The Complete Navarone

Guns of Navarone #omnibus

by Alistair MacLean, Sam Llewellyn

'The Guns of Navarone' and its three sequels, in which the same characters are sent on other wartime missions, together in one volume for the first time to mark the 50th anniversary of the original book.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Action, War, Ebooks, Military Fiction

856 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain), the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two and a half years spent aboard a cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. After the war he gained an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, and became a schoolmaster. In 1983, he was awarded a D. Litt. from the same university.

Maclean is the author of twenty-nine world bestsellers and recognised as an outstanding writer in his own genre. Many of his titles have been adapted for film - The Guns of the Navarone, The Satan Bug, Force Ten from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Bear Island are among the most famous.

Reviews

[Franco Pitacco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maclean Is maclean, llew is not.
he's had a good idea, but the result is not up to it.
the first book is reasonable, thunderbolt is just a lot of words put together to make it long enough to be sold as a book. flashbacks, subjects' memories make up probably 30%.
5 + 5 + 3 + 1 = 2.8.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two good

The first two stories are great, the remaining which are not done by Maclean are not very good. The non Maclean stories may have been good reads if they did not try to further the adventures, but where their own

[Aaron D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I loved the style, the simplicity of the plot, the fact that there was no let up of the action. I loved the fact that it was a book for men, about men. You could see beyond the fact that there were enemies and friends. There were honourable enemies and people you could give the benefit of the doubt to. Enemies only because they were trying to stop you carry out your important task.
The author knew his stuff intimately. You could tell that he had served in the war he wrote about.
I remained impressed even to the end. Waiting with baited breath to see what happened. I want to see the film now. I hope they haven't mucked it about too much.

[Christopher Lutz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered the two Navarone movies last year and have come to really enjoy both as solid WWII action adventure movies. I felt all four Navarone books were just as enjoyable to read. Mallory, Miller, Andrea, are a good team of behind the lines saboteurs, always 100% serious and the best at what they do. Whether it’s Nazi long range guns, a huge dam in Yugoslavia, advanced U-Boats, or the latest German V series rockets, this team’s efforts to stop the Nazi war machine always makes for an enjoyable story. Wouldn’t mind seeing all of four of these stories out to screen honestly.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shame book 2 followed the film not book 1

I enjoyed this series of books however nearly stopped reading when book 2 continued from the film not the previous book, talking about characters and exploits that hadn't featured in the book. Alistair's writing is showing its age but I found Sam's storytelling exciting making his two contributions difficult to put down

[The Villan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two novels written by Maclean are still the best and although Llewellyn did a fair job with the Storm Force from Navarone it still just a copy cat of the Guns of Navarone with a slight twist involving some unbelievable submarines. Didn’t bother with the last of the series as it would be much more of the same.

[Tom Kirkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating but not totally believable

It has many suspenseful and dramatic scenes but some of them are just too dramatic to be believed. If you like lots of drama and can tolerate it being over dramatic at times you will like it

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic 4 book collection

I enjoyed every moment reading the Navarone 4-book series. The intrigue, character development and excellent scenes and knowledge of WW2 makes these 4 stories come to life.

[Janet Sketchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two novels in this bundle were a nostalgic visit with three long-time fictional heroes: Mallory, Miller and Andrea. The two Sam Llewellyn novels were quite faithful to the pattern set by Alistair MacLean, although occasionally they skirted a little closer than I liked to references to atrocities (usually just before some new evil guy got killed). As expected, the language wasn't too bad but was wasn't squeaky-clean.

Stories well-told, likely not terribly realistic, but good reads with a bit of humour and some truly satisfying explosions. Sam Llewellyn writes some excellent word pictures.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't read the final mission, Thunderbolt from Navarone, but the rest were good. Classic MacLean.

[terry moshier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read.

I had watched some of the movies, but the books are better. Two of them I had not heard of, but we're worth the read.