, we're fighting to defend Earth and its colonies, so there's not this bleak hopelessness that permeates BSG. Also missing is any of the religious overtones that made BSG so weird near the end, and while we will reference politics in passing, they don't seem to have a significant impact on the story through the first novel.
Basically, aliens (We Though We Were Alone) attack an earth colony without warning, and We Can't Communicate With Them. The way FTL travel works in this series allows us to predict with high certainty a spot they will have to pass through on their way to Earth, so we mass a fleet there of our best ships. And in order to correctly setup the Older is Better plot, this fleet is completely destroyed. Turns out modern design philosophy focused entirely on carriers, with minimal supporting units, and that putting armor on carriers was overrated, so they can't take any sort of punishment. This is a little hard to believe, but whatever, that's how we did it, and we're stuck with it. Fortunately, Ark Royal was built in a much earlier time, when it was thought that putting armor on your ship was a good idea, and so it is sent to raid the enemy, hoping to give the bad guys something to think about.
I won't spoil how the battles turn out, but this is only book 1 in the series, so use your imagination. Overall, if you can get past the somewhat far-fetched setup, the story is enjoyable. You're not going to get the detailed space battles from David Weber's Honor Harrington series, nor the desperate journey home of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet. This is a far simpler story, with an attempt to show characters as neither wholly good nor wholly bad. Generally, it succeeds. I borrowed book 1 via the Amazon Prime lending library in June, and currently plan to snag book 2 in July to see if the series is worth continuing. With three books out already, and this book 1 only being published in January, I'm worried that the author is just cranking them out too fast. Even this one had several glaring typos and grammatical mistakes (possibly self-published without an editor): its vs it's, "date" as a typo for "data," and that's just what I noticed in the span of two pages.
Recommended for: people looking for a less weird, less depressing BSG.
July 21, 2017
I include this on my space opera shelf but don't let that mislead you. This is an excellent read.
The old Ark Royal is a relic of the past. It's one of the first of the "Space Carries" in the Royal Space Navy. The star fighters on board are older. Getting assigned to Ark Royal generally means that you have screwed up very, very badly and that your Naval career is over. The captain is a drunk who can't really be kicked out of the service for political reasons. The ship itself has a sort of heroic past so it remains as kind of a relic of history.
No it's old. The heavy thick armor on the massive boxy carrier means it's nothing like the new fast, sleek star carriers....
Then there's first contact with an inexplicably hostile alien race, and the sleek new carrier's light armor is no match for their weapons. The first contact is a massacre of Earth's star ships...so Ark Royal is sent out to buy time while England and the rest of Earth prepare.
If you like naval action, space action, science fiction, or maybe just plain action I think you'll like this one. Enjoy.
The old Ark Royal is a relic of the past. It's one of the first of the "Space Carries" in the Royal Space Navy. The star fighters on board are older. Getting assigned to Ark Royal generally means that you have screwed up very, very badly and that your Naval career is over. The captain is a drunk who can't really be kicked out of the service for political reasons. The ship itself has a sort of heroic past so it remains as kind of a relic of history.
No it's old. The heavy thick armor on the massive boxy carrier means it's nothing like the new fast, sleek star carriers....
Then there's first contact with an inexplicably hostile alien race, and the sleek new carrier's light armor is no match for their weapons. The first contact is a massacre of Earth's star ships...so Ark Royal is sent out to buy time while England and the rest of Earth prepare.
If you like naval action, space action, science fiction, or maybe just plain action I think you'll like this one. Enjoy.
August 2, 2016
You'll see most reviews of this book referring to Battlestar Galactica, and it's pretty obvious why. A great big obsolete starship has been sitting around collecting the dregs of the fleet, with a washed out alcoholic captain, and then suddenly aliens attack and it turns out the Ark Royal is the only ship that can fight them. Christopher Nuttall obviously really loved BSG. He also seems to really love strategic space combat games and the British Royal Navy, and really hate reporters.
There isn't much fleshed out in this future universe. All the countries of the early 21st century seem to be pretty much intact and similar in their relative power and politics in the future, even though they've all begun colonizing other planets. Humans have yet to encounter intelligent aliens. Then suddenly aliens attack a colony world and wipe it out. The alien ships are armed with plasma cannons, which the shields of all the newer starships cannot withstand, so a multinational defensive fleet is quickly wiped out.
The admiralty decides to send the 70-year-old carrier Ark Royal on a crucial mission because they hope its heavy armor plating, built for a previous era of space warfare, will do better against the alien weapons. This despite the fact that they know the captain of the Ark Royal is a drunkard.
Needless to say, the Ark Royal flies into glorious battle and kicks ass, there is much space combat, Captain Ted proves himself to be a great officer once he puts the bottle down, and also every single female officer aboard the Ark Royal is apparently a slut. (I don't think any woman had a scene without her breasts being described.)
Ark Royal is reasonably entertaining candy for those who like military SF. Accept the premise that starships are just like naval craft, and the British Royal Navy once again rules thewavesstars, and it's fun to visualize ship counters moving across a hex map as the battles are described. (At times, I could almost hear dice rolling.)
The writing is okay, though like a lot of self-published novels, the lack of polish is evident. Facts are repeated, heck, everything is repeated, and there are a lot of contradictory plot points. The worldbuilding is scant; just as much as is needed to put those ships counters on the map. Being a true SF fan, I don't just want starship combat, I want to know about the aliens, and by the end of this book, even though they have captured a few of them, they still know absolutely nothing about them or why they attacked.
This was not a bad book, but it didn't stand out from the many similar series. If you like space combat, and the idea of an "old school" British navy fighting aliens, or anything Battlestar Galactica-themed, you'll probably like it.
There isn't much fleshed out in this future universe. All the countries of the early 21st century seem to be pretty much intact and similar in their relative power and politics in the future, even though they've all begun colonizing other planets. Humans have yet to encounter intelligent aliens. Then suddenly aliens attack a colony world and wipe it out. The alien ships are armed with plasma cannons, which the shields of all the newer starships cannot withstand, so a multinational defensive fleet is quickly wiped out.
The admiralty decides to send the 70-year-old carrier Ark Royal on a crucial mission because they hope its heavy armor plating, built for a previous era of space warfare, will do better against the alien weapons. This despite the fact that they know the captain of the Ark Royal is a drunkard.
