A Small Colonial War (Ark Royal Book 6)

Christopher Nuttall used to write the sort of space opera that I'd devour as quickly as the late night hours permitted. Not so anymore. His plots used to have twists (his magic series still does) and some character development. I venture that any one who has read 3 of his prior Ark Royal books could predict where the plot was going and most of the dialogue. About the only good thing I can say about A Small Colonial War is that he's toned down his ideology a notch.

A better buy is David Weber's Short Victorious War.

The continuation of the adventures of the British Naval Space vessel, Warspite and the battle for Vesy with the Indian Nation is an excellent piece of the continuing Ark Royal series. Good story line and good character development of Admiral Fitzwilliams, Penny & Percy Schneider and Captain Naiser of the Warspite. Good battle sequences for the Pegasus system. Looking forward to the concluding novel HMS Vanguard.

Another in a long line of books from this prolific author. So far he has been unable to garner any appreciation that he richly deserves from a publishing house, so he self publishes.

I have read a number of his books, either purchasing them on the store as ebooks, or reading them as he writes them on Baen's Bar where he publishes them chapter by chapter as he writes them, apparently hoping for exposure and comments on them. The Bar is where I read this one.

His military science fiction is pretty good, if very formulaic. I don't see anything really wrong with having a formula for a book series, after all, it is the same universe and there needs to be some continuity or the reader will get confused. The good guys protect the rest of us from the bad guys. He has a fondness for the super soldier that annoys me a little sometimes. I think it gets in the way of a good story now and then, but he has done a good job of late of toning that down from previous series.

This book tells the story of how after an interstellar war that nearly destroyed Earth, the Indian government takes advantage of the chaos to seize some space colonies belonging to the UK. One thing about this particular series is that it has made the UK back into a serious world power. Probably can't happen in real life as the size of the UK population and economy would prevent it, in relation to other powers, especially India. But, I think the author is a Brit and he is entitled to that little bit of fantasy.

This is pretty good space opera, with a little bit of time compression built in to make it more readable.If you like space opera, this is one that is worth your time reading. By the way, I don't think you will lose anything if you have not read the previous 5 books in the series. It stands alone pretty well.

This one – the last book in the author’s second trilogy – is a reasonably good piece of military science fiction and space opera, as other reviewers has already mentioned. It is certainly above average, but perhaps not above the very best in my view, although it is very readable and quite entertaining.

As another reviewer mentioned, is it somewhat formulaic. It is also somewhat loosely inspired from the Falklands War, except that the Falkland Islands are a handful of systems that Great Britain has started to colonise and the Argentina is here replaced by India. I also agree that the author has, to some extent, toned down some rather simplistic approaches, although these are still present. It is fairly obvious how the “goodies” and “baddies” are, and, of course, the British in general, and the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Paras and SAS in particular, are necessarily the former.

Although I might be taking too cynical a view, I could not help finding some features somewhat hard to believe. In particular, and with perhaps a couple of exceptions (both Indians, of course), everyone during this “small colonial war” behaves almost impeccably. British prisoners of war suffer no more than being forced to dig trenches in order to keep them busy or than being tricked into driving ammunition for the Indian occupying forces with even this being apparently a war crime.

Neither the Royal Navy and its Government nor the Indian ones seek to push and make the most of their respective advantages before, during or even after the conflict. It all feels so “gentlemanlike” with everyone (well, almost everyone!) doing their utmost to apply some kind of “Marques of Queensbury’s rules” to a “little” war between humans, as opposed to the all-out fight for survival against Aliens.

The other thing, of course, is that the whole story is very predictable, and not only because it is inspired from Falklands War, although I will stop here to avoid spoilers.

Despite all this, I liked reading this book. I found it quite entertaining and even exciting at times, especially the naval battle towards the end. As long as you do not stop to think about it too much and start questioning the author’s choices and wondering how “realistic” they are, you might also enjoy it. Three and half stars rounded down to three stars, since half-stars are not possible.

Very good story. I like that it continues in this series but develops other characters and brings you more into the story and what is happening to the characters. The author does a good job of telling the story and keeping you interested and wanting to learn more about the characters and the outcome.

This one – the last book in the author’s second trilogy – is a reasonably good piece of military science fiction and space opera, as other reviewers has already mentioned. It is certainly above average, but perhaps not above the very best in my view, although it is very readable and quite entertaining.

As another reviewer mentioned, is it somewhat formulaic. It is also somewhat loosely inspired from the Falklands War, except that the Falkland Islands are a handful of systems that Great Britain has started to colonise and the Argentina is here replaced by India. I also agree that the author has, to some extent, toned down some rather simplistic approaches, although these are still present. It is fairly obvious how the “goodies” and “baddies” are, and, of course, the British in general, and the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Paras and SAS in particular, are necessarily the former.

Although I might be taking too cynical a view, I could not help finding some features somewhat hard to believe. In particular, and with perhaps a couple of exceptions (both Indians, of course), everyone during this “small colonial war” behaves almost impeccably. British prisoners of war suffer no more than being forced to dig trenches in order to keep them busy or than being tricked into driving ammunition for the Indian occupying forces with even this being apparently a war crime.

Neither the Royal Navy and its Government nor the Indian ones seek to push and make the most of their respective advantages before, during or even after the conflict. It all feels so “gentlemanlike” with everyone (well, almost everyone!) doing their utmost to apply some kind of “Marques of Queensbury’s rules” to a “little” war between humans, as opposed to the all-out fight for survival against Aliens.

The other thing, of course, is that the whole story is very predictable, and not only because it is inspired from Falklands War, although I will stop here to avoid spoilers.

Despite all this, I liked reading this book. I found it quite entertaining and even exciting at times, especially the naval battle towards the end. As long as you do not stop to think about it too much and start questioning the author’s choices and wondering how “realistic” they are, you might also enjoy it. Three and half stars rounded down to three stars, since half-stars are not possible.

Very good story. I like that it continues in this series but develops other characters and brings you more into the story and what is happening to the characters. The author does a good job of telling the story and keeping you interested and wanting to learn more about the characters and the outcome.

Great story. Really like how technology and ship design keeps advancing. Great action and descriptive of political consequences of military action. Have read all books in series and looking forward to sequel. It does take some time to build up to main battle but worth waiting for.