A Savage War of Peace

I thought this book was a was a better than average example of space opera. Nuttall doesn’t write undying prose, but his books are better edited than a lot of self-published volumes which, especially for such a prolific writer, shows that he does take some time for the basics. This though is merely a sign of competence. While some earlier reviewers felt this book was a disappointment, I thought it was actually a pretty realistic tale of the difficulties of diplomats and the military have in trying to implement the policies of their government. The fact that in this story the British government decrees a muddled policy unpopular at home and so sends its emissaries off to put it into effect with insufficient intelligence, military strength or independent authority to do what is needed, sounds, to me, very true to life. I don’t think the nature of governments will change a few hundred years into the future.

I also enjoyed the Machiavellian planning by the Indian government in this story. American readers probably miss the irony in it. Where did the schemers get the germ of the idea for their plot? From the history of the British takeover of India of course. Since the heroes of the book are inhabitants of a renascent British Empire, this, as the Brits say, “is pretty rich.” Since I’m an historian, I enjoy this use of the past.

Another way Nuttall uses the past is in the very premise of the story. Discovery of a planet with intelligent inhabitants but a society primitive by earth standards sets off a stampede of more technologically developed nations to exploit it. Ring any bells? It should, because this scenario is straight out of the discovery of the Americas by Europeans. Nuttall updates the story though with the advent of various do-gooder groups eager to uplift and civilize the “natives .” (Notice how my phraseology reverts to 19th century terms. American President William McKinley used the phrase “uplift and Christianize” to justify his decision to invade the Philippines, which was then in revolt against Spain, kick the Spaniards out and then keep the islands as the first official American colony. Evidently McKinley was completely ignorant of the fact that in the almost 400 years of their rule, the Spaniards had already Christianized the Filipinos. Either that, or, in his religious prejudice, he didn’t recognize Catholics as Christians. Neither supposition is flattering.) Many of these private organizations see it as their duty to introduce advanced technology and scientific ideas to this newly discovered world, the political organization of which is similar to the city-states of the ancient Mediterranean basin or Medieval and Renaissance Italy or, one might say, pre-Raj India. Just as happened in the New World, the presence of formerly unknown beings and the introduction of their advanced technology totally undermines the existing balance of power and robs the native rulers of their authority. The Indians are the worst offenders in this story since they bring a whole task force, including weapons to sell to the natives and thousands of soldiers to back their client states. (Just as the British themselves did in India, though they tended to rely on more on political and military advisers to the various Indian states. The number of British troops in India was always miniscule.)

Churches hastily send missionaries to convert the natives to their beliefs. Nuttall includes Catholic missionaries in here, obviously unaware that the Vatican has already stated that in the event intelligent life is ever found elsewhere in the universe it would not send missionaries there because the Church would not presume to know what provisions God has made for non-humans. Nonetheless, the supreme irony here is that among these missionaries (for I can call this character by no other name) is a militant atheist, who preaches to these pious polytheists that no god at all exists. Nuttall perceptively recognizes that atheism itself is a religious position, for it is the preaching of this individual which proves to be the match that sets off the explosive mixture created by the various newcomers The Indians on the planet take advantage of the riots in classic fashion by playing off the rivalries of the different native groups against one another. They back their coalition of rulers against those allied with the European and neo-European countries, announce that their group of rulers has signed a mutual defense treaty with India and warn every one else to get off the planet. The others, led by the British, try to negotiate, but the Indians are not negotiating in good faith and the conference falls apart, Low-scale warfare breaks out, spearheaded by native troops trained and armed by the Indians and supported by Indian troops. While old scores are settled, attacks are made on non-Indian human stations, the position of the humans becomes increasingly tenuous and everyone but the Indians is forced to evacuate his representatives, having suffered many casualties, from the planet. The situation for the rest of the nations is dire.