Needless to say, the Ark Royal flies into glorious battle and kicks ass, there is much space combat, Captain Ted proves himself to be a great officer once he puts the bottle down, and also every single female officer aboard the Ark Royal is apparently a slut. (I don't think any woman had a scene without her breasts being described.)
Ark Royal is reasonably entertaining candy for those who like military SF. Accept the premise that starships are just like naval craft, and the British Royal Navy once again rules the
The writing is okay, though like a lot of self-published novels, the lack of polish is evident. Facts are repeated, heck, everything is repeated, and there are a lot of contradictory plot points. The worldbuilding is scant; just as much as is needed to put those ships counters on the map. Being a true SF fan, I don't just want starship combat, I want to know about the aliens, and by the end of this book, even though they have captured a few of them, they still know absolutely nothing about them or why they attacked.
This was not a bad book, but it didn't stand out from the many similar series. If you like space combat, and the idea of an "old school" British navy fighting aliens, or anything Battlestar Galactica-themed, you'll probably like it.
June 14, 2015
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
Ark Royal feels very much like a self published book; the pacing is off, characters thin, info dumps egregious, and action/dialogue scenes unrealistic or over/underwritten. Honestly, this seems like a jingoistic ode to the British military; sort of an answer to all the silly over-the-top American military books and movies (especially Afghanistan or Desert Storm). Most problematic, though, is that author Nuttall is referencing a 1990s Royal Navy rather than a futuristic one and nothing feels sci fi - it's pretty much modern day warfare in sci fi trappings.Story: Ark Royal is a space slug - heavily armored and out of date, it exists solely as a place to dump the dregs of the military. But when an alien menace appears and the newer technology human starships are summarily destroyed, it may be the only hope for Earth.
I have to admit, I didn't enjoy this book (note: I listened to the Audible narration). Ark Royal's biggest problem was that the vernacular, dialogue, perspective, and characters all felt deeply rooted in 1990s British military service - and as a giant Marty Stu for both older and younger men. We have an aging alcoholic everyman captain (a terrible alcoholic who inexplicably has alcohol in his stateroom so he can bemoan his alcoholism and be tempted) and an aristocratic, young, ambitious second in command. Their names are Smith and Fitzwilliam respectively - just so you remember who is the everyman and who is the aristocrat. Then there's the fighter squadron commander - a salary man reservist with a failing marriage and annoying kids and who finds himself called back to the military. It's a triumvirate of Marty Stus.
As mentioned, the thoroughly contemporary feeling characters and plot was a frustration. Especially the women, who are uniformly annoying or overemotional. Our salaryman fighter commander, Kurt, has a great son - but his wife is cold and his teen daughter a rebellious and screechy wreck. The poor guy comes home every day to mother and daughter drama - no wonder he's happy to ship out. On the ship, he has a young fighter pilot female under him - and when she's not having crying fits about her dead boyfriend, she's dropping her clothes to seduce her commander. Who, we are reminded a LOT, is old enough to be her father. Yes, it's another Marty Stu situation and clearly no middle aged married man would be able to refuse a 20 year old throwing herself at him. So pick your Marty Stu flavor - the captain who rises out of obscurity to save the planet, the ambitious lieutenant there at his side and basking in the glory, or the fighter squadron commander 'grapplig' with his affair with a nubile 20 year old.
Although set in a future where men and women fight alongside each other, most of the story of the women is about their breasts temping men or how they are nothing more than emotional wrecks. Apparently, working side by side for several hundred years isn't enough to take the macho out of the navy and men will always be chauvinistic and unable to work side by side with women. It got old fast and was borderline misogynistic. I kept wondering if the aliens should win if humanity was still so unevolved. The women and men's relationships with them (working or otherwise) was very one-dimensional.
But those issues aside, the main problem for me wass that the action scenes and plotting were very poorly written. I felt as if the book had a random fast forward button and whole sequences would be glossed over or abruptly forgotten so that I missed the whole impact of the situation. E.g., the momentous first boarding of a captured alien ship lasts about 2-3 pages and involves a guy walking down a corridor. Then suddenly the captain is talking to the second in command about the captured ship and how it will affect their future. The same occurred with all the action sequences - they happened in 1-2 pages and then we're back to walking in corridors and discussing the next actions to be taken. I felt like I had somehow missed whole chunks of the book - the good parts.
The narration of the book was lackluster; it wasn't terrible but it certainly didn't elevate the book above the odd writing, either.
April 1, 2014
I really struggled whether or not to go with two or three stars, but couldn't justify three.
Overall the storyline is pretty interesting, but the problem with it is it feels skin deep. The author could have made this an incredible book if he'd taken more time with it, but I see he is publishing over twenty books - the sequel to this is out already, only about three months later. This shows when you read it because it reads like a second draft. There are spelling mistakes throughout (through is used where though should be).
I forced myself to finish it because personally I truly hate leaving books unfinished, call it OCD on my part. This makes it sound worse than it is though, to be honest. It's not that it was bad, it was just "meh".
Firstly characters are not fleshed out well enough for me to care about them. They each have an introduction which sets them up quite well, then all character development is left behind. I want to know these people better, and there is a tremendously wasted opportunity when a group of reporters are pushed on the captain. Every character consistently whinges about how they despise reporters (far too much, actually, it's af if they are talking about Nazis), and the reporters don't behave like reporters. This should have been the perfect tool for character exposition, but it's badly wasted.
Second thing that really took me out of it, the way people refer to the aliens in the start of the book. They lost contact with a few settlements and leapt to the conclusion there were aliens. There was no tension, no build up, just "aliens attacked us".
How about you lose contact with a settlement, send Ark Royal on a pointless check up to keep it busy, it runs into two alien ships, destroys them, then is forced to sit back as newer ships take on the alien fleets. Then you can carry on with the story? It just seems a better approach and a more believable one. The way the Prime Minister announces a war with aliens has begun, I just couldn't believe the speech I was reading was from a world leader, it seemed amateur.
Having said all this, if you really love military Sci-fi with space naval combat, this could be an enjoyable distraction for you. It's not bad overall, it's just not really that good. There are better books to spend your time with.
I think this is an example of an author with good ideas who wants to churn stories out rather than tell a few really good well written ones. Which is fine - do what you love, but I prefer an Author like Patrick Rothfuss, who spends years and years perfecting one big story.
