Carnac767

Gets better with each succeeding book

Revisado: 07-02-23

This has been a highly enjoyable series centered around the underwater war in the Pacific. There are errors and poetic license throughout the books but then again, this is fiction not a documentary. The good thing is that the author has obviously taken feedback from each volume and made the next one better. For instance, the first time he had the sub getting underway, he made the "Hollywood" error of having the crew cast off their lines. Navy ships, including subs, and almost all ships for that matter, never "cast off.." They "take in" their lines and stow them aboard. By volume three he'd corrected that little detail. He even learned about shifting colors by the third book. Now if he'd only learn about sounding three short blasts when backing. About the only real criticism I have at this point is that either Craig doesn't know how long a football field is or he's really bewildered by how big a Japanese cruiser was. Twice in the first three books he referred to an enemy heavy cruiser being "six football fields long." Now that is one impressive heavy cruiser, considering that a Nimitz class carrier is only three football fields in length. A cruiser that's 1800 feet in length would be quite impressive and really fun to maneuver. Heavy cruisers were about 600 to 700 feet in length. Not a big deal but I enjoyed the comic image. As for the narration, one can never go wrong with R.C. Bray, though throughout the series I kept waiting for Skippy the Magnificent to appear. If you've listened to Bray narrate Craig Alanson's terrific "Expeditionary Force" series, you know what I mean. About the only goof Bray made in the series was saying that the Browning Automatic Rifle or Bee A Are was called a bar, like where all of us Navy guys like to hang out when we get into port. Skippy would give him grief for that meatsack error. All in all, this is a good military fiction series with excellent battle scenes and a colorful cast of characters, some over the top, but still enjoyable. Don't let the minor inaccuracies distract you or rile you. It's fiction.

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Another Entertaining Chapter

Revisado: 02-09-23

Phil knows how to spin a great yarn. Keep in mind this series is not a documentary or accurate history, but then again, it never purports to be. There's this thing called poetic license, which is an author's prerogative. Hopefully the Raiding Forces series will spur interested readers to delve deeper into World War II history. So, don't get too spun up over some inaccuracies or anachronisms. This is fiction, really fun fiction. The good guys are great, the bad guys are really bad, and the women are all Victoria's Secret supermodel precursors. I could probably do without the use lengthy use of titles and ranks for each character time and again. We know Captain the Lady Jane is Captain the Lady Jane. Couldn't she just be called Jane from time to time? Then again, Brits love prefixes and suffixes, ad nauseam. It's a minor gripe. And yes, I know Phil is not a Brit but John Randall has been in the British Army for 10 volumes.

The narration is generally good, though Ms. McDonald should know that Corps is pronounced Core and not Corpse. To be fair, by the end of the North Africa campaign, the Afrika Corps truly was the Afrika Corpse. And this far into the series Miles Meili should know that the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was always referred to as the Bee A Are and not the place where you go to get a drink. The drums between chapters gets to be really, really annoying, at least to me.

SPOILER ALERT:
Just for historical reference and not a criticism at all of the story. See my previous reference to poetic license. There were no Clipper Girls during World War II. Neither Pan Am nor BOAC had stewardesses until after World War II. My mother-in-law was among the first 12 women hired by BOAC to be Air Hostesses on its flying boats and that wasn't until 1947. But Red and the "Clipper Girls" are a fun addition to the books. Likewise, John Randall could not have fought HUKS before the war. The Hukbalahap Rebellion didn't start in the Philippines until 1942 and during the war they fought the Japanese. It was only after the war when the Philippine government, prompted by the U.S., tried to arrest and disarm the Huks for being Communists that Hukbalahap members retreated into the mountains and conducted a guerilla campaign against the Philippine government. That lasted until 1954. But again, not really germane to our story. There were other insurgencies in the Philippines from time to time, though nothing came close to matching the 1899-1913 Moro Rebellion that cost the U.S. Army nearly 1,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and died of disease). There are a few other inaccuracies, like the Jeeps on steroids, but eh, so what. It's still a great story.