What starts as a colonial insurrection threatens to spread to all out war. While the Brits and the others initially don’t see what the Indians hope to gain materially from this incident, it becomes clear that the Indians have put together a well thought out plan to force their way into the circle of great powers. They are gambling that the other powers of earth will not be willing to start a general war (the great powers have just concluded a war against other invading aliens and are exhausted) over strange people far away (as Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia after the Munich Conference). In a sense the Indians here are reenacting the role of the Germans in the outbreak of World Wars I and II, willing to risk general war so that they may gain their place in the sun. In this regard the title is brilliant–a Savage War of Peace. Remember that Clausewitz said that war is merely an extension of politics.

It is here that this volume in the series ends, with defeat and ignominy for the great powers, especially for Britain, the focus of the series. This ending seems to have upset some readers, but this story sets up the premise for continuation of the series. The leaders of Britain realize that they cannot let this attempt at upsetting the balance of power stand lest it lead to general warfare on earth itself. In this they are different from the British Prime Minister of the 1930s, Neville Chamberlain. They decide they must act, and that decision indicates the direction the series will take.

As I said earlier, I enjoy this kind of stuff. I enjoy political intrigue and recognize and savor the author’s knowledge of and use of history. My fellow Americans are generally deplorably historically illiterate. This fact hinders their appreciation of a story like this and prevents them from recognizing the danger into which Nuttall has placed his sci-fi universe. Historians have concluded that the cataclysm of World War I shattered modern civilization and brought about the end of European hegemony over the world (whether for good or bad). The unsettled conditions at the conclusion of that war, which had caused unprecedented death and destruction, especially the fractured and unsatisfied polity of Germany and the huge war weariness of the Allied powers eventually led to another war that caused the death of tens of millions again and the dislocation of millions more. I have long felt that the history of the twentieth century is one of unprecedented calamity, so I feel that the somber ending of this volume, which reflects so much of it, is totally and completely right.

However, I don’t know where Nutall is going with the future of his world. Maybe his characters will do better than their predecessors. We all, myself included, enjoy a rattling good adventure and a happy ending.

P.S.– I think the Indians have intelligence that there is a wormhole nearby and that holding this planet will give them a stranglehold on all trade going through it, thus giving them a position of great power.

P.P.S.–I don’t think that making the Indians the villains of this piece indicates any prejudice against them. An author always needs villains and the Russians were them in Nuttall’s previous book. I don’t know why he didn’t use the Chinese as his villains this time around, but in choosing India for the role and making China and Turkey her tacit allies he shows recognition of the fact that India, Turkey and Brazil produce military hardware of the “good enough” variety and sell it significantly cheaper than can the U.S. or Europe. And they are willing to sell it where we will not. Hey, my son is a career military officer, a combat veteran. I pay lots of attention to these matters.

This book was, unfortunately, not at all my cup of tea. The Ark Royal series which essentially started this universe (some people seems to consider these books to be part of this series but according to the cover this is a separate series named after the name of the ship and that is what I am going by) was great. Warspite, the first book in this series, was also a book I enjoyed very much although it was clear that it was taking a somewhat different direction from the Ark Royal books.

This book however goes down a path that I did not like at all. Now please understand that there is nothing wrong with the book as such. Mr. Nuttalls writing is a good as ever but not even he could really manage to make me keep my interest in this story. Why? Because it is almost entirely about politics, scheming, treachery, politicians screwing up and such like despicable activities. When it is not about politics it is about religion (the distinction is sometimes difficult) and nave idiots that cannot keep their mouths shut. Not only do I not like to read about these things, I positively hate it. Sure there are some action towards the end but I am afraid that it did not really manage to get my interest rekindled.

The newfound aliens are almost only a backdrop to all kind of screw-ups, mostly of the political nature. It is pretty clear already from the start that the real adversaries (in this book it happens to be the Indians) are going in with malicious intent and all through the book we read about how stupid incompetent politicians back on earth screw up the situation while the Indians profit from the situation. As usual they send in our heroes to late and without sufficient resources to do anything meaningful about the situation.