Overall the storyline is pretty interesting, but the problem with it is it feels skin deep. The author could have made this an incredible book if he'd taken more time with it, but I see he is publishing over twenty books - the sequel to this is out already, only about three months later. This shows when you read it because it reads like a second draft. There are spelling mistakes throughout (through is used where though should be).
I forced myself to finish it because personally I truly hate leaving books unfinished, call it OCD on my part. This makes it sound worse than it is though, to be honest. It's not that it was bad, it was just "meh".
Firstly characters are not fleshed out well enough for me to care about them. They each have an introduction which sets them up quite well, then all character development is left behind. I want to know these people better, and there is a tremendously wasted opportunity when a group of reporters are pushed on the captain. Every character consistently whinges about how they despise reporters (far too much, actually, it's af if they are talking about Nazis), and the reporters don't behave like reporters. This should have been the perfect tool for character exposition, but it's badly wasted.
Second thing that really took me out of it, the way people refer to the aliens in the start of the book. They lost contact with a few settlements and leapt to the conclusion there were aliens. There was no tension, no build up, just "aliens attacked us".
How about you lose contact with a settlement, send Ark Royal on a pointless check up to keep it busy, it runs into two alien ships, destroys them, then is forced to sit back as newer ships take on the alien fleets. Then you can carry on with the story? It just seems a better approach and a more believable one. The way the Prime Minister announces a war with aliens has begun, I just couldn't believe the speech I was reading was from a world leader, it seemed amateur.
Having said all this, if you really love military Sci-fi with space naval combat, this could be an enjoyable distraction for you. It's not bad overall, it's just not really that good. There are better books to spend your time with.
I think this is an example of an author with good ideas who wants to churn stories out rather than tell a few really good well written ones. Which is fine - do what you love, but I prefer an Author like Patrick Rothfuss, who spends years and years perfecting one big story.
February 4, 2020
Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: January 14, 2014
Language: English
ASIN: B00HVKCMQC
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 82112
381 pages
An old ship, a tired, hard drinking capitan and a misfit crew are the hope of humanity in this exciting military sci-fi novel. Fortunately the capitan is not that tired and the misfits are full of surprises as is the museum relic of a ship.
If you have read all of David Drake and David Weber and want more, Christopher Nuttall is worth a look. I believe he has real promise.
Publication date: January 14, 2014
Language: English
ASIN: B00HVKCMQC
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 82112
381 pages
An old ship, a tired, hard drinking capitan and a misfit crew are the hope of humanity in this exciting military sci-fi novel. Fortunately the capitan is not that tired and the misfits are full of surprises as is the museum relic of a ship.
If you have read all of David Drake and David Weber and want more, Christopher Nuttall is worth a look. I believe he has real promise.
February 24, 2014
I was looking for something to read and stumbled across this $3 sci-fi space opera. How could I go wrong? The idea of the story is a good one, but there were some serious questions that kept popping up for me as I read it.
For one thing, I found it hard to believe that the older vessel was superior to the newer ones. The newest ships in the fleet were that delicate? I think that there could have been a better way to bring the Ark Royal into action without it taking the destruction of most of the fleet simply due to their lack of armor. That seemed thin, but for the sake of the overall story, I let it go.
The author jumps around a lot (I didn't mind all the narration, but the construction /order could have been better.) and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who in some cases as he switched routinely from first to last names of characters.
The romance between Kurt and Rose was understandable, but felt forced and was poorly written. Some of the scenes were overly graphic and detracted from the book as a whole. You can tell us she entered his cabin, shut the door, and dropped her clothes, and END SCENE. We're big boys and girls. We can figure it out without spelling it out. Besides, vaguely pornographic scenes are not why I read sci-fi.
I will say I enjoyed the thought that went into the battles and tactics and found those scenes quite enjoyable. He clearly thought long and hard about what a battle in the vastness of space would mean, even if there were inconsistencies about how vessels' performance was described, etc. There certainly could have been more meat on the bone when it came to describing the vessels, their weapons, etc., however. Again, it left me questioning things.
My biggest gripe was the editing, or apparent lack thereof. How many times can you "bloody the nose" of the enemy? How many times can a character roll their eyes? Apparently everyone on the Ark Royal "strode" everywhere they went. A better editing process would have really helped with the flow and consistency with this novel.
Looking for a fun, cheap read, then read this, but don't expect more than what it is.
For one thing, I found it hard to believe that the older vessel was superior to the newer ones. The newest ships in the fleet were that delicate? I think that there could have been a better way to bring the Ark Royal into action without it taking the destruction of most of the fleet simply due to their lack of armor. That seemed thin, but for the sake of the overall story, I let it go.
The author jumps around a lot (I didn't mind all the narration, but the construction /order could have been better.) and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who in some cases as he switched routinely from first to last names of characters.
The romance between Kurt and Rose was understandable, but felt forced and was poorly written. Some of the scenes were overly graphic and detracted from the book as a whole. You can tell us she entered his cabin, shut the door, and dropped her clothes, and END SCENE. We're big boys and girls. We can figure it out without spelling it out. Besides, vaguely pornographic scenes are not why I read sci-fi.
I will say I enjoyed the thought that went into the battles and tactics and found those scenes quite enjoyable. He clearly thought long and hard about what a battle in the vastness of space would mean, even if there were inconsistencies about how vessels' performance was described, etc. There certainly could have been more meat on the bone when it came to describing the vessels, their weapons, etc., however. Again, it left me questioning things.
My biggest gripe was the editing, or apparent lack thereof. How many times can you "bloody the nose" of the enemy? How many times can a character roll their eyes? Apparently everyone on the Ark Royal "strode" everywhere they went. A better editing process would have really helped with the flow and consistency with this novel.
Looking for a fun, cheap read, then read this, but don't expect more than what it is.
July 1, 2014
Like all Christopher Nuttall books, this is a fairly good story, but told with absolutely terrible writing. Mr. Nuttall's writing doesn't have the gross grammatical and spelling errors that normally plague self-published books, but if you took out all the time he repeats himself, even in single sentences, the book would be one third the size. He apparently hasn't met a statement that couldn't be told three different ways in the same paragraph. He often says things twice. And then re-iterates the point. You'll find he repeats himself by often saying the same thing over again. Often in the same group of words. Occasionally, he repeats himself. At least this book isn't full of spelling errors. There are hardly any spelling errors in this book. But he writes the same sentence over again, changing the words around. Often this is the case.
