Fear God And Dread Naught (Ark Royal Book 8)

Much more of a strategic story than tactical, but enjoyable with a number of interesting characters. That said, I would have very much liked to see deeper character development. Prince Harry is largely relegated to the role of sage advisor, nothing to move him forward or keep him memorable. I could go on, but that would just be flogging the pony. Many opportunities to dive deeper into situations and personal demons, but apparently too much ground to cover. It does give me some hope for the next book, which I'll read regardless. I'm a Nuttall fan.

It was a good sequel. The biggest problem with sequels is trying to find and fresh things for the same people to do and recycle ideas but stay true to the established personalities. Mr Nuttall did a decent of job but there is still strain in the narrative trying to fit existing people in a new situation and his philosophy of conflict are beginning to be predicable.

An excellent second book in the Vanguard series, after taking a beating in book 1, a mutiny on board to relieve her Captain from command, what lies in store for the Crew now that they have returned. Their acting Captain that saved them from destruction has been removed from command and the crew are left in limbo. What happens next, will Susan be court martialed for removing her superior officer during the battle or will she be promoted. What about the new enemy? Are they going back out to face them again and why did this enemy attack them in the first place. I will only say this download this book to find out what happens, it is an excellent read. Looking forward to Book 3 when he gets it cranked out.

Author Christopher Nuttall introduced Georgina "George" Fitzwilliam in the last novel. In "Fear God and Dread Naught," the eighth in the Ark Royal series and the second of the Vanguard novels, he continues the story around the woman straight out of the academy. She's now placed in charge of the midshipmen, the lowest of the onboard officers. She's given four newbies, a couple transfers with nebulous pasts and a couple straight from the Academy like she had been seven months earlier. But George had lived through her own challenges, earning the respect of chief midshipman Fraser in hand-to-hand combat. Fraser didn't like her because of her family. Her uncle is the top naval official and a member of one of Britain's ruling class, the upper crust. Fraser considered that she might be getting by on name alone. She proves her resolve. But now she's got an entirely new challenge. In the last novel, executive officer Susan Onarina had to basically mutiny to get rid of the dangerously unfit captain during an ambush by a newly discovered alien race. Susan takes over as captain and leads a task force of ships into battle, barely escaping. She is exonerated in the beginning of this book and given a chance to lead the humans and allies, the Tadpoles, into a rematch with these new aliens. She doesn't win any new friends, but she also doesn't have time to provide much oversight to her midshipmen. George immediately has trouble. One of her middies is more than a loser. He's causing problems that could sink her career, and she walks into it like a rookie. She takes her lumps and gets placed on shuttle duty. Then the fireworks really begin. The book has a fantastic ground battle, and George is in the middle of it. She has to figure out how this new race of fox-like creatures reacts in battle. And they're good. In fact, they kick some serious butt. It doesn't look all that good for our heroes.

I have been waiting for this book to be published. We see the vanguard and her crew sail out to war again. But first the issue of her captain had to be sorted. It took Prince Henry to get the admirals to get their thumbs out of their asses, and see what happened. Young George Fitzwilliams, has been promoted to first middy. But things don't go as planned for her, she is dropped in deep water from day one. She gets two new midds from the a academy, and two misfits..

Susan took control of Vanguard in the last episode, in what would for most, be considered a Mutiny action, thus seizing the bridge in a time of war. Although this saved many lives, and the battle, and the US fleet, she must now deal with the consequences.
In the middle of this of course, Humanity is once again at war, but this time it is with a new alien race, well 2 of them by all accounts. This time, the Tadpoles are allies as well.
This book is once again, another brilliant story by Nuttall, who continues to show that he is not only capable of writing extraordinary Military Science Fiction, but he is also capable of writing an outstanding human side of the story as well. For Fear God and Dread Naught is just that, both a human story and the brilliant Military stories we have come to expect.
The story continues, following along with the Vanguard, as well as a combined Human fleet, going to meet the Unknown Aliens in Defence of Unity in the Tadpole sector. After losing the initial conflict, and with forces on the ground, we get to see the story from a very different point of view, once again getting the perspective of a member of the Fitzswilliam family, as George is planetside. She is there after her shuttle crashes, and we get her intense and very brutal look at the ground war between the humans and the aliens as they fight for supremacy of space.
The ground battle is incredibly brutal, incredibly detailed, and we not only get a real insight into Midshipwoman George we hadn’t previously seen, we get a firsthand account of the inhumane, violent and severe nature of the conditions on the ground. George is with a unit of Marines, so we also get a feel for how they operate, and this makes for some great reading also. Nuttall also gives us an insight into the aliens, detailing both species.
In space, there is some amazing action as the aliens are relentless in battling the human forces. There are multiple battles fought, and as with his other starship battles, Nuttall gives brilliant and detailed descriptions of these to really involve the readers.
This is true Military Sci-Fi at its best, both on the ground and in space. The difference is, that Nuttall has also included a Human element to, allowing us, the reader, to become more personalised with the characters, and more invested in the outcomes. It makes for some absolutely outstanding reading – and is the reason why Nuttall continues to provide some of the best books around in this genre.