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usbsticky's review against another edition
4.0
I've been reading this series in chronological order and these books in the middle of the series are all run-on like it's one big book chronicling Bolitho's career from a Flag-Captain to an Admiral. I've been binging them like a TV series and there isn't much to separate one book from another. In fact I'm several books ahead now and I can't really remember much about this particular book. Even the book names are someone nondescript so I'll just give a general summary of the writing of the books in this time frame.
The writing is easy to read and follow. There is usually a lot of action, at least 1 ship to ship action. Apart from that, there's sometimes cutting out action. The action scenes are very well done if bloody and officers are not spared, quite a few die. Kent spends a lot of time on the characters and they are often well done and memorable. This is what I like about the books.
What I don't like: The hero worship gets a bit cringy at times. Not as bad as the Ramage books but sometimes close. CS Forester does a much better job of creating a hero and we don't need to be reminded every few pages how great Bolitho is.
What is worse is Kent's romance scenes. He is incapable of creating chemistry between the lovers and they often fall deeply in love after one meeting. The Ramage series is even worse and to be honest I'm not here to read romance.
There is sometimes recurring element of conflict, a plot device I dislike because it limits the plot and is predictable. In some of the books in this time frame, it's Bolitho's superior, either a commodore or admiral, who is grossly incompetent and Bolitho has to save him.
The writing is easy to read and follow. There is usually a lot of action, at least 1 ship to ship action. Apart from that, there's sometimes cutting out action. The action scenes are very well done if bloody and officers are not spared, quite a few die. Kent spends a lot of time on the characters and they are often well done and memorable. This is what I like about the books.
What I don't like: The hero worship gets a bit cringy at times. Not as bad as the Ramage books but sometimes close. CS Forester does a much better job of creating a hero and we don't need to be reminded every few pages how great Bolitho is.
What is worse is Kent's romance scenes. He is incapable of creating chemistry between the lovers and they often fall deeply in love after one meeting. The Ramage series is even worse and to be honest I'm not here to read romance.
There is sometimes recurring element of conflict, a plot device I dislike because it limits the plot and is predictable. In some of the books in this time frame, it's Bolitho's superior, either a commodore or admiral, who is grossly incompetent and Bolitho has to save him.
smcleish's review
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in March 2000.
It is inevitable that any novel written about the British navy in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century will be compared to [a:C.S. Forester|932179|C.S. Forester|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218219226p2/932179.jpg]'s Hornblower novels, to such an extent that endorsements of a novel saying that its hero rivals Hornblower are virtually meaningless. The genre is quite a narrow one, and Forester dominates it overwhelmingly.
Of the better known practitioners of this genre, Alexander Kent is perhaps the most like Forester and his hero Bolitho most like Hornblower. [a:Patrick O'Brien|58430|Patrick O'Brien|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg] has brought in a twist with the espionage in his novels; [a:Dudley Pope|35340|Dudley Pope|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1309648885p2/35340.jpg] has lightened the Ramage novels to the point of triviality. Bolitho is more heroic than Hornblower, yet his strengths to the modern reader are similar. Like Hornblower, for example, he finds the harsh punishments of the Navy at this time abhorrent; he possesses the ability to make brilliant strategic plans far beyond the grasp of his superiors and those around him; he rises quickly through the ranks despite the disapproval and incomprehension of hidebound superiors; he has the knack of inspiring devotion among those who server under him.
The tone is a little lighter than Hornblower, and Bolitho has an easier time of things (this may not be the case in the novel preceding this one, in which his beloved wife dies, but I have not read it). Worth reading if you like that sort of thing, Kent does not quite match up to the standard of Forester.
It is inevitable that any novel written about the British navy in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century will be compared to [a:C.S. Forester|932179|C.S. Forester|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1218219226p2/932179.jpg]'s Hornblower novels, to such an extent that endorsements of a novel saying that its hero rivals Hornblower are virtually meaningless. The genre is quite a narrow one, and Forester dominates it overwhelmingly.
Of the better known practitioners of this genre, Alexander Kent is perhaps the most like Forester and his hero Bolitho most like Hornblower. [a:Patrick O'Brien|58430|Patrick O'Brien|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg] has brought in a twist with the espionage in his novels; [a:Dudley Pope|35340|Dudley Pope|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1309648885p2/35340.jpg] has lightened the Ramage novels to the point of triviality. Bolitho is more heroic than Hornblower, yet his strengths to the modern reader are similar. Like Hornblower, for example, he finds the harsh punishments of the Navy at this time abhorrent; he possesses the ability to make brilliant strategic plans far beyond the grasp of his superiors and those around him; he rises quickly through the ranks despite the disapproval and incomprehension of hidebound superiors; he has the knack of inspiring devotion among those who server under him.
The tone is a little lighter than Hornblower, and Bolitho has an easier time of things (this may not be the case in the novel preceding this one, in which his beloved wife dies, but I have not read it). Worth reading if you like that sort of thing, Kent does not quite match up to the standard of Forester.
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