(And the preceding paragraph is in no way an exaggeration.)
Another point of contention I have with his writing in general, and this book in particular, is the incredibly facile Macguffins he uses. For this story, he needs an alien species. They are called, throughout the book, "aliens." I shit you not. And since battles in space require starfighters, he has a bunch. They're called "starfighters." Since one of the main characters is both CAG and a squadron leader, we spend a lot of time in these "starfighters," fighting "aliens." They are essentially undescribed. The most I know about them is that they're roughly spherical. And they're starfighters.
If you like your books to have realistic physics, look elsewhere. The Ark Royal and other ships can use interstellar "tramlines" to travel between stars, because interstellar travel is too slow. Yet they can merrily jaunt across a solar system in a couple hours. I'm no math whiz, but crossing our solar system in a couple hours would require travelling at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light. He uses the "artificial gravity" MacGuffin to avoid having to write about crewmembers liquified by the acceleration, I'd imagine. And don't even get me started on acceleration and deceleration. His ships go a certain speed. They don't accelerate or decelerate. If they need to stop, they just stop.
Basically, abandon physics, all ye who enter here.
Another fairly annoying point (and he does this in his other series, too) is that he often uses pop culture references that are completely out of place in the milieu. This story takes place 200 years from now. While Star Wars is a powerful cultural touchstone for us, it would have to have a pretty long lifespan for someone living in the year 2250 to know who Darth Vader is. He uses the phrase "ragtag fugitive fleet" (which all of us in our 40s would know is in the opening sequence of the original Battlestar Galactica series), and his ships have Jeffries [sic] tubes, from Star Trek. There are many references of this sort that kind of bring the suspension of disbelief to a screeching halt for a reader of a certain age. Just thought I'd mention that.
(And the preceding paragraph is in no way an exaggeration.)
Another point of contention I have with his writing in general, and this book in particular, is the incredibly facile Macguffins he uses. For this story, he needs an alien species. They are called, throughout the book, "aliens." I shit you not. And since battles in space require starfighters, he has a bunch. They're called "starfighters." Since one of the main characters is both CAG and a squadron leader, we spend a lot of time in these "starfighters," fighting "aliens." They are essentially undescribed. The most I know about them is that they're roughly spherical. And they're starfighters.
If you like your books to have realistic physics, look elsewhere. The Ark Royal and other ships can use interstellar "tramlines" to travel between stars, because interstellar travel is too slow. Yet they can merrily jaunt across a solar system in a couple hours. I'm no math whiz, but crossing our solar system in a couple hours would require travelling at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light. He uses the "artificial gravity" MacGuffin to avoid having to write about crewmembers liquified by the acceleration, I'd imagine. And don't even get me started on acceleration and deceleration. His ships go a certain speed. They don't accelerate or decelerate. If they need to stop, they just stop.
Basically, abandon physics, all ye who enter here.
Another fairly annoying point (and he does this in his other series, too) is that he often uses pop culture references that are completely out of place in the milieu. This story takes place 200 years from now. While Star Wars is a powerful cultural touchstone for us, it would have to have a pretty long lifespan for someone living in the year 2250 to know who Darth Vader is. He uses the phrase "ragtag fugitive fleet" (which all of us in our 40s would know is in the opening sequence of the original Battlestar Galactica series), and his ships have Jeffries [sic] tubes, from Star Trek. There are many references of this sort that kind of bring the suspension of disbelief to a screeching halt for a reader of a certain age. Just thought I'd mention that.
April 26, 2020
2.0⭐
Pretty standard (and familiar) military sci-fi/space navy fare; a surprise attack on Earth forces derelicts ( both human and vehicular) to step up and into the breach. It will fill your daily requirement of cheap sentiment/heroics for a month, at least. Still, it made enough of an impression I remembered parts of it. Read the next one in the series, too, but of that, I can't even remember the name. Quit after two as life's too short.
Pretty standard (and familiar) military sci-fi/space navy fare; a surprise attack on Earth forces derelicts ( both human and vehicular) to step up and into the breach. It will fill your daily requirement of cheap sentiment/heroics for a month, at least. Still, it made enough of an impression I remembered parts of it. Read the next one in the series, too, but of that, I can't even remember the name. Quit after two as life's too short.
January 16, 2015
If you are looking for space fight and battle writing and want soap opera style personal lives, then you'll probably enjoy this book more than I did. A lot like Battlestar Galactica, but without any strong female characters with redeeming values. The space battles and alien invasion are decent, some new ideas, but the characters fall flat on their faces. The male characters (the only people you will ever read thinking in this book, since all the main characters are men) are fairly flat. Rather than developing them through dialog, you get a lot of inner thoughts (that don't really lead anywhere) and occasional descriptions of what the dialog would be (as an example, "The captain said a sharp word and everyone settled down" instead of actually writing out banter and then a sharp word to settle things). I get that writing female characters could be really difficult for a man, but the ones in this book pretty much exist as shrewish wives, sex-pot pilots, and caricatures of female "virtue" (as in not talking much and always having tea ready).
I had given this three stars but switched down to two halfway through the second book, which doubles down on the shallow characters in the first book with the addition of a lot of new (and fairly stereotyped) characters. Beyond the characters, the author clearly has some very strong feelings about reporters that makes them seem more villainous than the invading alien horde which get incredibly tiresome to read after the third or fourth time they pop-up.
I had given this three stars but switched down to two halfway through the second book, which doubles down on the shallow characters in the first book with the addition of a lot of new (and fairly stereotyped) characters. Beyond the characters, the author clearly has some very strong feelings about reporters that makes them seem more villainous than the invading alien horde which get incredibly tiresome to read after the third or fourth time they pop-up.
May 5, 2018
I am entertained by war fiction and I like Science Fiction so Ark Royal is a perfect fit. It was also recommended by quite a few people online. And here is the but. But it is not enjoyable. It treats the reader like a moron. Either the author does an excellent job of portraying the characters as narrow-minded, arrogant and simple, but fails to provide contrast, or the author has a really disturbing view of the world.
Many of the 400 pages are spent insulting and degrading journalists and anyone not an active soldier. Somewhere in between there is a story with majestic spaceships, aliens and some flawed characters but it is like the author has a deep personal hatred of the world that keeps leaking out into his book.
Other random observations:
* There are women in the book. If they actually do anything it's crying or having sex.
* For some reason humanity a hundred years into the future are naming ships and planets from 20th century dictators.
