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Rating: 
Summary: Review - The Blooding Of The Guns
Review: Action aplenty. Alexander Fullarton writes with authority,knows his subject and has an eye for history.It is without a doubt the best narrative of The Battle Of Jutland by any author or historian in the business.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent High- Seas Action
Review: I just finished Alexander Fullerton's "The Blooding of the Guns" and my heart is still beating faster than it should. This is an outstanding work of naval fiction. Fullerton follows three men, the Everards(each on separate ships), during the Battle of Jutland. Swiftly shifting from one vessel to the next, the author manages to convey some of the confusion and "fog of battle" that plagued both the British and the Germans during this, the greatest naval battle of WWI. Fullerton's knowledge of nautical terms and early 20th century Royal Navy practices and customs creates a staggeringly realistic action novel. For readers tired of the stodgy, plodding works of Patrick O'Brian, or the gee-whiz gimmicks of Ludlum and Dale Brown, or who simply prefer dreadnoughts over wood and sails, Fullerton is a rare and welcome addition to the short list of truly authentic war novelists.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent High- Seas Action
Review: I just finished Alexander Fullerton's "The Blooding of the Guns" and my heart is still beating faster than it should. This is an outstanding work of naval fiction. Fullerton follows three men, the Everards(each on separate ships), during the Battle of Jutland. Swiftly shifting from one vessel to the next, the author manages to convey some of the confusion and "fog of battle" that plagued both the British and the Germans during this, the greatest naval battle of WWI. Fullerton's knowledge of nautical terms and early 20th century Royal Navy practices and customs creates a staggeringly realistic action novel. For readers tired of the stodgy, plodding works of Patrick O'Brian, or the gee-whiz gimmicks of Ludlum and Dale Brown, or who simply prefer dreadnoughts over wood and sails, Fullerton is a rare and welcome addition to the short list of truly authentic war novelists.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow starting, a lot of characters, ends in great action!
Review: The Blooding of The Guns is a historical/fiction story about the biggest sea battle of World War I, The Battle of Jutland. The main character is Nick Everard who is a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy (not a submarine LT; about the same rank as an American LTjg (junior grade) aboard the DD Lanyard. Nick has several family members who are also in the service. Nick's brother David, is the Navigating Officer on the CA Bantry. Nick's uncle, Hugh, is the Captain of the BB Nile. Also, Nick's Dad is a Brigadier General in the army.
75% of the story was boring to me. It starts out slow, and slowly starts to build up to the Battle. The last 3-4 chapters is full of excitement. While in the middle of this book, I was under the personal belief that I would not purchase the next book in this nine book series. However, with the last 3-4 chapters, it made me think twice about my overall view. This book is full of great details of describing the different stations aboard the ships that the main characters are on. The descriptions of the battle and of battle damage is really good. The main draw back to the story is the number of people in this story. There are three main ships in this story; Nile, Lanyard, and Bantry. Trying to keep up with the story and trying to remember who is on what ship was so difficult that I had to start a list of personal for the three ships to help me keep track. The author does not tip you off when the action goes from one ship to the next. So that is where my personal list came in handy. Just one example of the number of names aboard just one ship is as follows. Aboard the DD Lanyard, the ship that Nick is on, there are several LT's mentioned including 2 sub-LT's, with one being the Navigator. There is a Captain, Surgeon, several Petty Officers, a few Chiefs including a Chief Engineer, a Leading Seaman, a gunner, a Leading Signalman, and a steward. Not to mention a few that I left out. The BB Nile and CA Bantry has even more personal. That's a lot of names to keep track of! So now to conclude: Yes, this book had a very strong ending. However, I'm not planning on following up with this series. In my view, having 50 different people to remember is too much!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great fictional account of the WWI naval battle of Jutland
Review: This is a fine fictional account of the Battle of Jutland. Jutland was the one major engagement between the British and German navies in World War I on 30 May, 1916. The clash involved hundreds of ships ranging from small destroyers to 30,000 ton battleships. During the battle the British learned of a major design flaw in their battle cruisers. These ships were lightly armored for speed but armed with large caliber main guns to match battleships. Unfortunately, the magazines were not properly protected from the turrets firing above them and the had a tendency to blowup and disintegrate the entire ship. Most of this novel takes place during the battle. The author gives excellent descriptions of the equipment, crews, tactics, and running and handling of the ships that participated in the action. The battle sequences are exciting and realistic. The main characters are Hugh Everard, Captain of a Queen Elizabeth class battleship. He is the mentor of his nephews, David and Nick. David is older than Nick and an experienced sailor assigned on a battle cruiser. The inexperienced Nick is newly assigned to a Destroyer. Each of these three men are severely tested during the battle. This is the first novel in the Everard saga and well worth the read, but be warned: these novels can be addictive.
Rating:
Summary: acceptable maiden voyage
Review: Though this is the first in a series of books that Alexander Fullerton has been writing for a quarter-century, I believe it is the first time
one of them has been published in the U.S. It's easy to imagine why they're coming out now, what with the phenomenal success of
Patrick O'Brian's books in recent years, the widely acclaimed series of Horatio Hornblower adaptations that have been airing on A&E,
and the revival of interest in WWI, resulting from the publication of the two excellent studies by John Keegan (The First World War)
and Niall Ferguson (Pity of War). Fullerton's series relates the adventures of a British naval family, the Everards, during WWI :
Nicholas, a sub-lieutenant on a destroyer, who earned a reputation for insubordination as a midshipmen; his brother David, the favored
elder son; and their uncle, Hugh, who commands a battleship. In this first installment, all three end up at the Battle of Jutland, which is
entirely plausible because of the number of ships that were involved. It is, of course, unfair to measure Fullerton against the impossibly high standard set by O'Brian and C. S. Forester. But, taken on its
own terms, I found the action of the book somewhat confusing. As the author cuts from one character to the next, without any chapter
heading or other notation to orient the reader, it is difficult at times to figure out just which character we're with. This becomes
particularly bothersome in the midst of the battle, especially when one ship is sunk and another seems to be going down; there were
several times when I thought the second ship had gone down too because of the way the action shifted. On the other hand, Nick, who is
the real focus of the story, is a likable enough hero. Also, the book serves as a welcome reminder that some significant portions of
WWI were waged at sea; whereas we tend to focus entirely, or almost entirely, on the bloody trench warfare that occurred on land. This is an acceptable maiden voyage--good enough to make us look forward to reading the succeeding volumes--but they'll need to
improve quickly. GRADE : C
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