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usbsticky's review against another edition
3.0
I've been reading this series in chronological order and so far they've been pretty good. I'm a big fan of Hornblower but I've only been reading the clones this year and so far I've gone through Lewrie, Kydd, Drinkwater, Ramage and now Bolitho. All of them seem to start strong but lose its way and it's also somewhat true of this series.
What I like about this series is that it's quite well written and easy to read and follow. I think Kent does a great job of the action scenes and spends a lot of time on the characters. The relationships between the characters are quite well done. The action scenes are very vivid and Kent doesn't pull any punches when it comes to realism and carnage.
I'm not going to summarize this book as I've been reading them in order and they all seem to run on like a TV series and there isn't really a gap between them. Bolitho is just sent on one mission after another. What I am going to say is what or where the series starts to lose its luster.
1) The hero worship. Lately it's gotten as bad as Ramage where basically everyone he comes in contact with either professes his admiration for him aloud for anyone in proximity to hear or sotto voce to himself. And as another reviewer said: their goal in life seems to be to line up to lay down their lives for him. Frankly this is cringy and just bad writing. They're all basically aping Hornblower but CS Forester does a much better job. If you have to convince readers by having the characters say they admire Bolitho every few pages then you're not doing a good job - write it so that we feel it, not read it through dialog.
2) The romance: I don't know why Kent has put it into his head that readers read this series for romance. Again, I feel it's because of Hornblower's affairs and an effort to better him. But in this case Kent is a horrible romance writer. Characters just meet for 2 seconds and pledge their undying love for each other, totally without any chemistry. Spoilers here: Same thing with Captain Keen falling head over heals over the girl at one glance. The subplot of this book might as well be called Captain Keen thinks with his benis. This subplot is totally superfluous, gratuitous and unnecessary.
If Kent had removed the romance and dialed down the hero worship, this would have been a much better book. Not as good as Hornblower, but still better than the other clones. OK, on to the next book.
What I like about this series is that it's quite well written and easy to read and follow. I think Kent does a great job of the action scenes and spends a lot of time on the characters. The relationships between the characters are quite well done. The action scenes are very vivid and Kent doesn't pull any punches when it comes to realism and carnage.
I'm not going to summarize this book as I've been reading them in order and they all seem to run on like a TV series and there isn't really a gap between them. Bolitho is just sent on one mission after another. What I am going to say is what or where the series starts to lose its luster.
1) The hero worship. Lately it's gotten as bad as Ramage where basically everyone he comes in contact with either professes his admiration for him aloud for anyone in proximity to hear or sotto voce to himself. And as another reviewer said: their goal in life seems to be to line up to lay down their lives for him. Frankly this is cringy and just bad writing. They're all basically aping Hornblower but CS Forester does a much better job. If you have to convince readers by having the characters say they admire Bolitho every few pages then you're not doing a good job - write it so that we feel it, not read it through dialog.
2) The romance: I don't know why Kent has put it into his head that readers read this series for romance. Again, I feel it's because of Hornblower's affairs and an effort to better him. But in this case Kent is a horrible romance writer. Characters just meet for 2 seconds and pledge their undying love for each other, totally without any chemistry. Spoilers here: Same thing with Captain Keen falling head over heals over the girl at one glance. The subplot of this book might as well be called Captain Keen thinks with his benis. This subplot is totally superfluous, gratuitous and unnecessary.
If Kent had removed the romance and dialed down the hero worship, this would have been a much better book. Not as good as Hornblower, but still better than the other clones. OK, on to the next book.
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