* There is faster than light travel and I won't comment on that, but in-system normal travel doesn't add up physically. Time and distances make no sense.
* One of the characters spends some time being a fleet commander. It seems he has forgotten the fleet completely. He never makes any observations about it or gives any commands.
I could probably go on. This is a book that should have been rewritten completely before released. I can see why so few of the people that read this on Goodreads went on to read the next book in the series.
Many of the 400 pages are spent insulting and degrading journalists and anyone not an active soldier. Somewhere in between there is a story with majestic spaceships, aliens and some flawed characters but it is like the author has a deep personal hatred of the world that keeps leaking out into his book.
Other random observations:
* There are women in the book. If they actually do anything it's crying or having sex.
* For some reason humanity a hundred years into the future are naming ships and planets from 20th century dictators.
* There is faster than light travel and I won't comment on that, but in-system normal travel doesn't add up physically. Time and distances make no sense.
* One of the characters spends some time being a fleet commander. It seems he has forgotten the fleet completely. He never makes any observations about it or gives any commands.
I could probably go on. This is a book that should have been rewritten completely before released. I can see why so few of the people that read this on Goodreads went on to read the next book in the series.
September 10, 2014
This is book one in a trilogy about the Royal Navy in the future. The Ark Royal is a space cruiser ready for the junkyard with a Captain that is a drunk and a crew of misfits. This is a military Sci-Fi or some people call it a space opera based around old technology and a problematic crew.
The old obsolete RN space cruiser is pushed into action against an alien menace. Nuttall does a good job of building up the back story to his characters (of course, he will have three books to work with). The author introduces some twists-one of the crew is a British Prince, lots of relationship between the crew. The description of the aliens and their culture is slow to start unveiling which adds to the suspense.
I noted in the space battles they are blasting away at each other up close with guns. That went out with World War II so I do not find that very realistic. Nuttall should read Jack Campbell or David Weber both are suburb with battle scene. The book needs more editing, too much repetition, the technology and space combat tactic need to be made more plausible. The plotting is good, the characters interaction is good and the story carries the day. There is a lot of potential but the book needs a good editor and a rewrite to clean it up a bit. For a first book the author did a good job and is worth reading more of in the future. Ralph Lister did a good job narrating the story.
The old obsolete RN space cruiser is pushed into action against an alien menace. Nuttall does a good job of building up the back story to his characters (of course, he will have three books to work with). The author introduces some twists-one of the crew is a British Prince, lots of relationship between the crew. The description of the aliens and their culture is slow to start unveiling which adds to the suspense.
I noted in the space battles they are blasting away at each other up close with guns. That went out with World War II so I do not find that very realistic. Nuttall should read Jack Campbell or David Weber both are suburb with battle scene. The book needs more editing, too much repetition, the technology and space combat tactic need to be made more plausible. The plotting is good, the characters interaction is good and the story carries the day. There is a lot of potential but the book needs a good editor and a rewrite to clean it up a bit. For a first book the author did a good job and is worth reading more of in the future. Ralph Lister did a good job narrating the story.
September 3, 2017
DNF at about 75%. Audio version - narrator not strong. (reasonably good voices, but sometimes emphasizes the wrong words in a way that actually obscures meaning and shows he doesn't actually understand what he's saying).
The book itself? Disappointing. The writing is repetitive - both ideas AND individual words are repeated in a way that's either tedious or jarring. The characters are flat - I stopped listening when I realized I really wouldn't care if they all got blown up by aliens. The female characters are PAINFUL (harpy wife, food server, over-emotional pilot, incredibly dippy journalist who's regularly dehumanized). The hatred of journalists is over-the-top and feels more like an author grudge than a useful story element. The dialogue lacks spark or significance.
I kept listening for longer than I normally would have, hoping it was all building to something worthwhile, because I really liked the premise. Ultimately, though? I gave up. I don't usually read military scifi, so maybe this is par for the course? If it is, I'll continue to not read military scifi.
The book itself? Disappointing. The writing is repetitive - both ideas AND individual words are repeated in a way that's either tedious or jarring. The characters are flat - I stopped listening when I realized I really wouldn't care if they all got blown up by aliens. The female characters are PAINFUL (harpy wife, food server, over-emotional pilot, incredibly dippy journalist who's regularly dehumanized). The hatred of journalists is over-the-top and feels more like an author grudge than a useful story element. The dialogue lacks spark or significance.
I kept listening for longer than I normally would have, hoping it was all building to something worthwhile, because I really liked the premise. Ultimately, though? I gave up. I don't usually read military scifi, so maybe this is par for the course? If it is, I'll continue to not read military scifi.
March 2, 2014
Full of errors and inconsistencies, this is a book better left unwritten. Mr. Nutall seems to desire to write the standard fare violent first contact.
His characters don't progress throughout the story, and are, in many cases, horrifically flat. The Captain is the heart of gold drunk paired with the ambitious, but ultimately helpful XO.
This is fair, if it wasn't for the errors. The author alternatively refers to the monarch of Britain as a Queen and later a King. He incessantly reuses his phrases "gave the aliens a bloody nose" and natters on about the Captain being a drunk (even though he is only drunk twice in the whole book). Mr. Nutall apparently believes in "tell, never show".
His characters don't progress throughout the story, and are, in many cases, horrifically flat. The Captain is the heart of gold drunk paired with the ambitious, but ultimately helpful XO.
This is fair, if it wasn't for the errors. The author alternatively refers to the monarch of Britain as a Queen and later a King. He incessantly reuses his phrases "gave the aliens a bloody nose" and natters on about the Captain being a drunk (even though he is only drunk twice in the whole book). Mr. Nutall apparently believes in "tell, never show".
September 26, 2014
Great fun
What a refreshingly fun sci fi yarn. If we are being honest, this is essentially Battlestar Gallactica, but in a near Earth timeline. The character development doesn't come close to James SA Corey and the Expanse series, but it is still great fun. Unknown aggressive conflict, space battles, stuff blowing up...what's not to like?
What a refreshingly fun sci fi yarn. If we are being honest, this is essentially Battlestar Gallactica, but in a near Earth timeline. The character development doesn't come close to James SA Corey and the Expanse series, but it is still great fun. Unknown aggressive conflict, space battles, stuff blowing up...what's not to like?