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The Fun Continues

Revisado: 03-25-20

The Raiders are more handsome than ever and the women even more beautiful. The action continues apace. We even get to meet James Bond's daddy (Ian Fleming). Alan Turing's name gets dropped. It just doesn't get any better than this. This is a fun book and overall is very well done. What is unique is that an obscure part of the globe, west Africa, is the scene of some of the action and obscure parts of the globe will become a trademark of this series. If you enjoyed the first book, you'll certainly like this one. This volume can be listened to as a stand alone story but it's recommended you do them in order. There is one major whopper error in the book, but we'll have to give Phil Ward major poetic license for this. Two of the main characters fly to Britain's Gold Coast Colony in a BOAC Boeing-314 flying boat. There's the predictable interaction between our heroes and a drop-dead gorgeous BOAC stewardess. Only problem with this scene is that BOAC had no women cabin attendants until after World War II. My mother-in-law was one of the first twelve women hired by BOAC in 1946 to serve as Air Hostesses (out of several thousand applicants). But this criticism is just for historical context, plus my mum-in-law also listened to this book and was rather cheesed off (her expression) about this scene. But it's fiction, not a documentary, and it's still a very entertaining work of military fiction. But at least I can tell Mums her objection was noted.

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Great War Story

Revisado: 03-25-20

I read this book when it first came out and decided to give the Audible version a listen. First of all, it's a great World War II yarn. It veers a bit on the corny and over the top on occasion, but overall it's very entertaining. The book is evocative of the World War II films churned out by Hollywood to boost morale on the homefront. The author has done a great deal of research, and there is painstaking detail on weapons, tactics, and regimental histories. It's easy to become vested in Ward's characters, though it's not necessary to use their full rank or title every time they're mentioned. The story focuses on a young American volunteer serving in the British Army. We follow the exploits of this officer as he rallies a small unit of soldiers to conduct a heroic delaying action in France as the British Army evacuates from Dunkirk. The hero's actions quickly become legendary, and when he returns to England he's called upon to form a unit that can be considered part SAS, part Commando, part Green Beret, part SEAL, etc. This organization will eventually evolve into the Raiding Forces, and we'll follow it on numerous operations against the enemy. The Audible version was generally well done, though the drums between chapters gets annoying. There are a few errors by the male narrator, though it doesn't detract from the story. For instance, he pronounces each letter of WAAF (the RAF's women's auxiliary air force). It's pronounced as a single word--WAAF, rhymes with half. Folkstone would not be pronounced FOLK-stone by a Brit. It's FOLK-stun. Likewise, any town with a W in the middle, such as Harwich, Norwich, Chiswick, Alnwick and so on, that W is invisible. Go figure, but's that's how it is. So it's HARE-itch, NOR-itch, CHIS-ick, ANN-ick and so on. A British character would say SHED-yule, not SKED-yule, and finally, gaol is the British spelling of JAIL and is pronounced JAIL, not GOAL. I only mention this because I have an English wife, and her mum was a WAAF in WWII. They both listened to this book, and though they rather enjoyed it, they're still complaining to me about the mispronunciations. So I'm sharing the love. If you enjoy military fiction, this series is for you.

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Science Fiction at Its Finest.

Revisado: 10-20-16

I have enjoyed each of the Commonwealth series of books but this one has to be my favorite. It has a little of everything: the desperate struggle against long odds, familiar heroes, fascist villains, terrific battles, new aliens, old enemies, and clever science. It's a long tale and I enjoyed every minute of it. Hamilton did a masterful job of building suspense and nicely bringing the story full circle. I hate to see the series end. As for the narration of John Lee, I can't find enough superlatives to praise his work. I'd listen to Lee read the New York City phone book. I highly recommend this work and the entire series. It's science fiction at its finest.

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