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Battlecruiser
by: Douglas Reeman

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780099439875
ISBN: 0099439875
Label: Arrow Books Ltd
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: June 04, 1997
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Studio: Arrow Books Ltd
Sales Rank: 129495

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Story of a fictional sister ship to Renown and Repulse
The story begins three years into World War II, as the new captain of the fictional battlecruiser HMS Reliant, a sister to Renown and Repulse, attends the funeral of his predecessor before going to Scotland to take command.

Douglas Reeman, who served in the Royal Navy during world war II, has become a very prolific author of seafaring novels. This is his 55th published nautical adventure: he has written 32 under his own name and 23 novels in the "Bolitho" series under the pen-name Alexander Kent.

It would be slightly cruel to say that this is his 55th variant of the same book, but only slightly. The books he wrote as Douglas Reeman are mostly tales of war at sea in the 20th century, covering almost every type of ship ... Read More:

Rating:

- Another boring Reeman
And yet another boring repetition of the same old story. Different names, different vessels, yes but exactly the same story. Hero - strong silent type wrestling with unexplained hangups usually to do with a woman. Villain - confident, ambitious, bombastic, senior officer who knows hero's hidden secrets. Worthy, forelock tugging working class cabin steward who understands!!!!.

Good way to make money because we get suckered into paying for them as we continually hope, those of us who like this period of naval history, for something new, something different.

Don't buy this book, you've already read it under a different name
by the same author.

Rating:

- Authentic WWII naval yarn with a human side
This is a fast-paced, entertaining story of the war at sea, and one of the few to be set on board a capital ship. Gunnery duels with a German heavy cruiser and an Italian battleship are both shown to be less one-sided than they might seem: a single 8-inch shell could pierce the battlecruiser's flimsy armour, while the battleship's greater strength may be outweighed by superior gunnery. As always in war, nothing is certain except that death or injury are only an eyelash away.

The book is by no means one-sided. The action sequences take up only a fraction of the time, leaving plenty of room for character development and even one or two romantic subplots. There is nothing two-dimensional about even the least of Reeman's people.

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Rating:

- Flawed "documentary fiction" of naval warfare
Douglas Reeman's books often have the same structure and the plots are disappointingly similar. That said, "Battlecruiser" is an evocative, moving account of a fictional sister ship to Repulse and Renown. The author attempts to subvert the chronology of the tale and to give the ship a mind of its own, neither of which gambits are particularly successful. The characterisations are solid and the overall storyline is engrossing, but the ending is predictable and foreshortened for some unaccountable reason. One feels that the subject matter warranted a bigger book, in all senses of the word.

Rating:

- Exciting and authentic, but could have been even better
Reeman's personal experience comes through in every line, and renders this book inimitable. Its account of the WW2 experiences of a fictional sistership of Renown and Repulse is convincing and grippingly readable. The characterisation and personal themes - even the romantic interest - are competently wrought.

Unfortunately, I got the unmistakeable impression that for some reason Reeman had rushed the ending. Perhaps this is unfair - the book is very readable as it stands - but the plot would have stood another 100 pages.

Books : Battlecruiser