If I would be rating this book entirely based on how much I liked the story itself it would probably get an even lower rating. However, that would be utterly unfair. As I wrote before there is nothing wrong with the technical qualities of the book. The writing is excellent, the characters well done and the story is well developed. I just do not like the story itself and that is of course a very personal opinion.

I will doubtlessly pick up the next book in this series even though I did not really like this one very much. Given how much I have enjoyed the vast majority of Mr. Nuttalls book I am not about to give up this easily and the title of the next book A Small Colonial War does indeed seem promising.

This is the second episode of the Warspite trilogy, with the same cast of characters, including Captain John Naiser and Percy Schneider, being sent back to Vesy. Percys reporter sister is also part of the trip. Unfortunately for them, the British are not the only ones interested in Vesy, its aliens and its very strategic system. So are a number of other powers and one of these (I guess I can mention it is India, since another reviewer has spilt the beans already) has decided to engineer a tale over of the planet and system through a rather devious plot of which I will say no more.

Another reviewer has mentioned the irony of having India using the same methods as the ones used during the 18th century by Britain to take-over India at the time. While there is some limited truth in this, with the British and the French supporting various Kingdoms and ex-Provinces of the Moghul Empire which they helped to destabilise and overthrow, the parallel should not be over-emphasised or pushed too far. Unlike the Vesy, which are shown as a pre-gunpowder society made up of rival city states at war with each other, India in the late 17th and early 18th was dominated by a sophisticated if declining Empire. It was also both very rich and had gunpowder, cannons and muskets, at least in some regions, even if these may not have been as efficient as the weapons that the Europeans brought in and traded with the various Rajahs in exchange of commercial and political advantages.

Again, and instead of the large space battles that were one of the main features of the Ark Royal trilogy, what you get in this episode is mostly about politics, plots and intrigues, at least until the take-over takes place. When this happens, you do get a fair amount of ground action as the British and their allies (and the Royal Marines in particular) try to extricate themselves from a rather difficult situation. One minor regret I had here is that, once again, the story is exclusively told from the British versus Indian viewpoint. There is, for instance, nothing on how their American and French allies fair, to mention just these two. There is also, and perhaps surprisingly, little Chinese involvement and, as in all of the previous volumes in the two trilogies so far, there is little to no explanation as to how Britain became a Major Power and the Royal Navy a major fleet once again.

Another mild disappointment is that while I did find the story interesting and even exciting at times, it was rather predictable. In addition, and like others, I am not too keen on cliff hangers and I did get the distinctive feeling that this volume, although not bad, was more of a filler than anything else. Accordingly, and despite having enjoyed this one, I cannot rate it more than three stars. I will, however, certainly read the next instalment which I hve already ordered

I have to say I have really rather enjoyed this series of books about the Royal Navy of the future – good British Sci-Fi and always an enjoyable read. The thing I like about Christopher Nuttall is that he comes across as someone who enjoys writing these stories but invites you to feed back to him and also to report any proof reading issues you may spot. He certainly doesn’t seem to be over whelmed with his own importance or genius like some writers can be which is nice so it is a bit like reading a story by a mate. I for one will be pleased to keep supporting him by purchasing his books on Kindle and look forward to reading more from him – and it looks he has been busy!

I am a big fan of Nuttal’s work and Have read many of his books. I love the Ark Royal series but I feel it hit a reef with this one. There is plenty of action and intrigue and Nuttal develops the characters and the action very well. If yu like the other books then you will like this.

Only 3 Stars for a good book? I felt a bit cheated that this was only half the story. My own books are much longer because they need to be. It has never crossed my mind to cut them in half just to sell them more cheaply or, and I don’t want to sound too cynical, to get paid twice by forcing the reader to buy both parts.

Recommended with reservastions and the caveat that the story is incomplete as it is presented. I will be buying part 2 of book 5 because I like the author’s work, but I would rather have paid more and had the whole novel in one go.