The Nelson Touch (Ark Royal Book 2)

A worthy successor to the first novel with new challenges for the key characters and the addition of some interesting newcomers. The author provides subtle and not so subtle homage to classic science fiction novels, movies, and TV shows. A good read.

This sequel originally started off a bit slow and there were grammatical errors. ..But this story is well worth reading. . There several main characters and you get to know them.. if you enjoy plausible sci.fi. .then this is a Must Read....

Continuously regurgitated, unimaginative, lacklustre concepts, repeated ad-nauseum throughout Book 1 of this series, copy / pasted into this Book 2, the same lack of writing style permeates the writing throughout. It does not get better the more you read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and was excited to find a sequel. However I found the "Nelson tough" to be disappointing. The story move slowly, with a lot of padding.
I suspect it is a filler book to keep the reader waiting for the next one, which is typical of Hollywood.

I enjoyed this story very much. As the second in this series, it's transition was smooth. Plot line leaves me wanting to read the next one soon! I'd suggest this book to anyone who likes a good futuristic space escape packed with believable characters and lots of action.

Enjoyed this second story as much as the first one. Immediately bought the third. I have always liked this author. If book three lives up to the first two it will be well worth the money. Highly recommend to fans of space opera.

Well once again Christopher does again , an excellent follow up to arc royal .I could not answer his question which period do we want to come , the rebuild of earth or the next attack on the aliens .I guess either just as long it is soon.All in All A good read . Bill Starke

This series hopefully still has a long way to go. The characters are now starting to flesh out while the action continues apace.
The technology aspect seems to have been a bit sidelined but I am unsure at this stage whether that has an element of realism in that it takes time to develop new systems.

Overall an excellent continuation of the series, I cannot wait for the next one!

The story holds together to a very interesting end which leads nicely to a third book. The writing could use some firming up in that the dialogue tends to follow the same theme over and over. The author needs to take a little longer on dialogue to make this a 5-star book.

Military SciFi done well with an eye to effective leadership. I found the main characters engaging and convincing and enjoyed the setting within a British military tradition and social structure carried forward in time and into a space faring navy.

I thought the book was very well written like the first in the series. I gave it four stars as no book is perfect and the storyline similar to other trilogies. However, there is a good twist in the story at the end which bodes well for the final book

The Nelson Touch continues the story started in Ark Royal. As you can see from my review of Ark Royal I thought it was a great book. This book is a worthy sequel. It has many of the same, likable, characters and they are of course as well done as in the previous book.

As the book blurb states, this time we follow the old carrier Ark Royal when she and a small fleet goes on the offensive in order to try to divert the aliens attention from Earth. Quite a bit of the book deals with various interpersonal relations. These parts are not my favorite parts and if I should criticize something it would be that I could do with a bit less of that. The “crewman who isn’t what he seems” helps make some of these parts interesting though. Speaking of said crewman, that part was not what I thought it would be. I was afraid that part of the story would be something completely different and more negative. Obviously I cannot divulge much without spoiling the book though. The book blurb also talks about “international friction” but there really was not too much of that in the book, which I am thankful for.

Naturally there is a good chunk of action in the book as well. As with the previous book these parts are well done and as believable as one can ask from a science fiction book. I do have a bit of a gripe with the idea of capturing a planet and start to dig in with the knowledge that they, with almost certainty, would have to abandon it rather shortly. The entire mission was support to be a raid and not an invasion after all. Normally one would have thought that they would just grab everything of interest and get out of there? That bit felt a bit less well thought through even though it was well written. That is a minor issue though.

The book ends in a, not too surprising, cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers! Okay, okay, as I wrote it is not a surprising one and it does not cut the story in half. The book ends the story in a reasonable place but still…grumble grumble. Anyway, this is yet another really good book from Mr. Nuttall and I will certainly pick up the next one (which I would have done also without the cliffhanger of course :-)).

The last two-thirds meet the high standards of 'Ark Royal'. Too much 'table-setting' in the start. Effective transition to next volume. This book also works on several levels: character, plot, setting and technology.

Glad that characters are not superhuman, are growing in the story and appreciated new ones added.

Let me finish telling Mr Nuttall to set aside Battle for Earth ( it ' s already happened) and pass ARK ROYAL THREE as I really want to know Augustus' fate

Ark Royal, and the following story The Nelson Touch are both very good stories with good characters. There should be a third book for the series, possibly to finish the battle between humans and their alien adversaries, or to at least co.tongue the story line. Another book following what happens on Earth while the fleet was in enemy territory would be a good addition also. Eager looking forward to either, or both.

The book has good pacing and neatly ties into events described in Ark Royal, but I was a little disappointed that the familiar characters weren't more fully fleshed out in this chapter. Looking forward to the next book.