December 29, 2023
A rehash of battle star galatica tropes. It wasnt revolutionary with that setup but would have been much more enjoyable for space opera if it had just cut out the multiple pov charcters internal thoughts about every single female they each came across.
February 25, 2015
Since I finished "Ark Royal" I'm still trying to decide if I liked the book. I'm also struggling with whether or not I'm going to actually read the next book in the series.
As far as reading goes, it's not a hard book to read, but there isn't anything real spectacular about it. When I started I was excited about it being about the Royal Navy instead of some Utopian single earth government. I thought there was so much background that could be explored there, but its just kind of glanced over and never really hit upon.
The story itself was entertaining, but I wouldn't say it was exciting or a page turner. Characters were pretty bland, and stereotypical. The no-account drunk of a Captain that everyone as written off, the career hungry officer who wants a shot at command, the hot shot fighter jocks, etc..etc..etc.. The problem was that even with all these stereotypes NOTHING was done. If the first part of the book the author sets up some tension between the CO & XO, although it is a rather over used situation, NOTHING comes of it.
Combat scenes could almost be described as boring, and in some ways seemed skipped over. Never was there any grandiose space flying that saved the day, or a last minute tactic that barely kept the crew alive. Hell, two ground combat scenes lasted only a couple of pages. All throughout the book the characters explained their plan to one another, and then executed it exactly as they had, and it worked out exactly like they wanted it to every time.
My biggest complaint about the book though, had nothing to do with the story, characters, or execution. But rather the Author's lack of imagination in his narrative. I can't count the number of times the quite " Give the Aliens a blood nose." was uttered by different characters, or used to describe the outcome of a fight. By the end of the book it had been used so many times it was distracting. Another term that was over used was Alien. Its all that was used to describe the enemy. The aliens are attacking, The alien prisoners, the alien ship. They were never referred to in any other term.
I've comments a lot about the weak points of the book, and I don't want it to come off as if I didn't enjoy the book, because I did. It was entertaining, just not nail biting. The author did a good job with the science, and the technical stuff of science fiction. It was believable to a point, as long as you just went on faith.
While I'm not sure that I'll finish the series, I'm not sure I won't either. It's a good book, easily read book that is easy to put down if you need to. It made of a good book to grab while waiting at the dr, or reading in the evening.
As far as reading goes, it's not a hard book to read, but there isn't anything real spectacular about it. When I started I was excited about it being about the Royal Navy instead of some Utopian single earth government. I thought there was so much background that could be explored there, but its just kind of glanced over and never really hit upon.
The story itself was entertaining, but I wouldn't say it was exciting or a page turner. Characters were pretty bland, and stereotypical. The no-account drunk of a Captain that everyone as written off, the career hungry officer who wants a shot at command, the hot shot fighter jocks, etc..etc..etc.. The problem was that even with all these stereotypes NOTHING was done. If the first part of the book the author sets up some tension between the CO & XO, although it is a rather over used situation, NOTHING comes of it.
Combat scenes could almost be described as boring, and in some ways seemed skipped over. Never was there any grandiose space flying that saved the day, or a last minute tactic that barely kept the crew alive. Hell, two ground combat scenes lasted only a couple of pages. All throughout the book the characters explained their plan to one another, and then executed it exactly as they had, and it worked out exactly like they wanted it to every time.
My biggest complaint about the book though, had nothing to do with the story, characters, or execution. But rather the Author's lack of imagination in his narrative. I can't count the number of times the quite " Give the Aliens a blood nose." was uttered by different characters, or used to describe the outcome of a fight. By the end of the book it had been used so many times it was distracting. Another term that was over used was Alien. Its all that was used to describe the enemy. The aliens are attacking, The alien prisoners, the alien ship. They were never referred to in any other term.
I've comments a lot about the weak points of the book, and I don't want it to come off as if I didn't enjoy the book, because I did. It was entertaining, just not nail biting. The author did a good job with the science, and the technical stuff of science fiction. It was believable to a point, as long as you just went on faith.
While I'm not sure that I'll finish the series, I'm not sure I won't either. It's a good book, easily read book that is easy to put down if you need to. It made of a good book to grab while waiting at the dr, or reading in the evening.
November 13, 2014
Christopher Nuttall tries really hard to revive the space-navy series with his Ark Royal series, or does he really do that? Maybe he is just hacking down the same sentence structure over and over?
The book has all the ingredients, great officers down on their luck who get their big chance to be the big hero of the space navy, but maybe they are not heroes after all - and the big chance is just a play?
The characters of the book are rather bland and uninteresting, but does that really matter? Maybe they really aren't but I just can't see their inner depth?
After reading two of these books, I still can't remember the main protagonists name, or can I remember, if I try harder? Remembering is sometimes very difficult.
Overall I liked the book, or did I really? Maybe I didn't like the book but just believe I do?
However, the use of negating sentences following just after whenever something is said by anyone does rather get to me in the end- or does it really? Perhaps it doesn't get to me and I am just imagining that it does?
And the books are devoid of sarcasm and irony, or are they really? Perhaps the irony lies in not having any irony? Perhaps sarcasm is better when there is none?
Writing style is annoying as ¤%&¤%&, to the point where I just about can't take it any more. But perhaps it isn't?
The book has all the ingredients, great officers down on their luck who get their big chance to be the big hero of the space navy, but maybe they are not heroes after all - and the big chance is just a play?
The characters of the book are rather bland and uninteresting, but does that really matter? Maybe they really aren't but I just can't see their inner depth?
After reading two of these books, I still can't remember the main protagonists name, or can I remember, if I try harder? Remembering is sometimes very difficult.
Overall I liked the book, or did I really? Maybe I didn't like the book but just believe I do?
However, the use of negating sentences following just after whenever something is said by anyone does rather get to me in the end- or does it really? Perhaps it doesn't get to me and I am just imagining that it does?
And the books are devoid of sarcasm and irony, or are they really? Perhaps the irony lies in not having any irony? Perhaps sarcasm is better when there is none?
Writing style is annoying as ¤%&¤%&, to the point where I just about can't take it any more. But perhaps it isn't?
January 12, 2015
Like others had mentioned, this book borrows a lot from Battlestar Galactica. The initial hook of an old battleship and her scrappy, underdog crew is not new, but is still engaging.
Or, it would be if the book were edited to be a bit less plodding.
