This graphic novel had some great artwork, but the best thing about it were the essays explaining the battles at the end. I would recommend reading those first as an overview of the battles, if you aren't familiar with the situations. The body of the GN deals with the political situation bringing about these battles, and the everyday life of the sailors, who don't have the whole picture

very interesting , and a great way to impart historical facts via Graphic Novel format to people that aren't as inclined to read a big book.

This was quite an interesting format for what the book is doing. I actually quite enjoyed it. However, I didn't fully vibe with the art style. There was also a lot of text sometimes, which made the page feel very crowded. With the first battle, it was also very jumpy in the beginning, which I did not like.

Overall, it's a good introduction to these battles

I learned some stuff, but I think this book has such a narrow readership that my library would not purchase it.

I initially requested this because I love history, and graphic novel history can be really fun! I also didn't know a lot about naval battles so thought this might be a good introduction. Although it talked about 3 different battles I did not know about, I felt it didn't fully educate me about what was going on and several times I had to pause to read up on the action else where. I did enjoy the insights into what the sailors were feeling. The art was beautiful in this.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I admit in my joy at joining NetGalley I may have been overzealous in my requesting numbers. As this book has already been published, I am choosing to work on the current upcoming publish date books in my que. As I complete those I will work on my backlogged request and will provide a review at that time. I again send my sincere thanks and apologies.

'Great Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century: Tsushima, Jutland, Midway' by Jean-Yves Delitte and Giuseppe Baiguera is a graphic novel focusing on three naval battles in three different conflicts.

After a pretty brief foreword, the three graphic novel stories begin. All features stories of the ordinary men on both sides of the conflict as they follow orders. When the conflict happens, there is often tragedy. At the end of the book there are three essays featuring factual information and illustrations and photos from the conflicts.

If you aren't familiar with the battles, it might be more useful to read the essays first. Also, for a book with "battles" in the title, it seems like a lot of the conflict takes place off the page. I did like the art and essays, though.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dead Reckoning and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This book was an interesting format for a graphic novel. Focussing on three battles, the story did not seem to be told from both sides, and thus lacked some impactful takeaways. The illustrations were good, but often parts of the story that could have been explained through pictures were ignored. It was a good read, but to fully understand what was going on, one had to reread and actually, in some cases, find out from an external source, what actually happened. My son, on the other hand, a history buff and all round battle enthusiast, really enjoyed this book. His prior knowledge of the battles helped him fill in the gaps, and truly enjoy the format. Thank you.

Details 3 different major naval battles. One between Russia and Japan, one from WWI between Great Britain and Germany, and the battle of Midway from WWII. The stories focus on the thoughts and trepidations of the sailors more than the tactics and strategies deployed during the battles. Warning, there are a lot of slurs used in this.

This book features the artwork and words of Jean-Yves Delitte and Giuseppe Baiguera, who have separately and together created a number of graphic historical novels featuring a number of famous naval battles. In this volume, they join forces to tell stories about three of the biggest and most noteworthy naval battles of the twentieth century: Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War; Battle of Jutland in WWI and the Battle of Midway in WWII.

Using the style of popular graphic novels, the artists/authors bring the details of these pivotal naval battles by focusing on both the normal seaman as well as the commanders of the vessels involved. They also include enought background and historical details to help younger students to make use of this work for educational purposes. But this book is far from a dry overview of history. The drawing is bright and accurate, and the action moves pretty quickly. Recommended for ages 12 to adult.

Interesting look at three 20th century naval battles (from the Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, Jutland in WWI, and Midway from WWII). It focused much less on the tactics and strategy and much more on the experience of the naval officers and especially the crew in the long lead up to and during the battles; it captured the uncertainty, contingency, and doubt that escapes the high level historical view when we already know the outcome. Engaging realistic art and while I would have liked to have seen more discussion of what actually happened in each battle, it was a fun read, if for nothing else the to remind readers that war is fought by real, living, doubting, uncertain, imperfect figures.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This graphic novel presents three the major naval battles: the Battle of Tsushima, the Battle of Jutland, and the Battle of Midway.

As I love history, knowing a bit of history by the artworks, fascinating. I would recommend this book.

Thank you again NetGalley.

I thought it would be interesting to learn pieces of history through a graphic novel. Many of my friends already know a lot, so I thought I would take this opportunity to brush up my knowledge. But the graphic novel aspect failed utterly. I would rather have read a summary of each battle, it would have been less tedious.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. From childhood I have been fascinated with war campaigns and their associated stories and war graphic novels has been where all my pocket money used to go.
Great Naval Battles of the 20th Century started with a good one ,the Battle of Tsushima which marked the emergence of Japan as a super power but the next Jutland battle could have been better done. Midway battle was better but again the naval drama was lacking.
Overall 4 stars for the graphics, 3.5 stars for the stories .

