THE KNIGHT'S GAMBIT: The Alternate History Novel of the Battleship TIRPITZ and Convoy PQ17. (The Malta Fulcrum WW2 Alternate History Series)

This book tells the tale of what might have happened if the Tirpitz had indeed sortied out after convoy PQ-17, and if the Allies hadn't decided not to respond to the threat, but instead engaged the German fleet. It's well written and fast-paced, and I tore through the book quickly. Interestingly, in this alternate universe, Hitler is not killed off, and continues to be able to balefully influence matters. If you want a meaty, plausible alternate history book, look no further than this book. Five stars.

Scott Ward is again to be commended on his superb work on alternate military history, from his development of the characters, both fictional and non-fictional to his ability to carry the reader from actions in one scene to the opposing scene and actions on the sides of the various belligerents in his gripping drama involving armed conflicts under the ocean, on the high seas and in the air. Hopefully he will not pull and R.E. Thomas where he promises his audience a trilogy of works and only goes so far with two works. The same unfortunately can be said for the following other authors, William Stroock, Jack Strain, Harry "Harold" Turtledove and Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. I cannot wait for Ward's third edition to his trilogy!

Errors and omissions decreased enjoyment.He refers to automatic loading of Washington’s 5 inch guns - no they were manually loaded.Command staff of Washington would have been in a conning tower with armor 16 inches thick and would not have been incapacitated by the bridge hit. In contrast Duke of York‘s bridge was thinly armored - 4.5 inchesWashington’s Mark8 fire control computer could compensate for maneuvering by its own ship - Tirpitz's’ could not.Tirpitz’s armor design was a holdover from WW 1 - good for short ranges but vulnerable to plunging fire at long ranges.The number of hits by both sides at such long rages is unlikely.

Being the sequel to a book I truly loved I bought Knight's Gambit the moment I saw it without even checking what it was about. Thinking to find myself back in the Mediterranean I was a bit surpised discovering the story was set north of Norway. It is about a major confrontation between Royal and U.S. Navy and the Kriegsmarine. Reading about war at sea is not my first choice and I have a very superficial knowledge of what were the Navies of the time so I can't comment on how technically correct the book is, what I can tell is that I enjoyed the story very much. Found it quite gripping and very well written.

This was a great follow-up alternate history from the Operation Herkules operation described in the previous effort. I read it in it's entirety without pause, and was left wanting more from the author. My only very small criticism revolves around the role played by the Admiral Scheer, which I felt could have played a more significant role in the running gun battle between the Tirpitz, Washington, and the pursuing allied cruisers. But that's just a minor quibble and a point of view, which in no way should detract from what is an excellent and thrilling read.

This is the second volume in an alternate WW2 series. The layout issues from the prior volume have been fixed. The editing is also better. However it is a worse book. It reads like a naval minis game and the repetition of noises for shells gets old fast and annoying faster. The character building and story telling are also both worse than the first book. I didn't hate it and only moderately begrudge the time I spent reading it but I am a junkie for WW2 AH. The author couldn't decide if he was writing a strategic overview, a campaign summary or a story of his various poorly drawn POV characters at war. So he blended the three choices, doing a piss poor job at all of them.

The first book in the series was OK but this book is a Better Read, getting ready to start book 3

Well written smoothly flowing story based on historical information with an alternative set of circumstances/conditions applied; plausible within the context of the story as written, method of involving created characters and historical individuals and applying occurring events which they have to respond to, book is part of a series and references a previously published story of another alternative event

Thrilling from start to finish which I could not put down until the end.As per the authors previous book, he kept me guessing right to the end as to how it would all turn out.The AH element was minor enough (apart from the overall concept of Turpitz sailing obviously) until near the end where the consequences of the result were explored. On the other hand from the AH buff's point of view it was a refreshing new topic.Conclusion ...... great book and well worth the (higher?) price

Went straight into this book after finishing the first one, a bit more fast paced than the first one which was a slow build up to a great explosive action laced story. This one is just as good, plenty of detail and characters to get behind and again you don’t know what the out come will be till almost the last few pages. This series is turning out to be just brilliant!. Now stright into book No 3!

A fantastic idea, appallingly executed. I managed 20 pages or so before giving up. It might be me, but the somewhat plodding style this is written in left me cold. Thanks anyway, but I'll stick with Hastings and Beevor.

As usual a great book the author has clearly done his research in to this story. Once you start to read it you will not want to put it down.

Another excellent story in a fascinating timeline.