Blazing Star, Setting Sun

The Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign November 1942–March 1943

By: Jeffrey Cox

Narrated by: Lance C Fuller

Bloomsbury presents Blazing Star, Setting Sun by Jeffrey Cox, read by Lance C Fuller.

From popular Pacific Theatre expert Jeffrey R. Cox comes this insightful new history of the critical Guadalcanal and Solomons campaign at the height of World War II.

Cox's previous book, Morning Star, Rising Sun, had found the US Navy at its absolute nadir and the fate of the Enterprise, the last operational US aircraft carrier at this point in the war, unknown. This second volume completes the history of this crucial campaign, combining detailed research with a novelist’s flair for the dramatic to reveal exactly how, despite missteps and misfortunes, the tide of war finally turned.

By the end of February 1944, thanks to hard-fought and costly American victories in the first and second naval battles of Guadalcanal, the battle of Empress Augusta Bay, and the battle of Cape St George, the Japanese would no longer hold the materiel or skilled manpower advantage. From this point on, although the war was still a long way from being won, the American star was unquestionably on the ascendant, slowly, but surely, edging Japanese imperialism towards its sunset.

Jeffrey Cox’s analysis and attention to detail of even the smallest events are second to none. But what truly sets this book apart is how he combines this microscopic attention to detail, often unearthing new facts along the way, with an engaging style that transports the reader to the heart of the story, bringing the events on the deep blue of the Pacific vividly to life.©2020 Jeffrey Cox (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

This is naval history at its best.

Jeffrey R. Cox offers an authoritative account of the Solomon Islands campaign.

For students of the Pacific campaigns, these books are essential reading.

Horrible pronunciation! It distracts from the story!

Horrible pronunciation! It distracts from the story! It’s inexcusable and dilutes the authenticity of the author and undermines the credibility of the history as it’s presented. With so many reference points out there, how can this level of incompetence still survive into publication?

Great Narrator, but book gets lost in details.

The narration is spot on, and I thought I knew everything about Guadalcanal, but this book. goes way beyond, Very interesting read.
However, the author gets bogged down in too many details..

Cox seems to feel the need to name every destroyer, ( several times ) every squadron, every pilot ( both sides ), every torpedo
For me, the book looses it continuity, the book does not flow. To be constantly interrupted by every minutiae
of the battle was extremely frustrating...

Great Story Narration So So

This is a great story but the narrator mispronunciation of words is bothersome. This narrator is better than the first volume’s narrator though.

Great book

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves history. Pleasant in tone and informative.

I enjoyed it and would listen to it again.

it was easy to listen to and enjoy. A lot of good history.
thank you