I thought by the title that this was going to be an enjoyable read, but I was shocked and dismayed by the dialogue used in this comic book.

First off, there are pages and pages and meaningless talk, mere banter that doesn't inform anyone about the battles. The book is obviously aimed at adults because of the raunchy talk. However, if it is aimed at adults, the dialogue is "dumbed down" and there is very little to learn about the history. There is one passage early on where there is talk of one sailor's wife who is referred to as the "mare" who "didn't want her stallion mounting her." On the same page there are derogatory words used to reference male genitalia. I found it hard to understand what all this had to do with great naval battles.

This is a reader beware. You will learn little and it is a waste of time. Two stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this graphic book. As a retired naval officer and historian this book did not offer me anything new or interseting about the subject. It would, however, give the casual historian hobbyist or young reader an introduction into further research. the graphics are nicely done and the conversations are appropriate for the time period.

I actually learned some history about these 3 naval battles profiled, but I did have to read a couple of the segments a couple of times to get the players/characters straight/in proper perspective & I struggled with some of the artwork....it just seemed kind of 'jagged'? I appreciated the further explanations & additional information about the battles, accompanied by photos, at the end of the book. I wouldn't consider this an easy read, as I did have to kind of work at .....actually, quite a bit of it! This book would probably appeal mostly to naval history buffs....
I received an e-ARC of this book from publisher Dead Reckoning via NetGalley, in return for reading it & posting my own fair/honest review.

This book is an exemplary use of the graphic novel as nonfiction source. The images are detailed and informative and undergird the text. Another damn fine product from Dead Reckoning.

Three naval battles in one volume! Jen-Yves Delitte and Giuseppe Baiguera provides a nicely illustrated graphic novel that provides a look at the Battle of Tsushima where Japan defeated the Russian fleet, the Battle of Jutland where the Germans and British clashed in the biggest naval battle of World War I, and finally the Battle of Midway where the United States managed to defeat Japan. Each battle is told through the eyes of fictional participants. And each battle has a series of short articles setting the battles in context, explaining weapons used, and providing short entries on various leaders involved in the individual battles. If you are a fan of naval battles, this is a title to pick up and enjoy!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this volume!

​This graphic novel presents three the major naval battles: the Battle of Tsushima, the Battle of Jutland, and the Battle of Midway.

In the Battle of Tsushima, the Russian Baltic Fleet is ordered to reinforce the fleet at Port Arthur, but their way is blocked by the English control of the Suez Canal. By the time they make it around Africa, the Japanese have decimated the forces at Port Arthur. The Japanese navy deals another blow at the Straight of Tsushima as the Russian fleet tries to sneak through on their way to Vladivostok.

The Battle of Jutland was a showdown between the British Royal Navy and the German Kaiserliche Marine. This was one of the final battles of World War I, and helped the British reaffirm their supremacy over the seas, despite the heavy losses dealt to them here by the Germans.

The Battle of Midway is one of the most famous battles in World War II. In this chapter, four pilots, friends since childhood, are separated from their post at Pearl Harbor and reassigned to different areas. One ends up at Midway, flying ancient planes in a vain attempt to stop the Japanese fleet. At a critical moment, the Americans break the Japanese code and find out that they plan to attack the base at Midway. The American forces lay a trap for the Japanese fleet, and turn the tide of the War in the Pacific.

I really appreciated the addition of fictional characters that Delittle added to each of the chapters because it meant that there was someone in each chapter that I could care about. Having a very bad history education, I didn't know that certain characters were on doomed ships. Had I had more information, I probably would have understood that some of them were going to die based on the ship to which they were stationed.

The strongest of all the chapters was the Battle of Midway. The story of the four friends was heart-wrenching and made the tragedies more impactful. The chapters on Tsushima and Jutland were not as interesting. There is a lot of build up to the battle, then a very quick depiction of the battle, and then a really short or nonexistence resolution post-battle. A narrative voice is inserted within the second story and isn’t present throughout - it is only used when convenient, rather than consistently lending information that could be critical to the reader.

Some of the characters were presented with great bias. The Japanese were presented as unintelligent, and Eric/k, the boy from French Moselle who wants to be German, is treated rather unfairly throughout. Character use slurs for the Japanese in two of the chapters, which is probably for historical accuracy. There is some adult language and some sexual suggestiveness in all three chapters as well.

The ships are drawn with great detail, but characters all look very similar and indistinguishable at times. The coloring is beautiful and vibrant.

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability level: Grades 10-12

This review was made possible with an advanced reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley. This graphic novel will be on sale October 21, 2020.

Not really sure why this book exists. There is no real through line connecting the three battles and trying to depict these different engagements prevents the authors from being able to properly explore any of them in sufficient depth. In some cases its difficult to understand what is happening in the battle or its significance without having preexisting knowledge of them. Similarly, the brevity makes it impossible to get invested in the characters in each tale.