For examble, the stuff in there about how terrible the liberal media was with their sniveling embedded reporters got pretty tedious. It doesn't seem to move the story forward and it doesn't make me care about any of the characters. I get it: Mr. Nuttall doesn't like the liberal media. Can we move on, please?
Also, it seems implausible that the reservist wing commander would keep his job once they realized that the Ark Royal was the "tip of the spear" for humanity's fight against the aliens. seems like they would transfer over the fleets best wing commander and best pilots.
It's problems like these that ruin suspension of disbelief. I know we're talking about space ships and aliens, but still...
Or, it would be if the book were edited to be a bit less plodding.
For examble, the stuff in there about how terrible the liberal media was with their sniveling embedded reporters got pretty tedious. It doesn't seem to move the story forward and it doesn't make me care about any of the characters. I get it: Mr. Nuttall doesn't like the liberal media. Can we move on, please?
Also, it seems implausible that the reservist wing commander would keep his job once they realized that the Ark Royal was the "tip of the spear" for humanity's fight against the aliens. seems like they would transfer over the fleets best wing commander and best pilots.
It's problems like these that ruin suspension of disbelief. I know we're talking about space ships and aliens, but still...
March 30, 2015
Ark Royal has an interesting premise, but on the whole it is thinly imagined and virtually fascist in its politics. Military science fiction is inherently conservative, but Nuttall makes authors like David Weber look like raging liberals. Anyone not in uniform is characterized as stupid, malevolent, and usually sexually perverted. The author’s antipathies are specially directed at the free press, democratic government, and ironically scientists (because they are intellectuals). His distaste extends even to the immediate family of his hero, probably because they are not in uniform. The narrator shares the opinions of the major characters so fully that it is often hard to distinguish one character’s interior monologue from another. There are plot holes big enough to drive a Hummer through. What? You don't drive a Hummer? See “not in uniform” above.
May 25, 2021
The misogyny starts right at the beginning of this book leaving you with a clear idea of the writers opinion of women and girls. Every woman introduced has mention of her breasts and hips. He even makes mention of a school girl folding her arms under her breasts! Why just fold the arms no breasts needed!
Further on informing a junior officer her boyfriend had been killed he paused to notice her heaving breasts.
I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination but as a 50 year old guy I'm uncomfortable with such things.
Reducing women to objects to look at is annoying & shows a staggering lack of maturity which is normally linked to low IQ. I'm sure nuttall isn't stupid but he writes like someone who is.
Objectifying women and girls is not acceptable.
I'm listing this as a did not Finnish.
I should add sexist and misogyny tags too.
Further on informing a junior officer her boyfriend had been killed he paused to notice her heaving breasts.
I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination but as a 50 year old guy I'm uncomfortable with such things.
Reducing women to objects to look at is annoying & shows a staggering lack of maturity which is normally linked to low IQ. I'm sure nuttall isn't stupid but he writes like someone who is.
Objectifying women and girls is not acceptable.
I'm listing this as a did not Finnish.
I should add sexist and misogyny tags too.
July 21, 2017
I have read all of the Honor Harrington series (main and spinoffs); all the Lost Fleet series; the first five of the Star Force series; the first three of the Star Carrier series; and all the Old Man's War series. I read a lot of military SiFi. Different authors with different styles and approaches. The problem with Ark Royal is not with the narrator but with the writing itself.
This is just not in the same league as any of the others. Just for the record my favorites are the Honor Harrington and the Old Man's War series.
This is just not in the same league as any of the others. Just for the record my favorites are the Honor Harrington and the Old Man's War series.
November 1, 2014
A good read. I look forward to the rest of the series.
December 5, 2025
Un romanzo military SF abbastanza ben fatto con anche tutti i limiti e difetti del genere. Come quasi sempre, c'è poca originalità e molti stereopiti, cosa che sembra inevitabile in questo sottogenere, ma tutto sommato qualcosa si salva.
Certo, quasi tutti i sistemi solari intorno al nostro hanno pianeti tanto simili alla Terra da poter essere direttamente abitati. C'è qualche accenno a processi di terraformazione, ma solo di passaggio. Le atmosfere sono sempre respirabili e la flora/fauna non pericolosaPoi si incontrano gli alieni e qui appare un poco di originalità: sono essere anfibi con struttura sociale apparentemente incomprensibile... ma siamo solo all'inizio della storia.
Ci sono molte ingenuità nella descrizione delle battaglie spaziali, ma sono anche indispensabii per dare un senso alla storia, e la "sospensione dell'incredubilità" deve essere molto forte.
I personaggi sono un po' stereotipizzati, ma evolvono in modo che mi sembra accettabile.
Tutto sommato un buon esempio del genere...
Certo, quasi tutti i sistemi solari intorno al nostro hanno pianeti tanto simili alla Terra da poter essere direttamente abitati. C'è qualche accenno a processi di terraformazione, ma solo di passaggio. Le atmosfere sono sempre respirabili e la flora/fauna non pericolosaPoi si incontrano gli alieni e qui appare un poco di originalità: sono essere anfibi con struttura sociale apparentemente incomprensibile... ma siamo solo all'inizio della storia.
Ci sono molte ingenuità nella descrizione delle battaglie spaziali, ma sono anche indispensabii per dare un senso alla storia, e la "sospensione dell'incredubilità" deve essere molto forte.
I personaggi sono un po' stereotipizzati, ma evolvono in modo che mi sembra accettabile.
Tutto sommato un buon esempio del genere...
May 19, 2017
The theme is classic and enjoyable to military SF fans. Heavy relevance to B.S. Galactica and "The Lost Fleet" series.
The link with the Royal Navy was an interesting idea.
Battles are relatively straightforward and well written . A bit too clean and orderly, maybe.
The characters are clearly shallow and unconvincing. They exist in the side of the plot and not as part of it.
The overall writing was in desperate need of editing to take out the constant repetitions.
All in all, it was pleasant, but it could have been much better, easily.
The link with the Royal Navy was an interesting idea.
Battles are relatively straightforward and well written . A bit too clean and orderly, maybe.
The characters are clearly shallow and unconvincing. They exist in the side of the plot and not as part of it.
The overall writing was in desperate need of editing to take out the constant repetitions.
All in all, it was pleasant, but it could have been much better, easily.
August 10, 2019
It was absolutely fine but the writing was really pretty awful. I doubt I'll read anything from this author again.
August 11, 2020
What a load of misogynistic crap. One and done with this series.
