Ajax Audiobook By George Edwardson cover art

Ajax

Wharton, Book 3

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Ajax

By: George Edwardson
Narrated by: Sam Beveridge
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About this listen

The freshly promoted Lieutenant Johnnie Wharton RN, now recovered from the horrors of the Battle of the Nile, is ordered to Plymouth to join the Royal Navy’s newest battleship HMS Ajax as second lieutenant.

The endless war at sea continues with the British naval blockade of all French ports and Wharton seems destined to spend the next year or so sailing back and forth opposite Brittany and the Bay of Biscay.

A surprise secondment to the fast brig-sloop HMS Cynthia, captained by the buccaneering Scotsman Rory Burns, leads to the capture of with a French schooner and, probably, more Prize Money. Then Burns and Wharton are ordered to scout for the attack on the Dutch fleet at anchor at Den Helder and De Vlieter in the Zuider Zee.

Napoleon and his Grand Armee’s invasion of Egypt has put Britain’s route to India in peril and Wharton plays a key role in the mass army and navy landings near Alexandria as an aide to Admiral Lord Keith and Captain Alexander Cochrane.

Peace talks between France and Britain at the end of 1801 cause concern for the Royal Navy with many officers and men facing being beached with half-pay or worse, as much of the fleet could be laid-up. Johnnie Wharton fears for the end of his naval career.

©2023, 2024, 2025 George Westropp (P)2025 George Westropp
Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Royal Navy
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This is a decent book and series, and a bit less cartoonish than some in the genre. If you like the others, you will probably like these. Nothing innovative, though still a good listen.

However, the narrator's attempts to dramatize the story resulted in a great deal too much yelling. There were several places in the book where the narrator was yelling for minutes at a time. If you listen to this with good quality headphones, you very well could find the jarring increase in tone and volume more than annoying. I've enjoyed the narrator's work in the past, but this yelling got so bad for me that I had to set the book aside, listen to something else, and come back later, just to be greatly put off by it all again.

I'd recommend the book, but be aware of what might be a terminal annoyance in its presentation.

Way too much yelling by narrator ruins it

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