Ark Royal and the Royal Marine series are both great reads. Especially for an American. The younger generations do not appreciate the long a complex history of England's and US history over 4 1/2 centuries. The writer does an excellent job of transferring the lessons onto the future extrapolating where we will be socially and politically in the near future......

Mr Nuttall showed good growth in the characters, made logical plot points and movement of the story, especially for a second book. He left a great deal hanging waiting for the third book in the series. Please Keep it coming.

Interesting to read a series with the Royal Navy as the highlighted service. The story has a different feel from American-centric stories (I am American.) The story is space opera and that is not a bad thing. I look forward to more of this series.

Two books so far and enjoyable fast paced military science fiction. Presumes that Great Britain will have a Space navy in the future and there is always the implacable alien foe to fight. Light weekend reading.

Interesting to read a series with the Royal Navy as the highlighted service. The story has a different feel from American-centric stories (I am American.) The story is space opera and that is not a bad thing. I look forward to more of this series.

Two books so far and enjoyable fast paced military science fiction. Presumes that Great Britain will have a Space navy in the future and there is always the implacable alien foe to fight. Light weekend reading.

All ingredients of entertaining military scifi. Personal difficulties, strong enemy, sex and violance and above all...FTL drive and lots of manouvering in the dark. Well written but I would cut down explaining of personal thoughts and "how works this" and put a bit more effort to dialog.

Love the story, as the war continues they have some good twists in there, some you see coming, others you get blindsides with. Had to go back and re-read couple times to see if what happened really happened.

The writing was once again technically excellent, but the novel seemed much more concerned with the political machinations of the British Royal House, the relationship between Kurt and Rose, and Prince Henry got way too much space in the novel allocated to him. Not much "action," lots of interpersonal stuff. If you bought the book hoping for space opera, no....this isn't it. Quite a bit different from the first novel. Even the interpersonal developments were shallow and trite. I truly hope for a third book to return to the excellence of the first (which, if you haven't read---snap it up!)

Again, technically excellent. Content-wise, not my cup of Earl Grey.

Second in the Ark Royal series moves the story line forward and gives deeper development to the characters. The last chapters bring out the reason for the war and adds a plot twist that means you'll be looking forward to the Trafalger third book.

Read all three books by Chris Nuttall and enjoyed every one. I do hope the next book arrives soon. Now which of his books to read next that comes close to the richness of the Ark Royals series. It's going to be tough as I've a few of his other books as well.

Excellent series I have enjoyed emensly. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I hope the next book follows The Ark Royal vice the events on earth. If you're looking for a great space yarn read the series

A satisfying second book to the Ark Trilogy, focusing on First Contact issues, geopolitics, and interpersonal relationships. Mix it up with a fir mount of "shoot'em up cowboy" action and you have an entertaining read.

The author provided great continuity in the second book of the series. New characters were added, but the focus on those we met and loved in the first book were still there. Only wish that the author spent more time on the battles.

Can't wait for the final book.

I purchased "Ark Royal" based on an the store recommendation, and was not disappointed. Soon after finishing "Ark Royal", i purchased "The Nelson Touch". Both books were good reads on their own, and continued the story quite nicely. i look forward to reading the final installment of the trilogy.

Good story but far to much long laging explaining technical details that distract to much from the flow of the moments. I friquentlly had to skip over long repeditive thinking dialoges to get back to the heart of the action. The auther re-discribes things far too offen, it's as if, he thinks that the reader has no brain to remember a previoslly explained detail about something technical. This can get very borring, He should just get on with the story or maybe he can't.

The 2 Ark Royal books (to date) present a ripping story.
There are lots of stereotypic aspects, but the characters are interesting and the battle scenes gripping.
The gradual unfolding of the alien mind is, for me at least, one of the most promising aspects. And the reason I will look for book 3 in the series.

Seriously, nuttall is as prolific as ringo was a few years ago, great military sci fi across the board, nothing he's written has disappointed so far, and he cranks out books like some sort of demented AI.

First of all in answer to Mr. Nuthall’s question, I vote that the third book in the series be the logical book that tells the story of the attack on the Solar System.

Now to my review, I enjoy this author’s works. He generally writes good plot lines and believable characters. He did that again in the case of “The Nelson Touch.” While I question the ability of a shipyard to make the kinds of repairs to the ARK ROYAL that were made in the length of time that was allowed, I suppose it is possible. After all, the USA did similar to our carriers during WW-II.

I personally found the story line of George Augustus to be a little un-realistic. But heck, this is a SCI-FI Space Opera novel, so you have to be willing to suspend belief.

Overall an interesting and enjoyable book.

These books have been fantastic. I like books that are page turners. So far I just can't wait to see what happens next. Since I started this series I can't put the books down. I have to keep reading them.

Mr. Nuttall leaves me insane! So far, I have read many of his books. Don quite know how he does it. I am no writer, but every time I turn around, there is a new novel from him. He must be a MACHINE!