October 10, 2014
I really wanted to rate this book highly. High stars here and on Amazon, good ratings from friends who have read it...but I just can't.
Here's the good side. Full-on-underdog-space-opera. The aliens are coming and the only ship that can stand up to them is the oldest and most out-of-date in the fleet. I like that humanity is still divided and hasn't magically become one nation once they got to space. I also like that the aliens are different than just people-in-costumes. No instant translation, strange motivations, etc.
But there's so much WRONG with it. And most of them are likely because it was self-published. A good editor would have improved this so much.
Lots of errors throughout. Grammatical, spelling, inconsistencies. At one point the Captain says "it will take two jumps to get us there" and then it takes three. "We only have three drones left" and then they use six or seven. All simple things.
The characterization is weak. The perspective shifts between three men, all of whom read similar enough that I had to check the names to know who was speaking.
The Captain: Old and jaded, but competent. An alcoholic, but the author really didn't do his research on alcoholism. I was fine with the Captain thinking about drinking all the way through, but when he finally started to have his fall and was halfway through a bottle of wine, the XO stuck him in a shower, gave him a cup of coffee and he was just fine. Any true alcoholic will tell you that's not how it works. The emotions and driving need for alcohol aside, the mechanics of getting drunk didn't work; even some sort of sci-fi babble to 'instantly sober' him would have helped. The alcoholism never seemed a threat at all.
The XO: Young and ambitious, he tries to thrust himself into the command role, but then turns into the perfect first officer. No faults, no issues. Him and the Captain both mention his ambition, but it never effects the story at all.
The CAG: Reserve officer brought back to fly again. Has affair with hot pilot under his command. Identical to other two except, "has guilty sex a lot".
It's like the author had a 'character board' he referred to while writing that read:
CAPTAIN: Old, washed-up, alcoholic
XO: Young, ambitious
CAG: Old, terrible family, sleeps with pilot
And the women. THE WOMEN. Not a single woman had a bit of characterization beyond their connections to the men around them.
The Pilot: Super-hot, just lost her boyfriend on another ship so hooks up with CAG. Every reference to her has her having sex or has the CAG thinking about having sex with her and feeling guilty. Even though she's a top pilot, you never see her do anything noteworthy.
CAG's Wife: The stereotype of the bitchy, complaining wife.
CAG's daughter: Whiny little princess. Doesn't seem to care at all that Dad might have died, just wants to get out of studying. Granted, his son isn't much better.
Midshipwoman: Has no job but to serve the captain and let the XO know if he starts drinking. Never otherwise mentioned.
Crewwoman: No role but to get tricked while gambling and betting a striptease if she loses. Is disciplined lightly so she doesn't get a 'reputation'. Isn't mentioned again.
The female reporter: Continually described as a Barbie doll - emaciated, manufactured; even had the nickname 'Barbie'. She was stupid and dull and whiny. She was the only female reported embedded on the ship even spoken about. By comparison, the only male was tough and smart and often was rolling his eyes at her.
Ugh. it was terrible. None of the women had any job but to react to the men or serve as tools for their own development. One barely had any development and she was just a sex toy with a little snark. The rest was nothing more than objects that could have been replaced with machines, or useless stereotypes.
Very disappointing.
Here's the good side. Full-on-underdog-space-opera. The aliens are coming and the only ship that can stand up to them is the oldest and most out-of-date in the fleet. I like that humanity is still divided and hasn't magically become one nation once they got to space. I also like that the aliens are different than just people-in-costumes. No instant translation, strange motivations, etc.
But there's so much WRONG with it. And most of them are likely because it was self-published. A good editor would have improved this so much.
Lots of errors throughout. Grammatical, spelling, inconsistencies. At one point the Captain says "it will take two jumps to get us there" and then it takes three. "We only have three drones left" and then they use six or seven. All simple things.
The characterization is weak. The perspective shifts between three men, all of whom read similar enough that I had to check the names to know who was speaking.
The Captain: Old and jaded, but competent. An alcoholic, but the author really didn't do his research on alcoholism. I was fine with the Captain thinking about drinking all the way through, but when he finally started to have his fall and was halfway through a bottle of wine, the XO stuck him in a shower, gave him a cup of coffee and he was just fine. Any true alcoholic will tell you that's not how it works. The emotions and driving need for alcohol aside, the mechanics of getting drunk didn't work; even some sort of sci-fi babble to 'instantly sober' him would have helped. The alcoholism never seemed a threat at all.
The XO: Young and ambitious, he tries to thrust himself into the command role, but then turns into the perfect first officer. No faults, no issues. Him and the Captain both mention his ambition, but it never effects the story at all.
The CAG: Reserve officer brought back to fly again. Has affair with hot pilot under his command. Identical to other two except, "has guilty sex a lot".
It's like the author had a 'character board' he referred to while writing that read:
CAPTAIN: Old, washed-up, alcoholic
XO: Young, ambitious
CAG: Old, terrible family, sleeps with pilot
And the women. THE WOMEN. Not a single woman had a bit of characterization beyond their connections to the men around them.
The Pilot: Super-hot, just lost her boyfriend on another ship so hooks up with CAG. Every reference to her has her having sex or has the CAG thinking about having sex with her and feeling guilty. Even though she's a top pilot, you never see her do anything noteworthy.
CAG's Wife: The stereotype of the bitchy, complaining wife.
CAG's daughter: Whiny little princess. Doesn't seem to care at all that Dad might have died, just wants to get out of studying. Granted, his son isn't much better.
Midshipwoman: Has no job but to serve the captain and let the XO know if he starts drinking. Never otherwise mentioned.
Crewwoman: No role but to get tricked while gambling and betting a striptease if she loses. Is disciplined lightly so she doesn't get a 'reputation'. Isn't mentioned again.
The female reporter: Continually described as a Barbie doll - emaciated, manufactured; even had the nickname 'Barbie'. She was stupid and dull and whiny. She was the only female reported embedded on the ship even spoken about. By comparison, the only male was tough and smart and often was rolling his eyes at her.
Ugh. it was terrible. None of the women had any job but to react to the men or serve as tools for their own development. One barely had any development and she was just a sex toy with a little snark. The rest was nothing more than objects that could have been replaced with machines, or useless stereotypes.
Very disappointing.
September 26, 2021
Some bits were a bit cliched while others slow with works building to set the scene. I will give the second a go though. 3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews