The Story

It is 1808, and the middle of the Napoleonic Wars. First Lieutenant Heironymus Bonaventure serves on the HMS Fortitude. After a run-in with a Spanish frigate and a horrendous storm, the Fortitude finds an island paradise repair serious damage to their ship. When they come across a couple of members of the Spanish crew, only to learn of a madness that has effected the remainder of the Spanish crew on a neighbouring island. But the native people of this island paradise warn only of how the island is forbidden, and is the home of fire and death.

The Review

Hmm. This wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped it was going to be.

I was hoping for something that would cross Horatio Hornblower with fantasy. It was more like Robinson Crusoe with fantasy elements (and a lot more characters stranded on the island).

The characters lacked depth, there was nothing that made me care about any of them. And their relationships didn’t feel as developed as they should have been seeing as the characters had been stuck on a ship together for months on end with each other.

Then there was the ending, which was a bit anticlimactic and rushed. I expected more than the group of crew and islanders seeing the monsters, attempting to fight them for a little bit and then retreating. Especially for the islanders – this is supposed to be a trial where they can show their courage and their worth, and yet they’re going to have to live with knowing that they ran away from the danger – it didn’t feel consistent with who they were at all.

The one bright spot in the book was Giles Dulac, the man who teaches Bonaventure how to fence. I blame this on Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword, which has made me have a bit of love for characters who fight with swords. Sadly, he was only really around for four chapters, all of which were looks back into Bonaventure’s past. And I really wish we had explored Dulac more – there was so much more to him, including his relationship with a friend from army days. Hmm.

The Bottom Line

Overall, it was alright, but nothing super-special. It had the potential to be more than it was, but unfortunately, for me, it fell a little flat.

Other Reviews

Neth Space, Fantasy Book Critic. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

I picked up this book in the bargain section of Chapters about a year ago, and it’s been sitting on my self since then. I really really wish I had read this before now. Really wish that.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists was originally written to impress a girl, apparantely. From what I can see, this is the first of Defoe’s books, even though it references other adventures The Pirates have been on. In this particular story, The Pirates sale to the Galapagos Islands in search of adventure. In search of gold, actually. Instead of gold, they meet Charles Darwin. However, Darwin is not doing the whole evolution deal, but is actually training the first Man-panzee. A monkey that he’s dressed in human clothes, domesticized, and taught how to communicate with the use of flash cards.

The church wants to keep this Man-panzee stuff all hush-hush, because of the Bishop’s nefarious plans – plans to take the essence from beautiful young women so that he can always look young and beautiful.

Of course, once The Pirates friend young Darwin, and learn about the Bishop’s schemes, they set out on an adventure to help Darwin introduce his Man-panzee to London society.

The cover of this book proclaimed it to be similar to Blackadder. I could not disagree with that one bit. If there was a season of Blackadder about pirates, I could easily see some of these events happening. Absolutely hilarious, it was. So many funny parts. It was both snarky and very smart humour. And I loved the different spin that it had to Darwin and why Darwin was sailing tothe Galapagos Islands.

It was a little disconcerting at first that none of The Pirates had actual names, but by the time a few chapters passed, I didn’t really notice that much anymore. Unusually for me, I loved this book even though I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters. Don’t get me wrong – they’re funny and I like them, but none of them really stuck out in my mind. The only one with a real personality was the Pirate Captain himself. Surprisingly, that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book.

A few of my favourite quotes are as follows. The first is when the Pirate Captain has one of his crew dress up in a sheet and pretend to be the Holy Ghost, in order to trick the Bishop into confessing:

‘That’s not the Holy Ghost,’ snorted the Bishop dismissively.

‘Yes it is!’ said the Pirate Captain, a bit put out. ‘Look how tall he is! He’s a giant! And he’s covered in a sheet! Just like it describes him in the Bible.’

‘The Bible says nothing of the kind. Where on earth did you get the idea that the Holy Ghost is a giant? He’s the same size as Jesus. That’s the point – he’s just a creepier version of Christ.’

‘Are you sure?’ frowned the Captain, wondering if his research had let him down. ‘Doesn’t he fight Goliath at some point? I’m sure he does. He throws a leper at his face.’

The second is when the Pirate Captain comes across one of the members of his crew, who just happeend to die of scurvy:

‘What’s up with this swab?’ asked the Pirate Captain, nudging him with the toe of his shiny pirate boot.

‘He died of scurvy, sir,’ said the pirate with a scarf.

‘Aaaarrr. I hope that’s proved a useful lesson to you. Ham is all well and good, but make sure you get your vitamins! Scurvy is no laughing matter,’ said the Pirate Captain. ‘Except in those rare instances when a fellow’s head swells up like a gigantic lemon,’ he added as an afterthougth. ‘Which I grant can bring a smile even to my salty old face.’

As you can see, it is quite amusing. There were so many passages that I wish I had gone through and marked off for myself to easily find again. But in all honesty, there were just SO MANY that I could pretty much open up almost any page and find something that will make me laugh.

The Bottom Line: DEFINITELY a winner. I was snorting and laughing out loud over this, and am interested in Defoe’s other books. Would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys stuff like Monty Python, Blackadder and the like.

Silver is the story of Long John Silver (the pirate from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island). Written as a series of letters from Silver to the captain who has taken over his ship and is conveying him to London for his hanging, this book tells the story of how Silver became a pirate, how he discovered the treasure in Treasure Island, and where his treasure is now hidden.

This book certainly was not what I had expected it to be. Especially with the title being what it is. When I think about books about pirates, I think about swashbuckling, pillaging and plundering. This book was certainly none of those things – certainly it did mention treasure numerous times (this is Long John Silver, after all) but not until later on in the book. When there was murder, or fighting, or even looting, it was mentioned in an offhanded way most of the time. The first half of the book was very dry and very slow – it tells about how Silver started off as an orphan living on the streets as a pick-pocket, when he was working in a tavern where he originally met Black John, when he was learning to become a pirate, when he finally murdered Black John and became captain of the Linda Maria.

The narration itself took a good long time to get used to as well. The book is written for the most part as if Long John Silver had been writing a memoir or letters of sorts for the sake of the captain who was holding him captive, but it is randomly intersperced with conversation between Silver and his captor’s cabin boy in what would be real-time for Silver. It came across as distracting at first, breaking up the flow, but by the end of the book, I thoroughly appreciated the way it was written, as it gave more depth to both the cabin boy and Silver’s captor. Another thing that I found to be distracting about the narration is that there would be bouts when Silver would be spouting stuff that didn’t relate to the story – he was getting sick, and would succumb to fevers and at times there were feverish ramblings in his letters. I suppose it shows us more of Silver’s character, but it seemed… unnecessary.

There were a couple of “twists” at the end of the book. I use the term extremely loosely, as I had figured one out about halfway through the book. The other though, definitely came as a surprise. At the end of the book, as well as partway through the book, Silver mentioned that the location of his treasure is mentioned in his writings, and so I’m debating going back and rereading to see if I can figure out where the treasure is… but I had such a hard time getting through the first half the first time around and so the idea is not really too appealing to me right now. Maybe at a later date.

While there were many times that I was debating whether or not to actually finish this book, in the end I’m happy I did. I think it was around this quote in the book that made me want to keep with it until the end. At this point, I think I finally understood Long John Silver:

“And what does it matter if we are the only two left alive to tell each other the tale? We still had our adventure. And what if only one of us lives? That man will still bear the tale, even if he speaks it aloud to himself in the night. Even in a Spanish jail before his hanging. No one can ever take it away. It is an adventure, lad.”

[Disclaimer: Have been all kinds of crazy-sick the past few days so haven't had a chance to write this up until now. Had the flu, turned into the worst sinus-cold-potentially-sinus-infection ever and yes. Not fun. Still doped up on cold medication to help relieve the pain in my head and am hoping to not have to go to walk-in clinic over the weekend if it turns out that I really do have a sinus infection. So forgive me if this does not make as much sense as I hope it will.]

My parents are currently working on de-junking their house at the moment, and in the process asked me to look through numerous boxes of books to see if there was anything I thought we should get rid of or anything I wanted to read. Most of their books I had read through high school (Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Letter, etc.; no wonder I ended up thinking I didn’t like classics) but as I had no interest in books with sailors on the front covers back in my high school days, Billy Budd escaped my notice.

Billy Budd was left unfinished in 1891 due to Melville’s death and published in numerous different variations since his death, starting in 1924. According to Wikipedia, I read the wrong copy of this book. The version I read is an earlier version of text considered to be more along the lines of what Melville wanted – the title is aparantely supposed to be Billy Budd, Sailor: (An Inside Narrative), the ship they sail on is supposed to be a different name, there isn’t supposed to be a preface, etc. etc. etc. That said, this is the version I read, thus this is the version I am going to talk about.

Billy Budd, formerly of a merchant ship, is recruited to sail on a British warship during the Napoleonic wars. Other than a speech impediment that only appeared when excited or under duress, Budd is practically the perfect person – he’s good looking, amiable, and everyone loves him from the moment they meet him. Everyone, aside from Claggart, the Master-at-Arms. While the completely innocent and naive Budd does not realize this, Claggart soon seems to have quite the grudge growing against Budd until it gets to the point where Claggart falsely accuses Budd of mutiny.

The book was a little bit difficult to get into at first. I didn’t particularly care for the way the book was narrated, and it’s really hard to like a character that is practically perfect. Of course, the speech impediment ended up being his Achilles’ heel, which made him a bit more relatable – I don’t communicate well verbally with other people, so I can understand his desire to physically act out due to frustration – not that his acting out was forgivable by any means, but it makes it more understandable.

This book really made me ponder things. It wasn’t an easy read, but it was thought-provoking, and deals a lot with the issue of good-vs-evil, and goes into how someone should be punished if what they did was not what they meant to do. Doing the best thing for the fleet, versus doing the best thing for one man; doing your duty to prevent future trouble versus doing what is right. I don’t know what I would have chosen to do in the situation that Budd’s captain was put in.

This was my second book for the What’s in a Name challenge, and is my selection for the “book with a first name in its title” category.

It seems to be a week of endings for me. First HP and now Horatio. I’m going to start off by saying that this is a must-read for Hornblower fans – although I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re working your way through the books until you are completely finished. While this book wasn’t written by C.S. Forester, C. Northcote Parkinson has done a good job at writing a fictional biography that stays true to the characters and events in the actual Hornblower series.

The book starts off with Hornblower as a child, and continues on until his death – as biographies tend to do. Each chapter touches on a different time in Hornblower’s life – or rather, a different position held during Hornblower’s career. While it goes into the events that happened during the books, it also talks a bit more about what happens between the books that Forester didn’t write about and you don’t get to read about. It also goes in depth with what the world was like. A good majority of the last part of the book talks about steam engines, their development, how it will be the future for boats, and Hornblower’s involvement with the development, which isn’t really touched on in the series. We also get to read about how other people react to Hornblower’s promotions and successes – a lot of his peers weren’t too happy with how quickly Hornblower got promoted in some instances, or the special treatment he gets, which (again) the books don’t really go into. It gives a bit more perspective to the series as a whole.

It’s a great book for going deeper into Hornblower’s life and career, and was definitely a good way to say goodbye to the series; it reminded me of everything I had read previously, and gave me a deeper glimpse into who Hornblower was. I feel I got to know Hornblower so much more in this book than in any of the previous Hornblower books I’ve read.

He was a penniless orphan and began from nothing, making his way in the service without interest of any sort, gaining each step by an entire concentration on the work to be done, unenvied by those who lacked, and who knew they lacked, his resolution, his knowledge and his skill. . . He was never fearless, as some men are, but forgot his fears after battle was joined. He became a legend for saying no more than he needed to say but I knew him as he really was, a man of humility, of humour, of kindness and charm. . . he will always be remembered in the Royal Navy as one of the finest officers of his day.

I have a feeling that when I revisit the Hornblower series, before reading one of the novels, I will read the corresponding chapter in this book, and see how that will effect how I perceive the novel.

Bonaparte’s been defeated, and Hornblower is now Rear Admiral, and has a command in the West Indies (or, the Caribbean). Even though it’s peace-time, that doesn’t mean Hornblower has an easy job – there are still plenty of adventures for our favourite naval character to get into. Pirates, a group of people who want to rescue Bonaparte and reinstate him as Emperor in France, intercepting slave ships, hurricanes … it’s like the adventure never ends.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as previous books, but it was a good ending to the series (novel-wise). Each chapter stood on it’s own making the book feel like a collection of short stories, very similar to Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. It was, however, somewhat disappointing that the only characters that we really knew from previous books to be in this one were Hornblower and his wife.

I don’t really have much to say about this book. I’m somewhat mourning the fact that this is the last book in the series. I always get that let-down feeling at the end of a good series.

Lord Hornblower is the second-last book in the Hornblower series. It’s been a year since the events in The Commodore; Hornblower has spent the year recovering from typhoid. When he is over the typhoid, the first thing he has to do – under the utmost secrecy – is deal with a group of mutineers. Not on his ship, obviously, because everyone loves Hornblower, but on another ship in the navy. Coincidentally, someone’s ship who was on the Indy with Hornblower. That’s one thing this book has – a lot of reappearances of people from previous books. More so than any of the other books.

Of course, the mutineers episode only leads to Hornblower convincing a French city to renounce Bonaparte, and events that Hornblower started lead to the end of the war. Except it’s never that easy. As soon as they believe the war is ended, it starts over again, while Hornblower is in the middle of France. (Bad news for our Horry!)

I hate to say it, but I very much think that this is my least favourite of all of the Hornblower books that I’ve read thus far. There were some things that happened in the book that I really did not like – but won’t get into for the sake of those who have yet to read the book. But more than that, I just found that this book felt very disjointed. There were huge gaps of time in between chapters; it was almost like there were chunks missing that could have been in there to make it smoother. The events in this book felt like they could have made up two separate novels, if both were developed more. First, the dealings with the mutineers; secondly, the part where Hornblower is back in France with Marie and the Comte de Gracay (from back in Flying Colours) leading a rebellion of sorts against Napoleon. I really wish that there had been more to that second part than just a few chapters.

I have to admit, however, that I thought this ending was much better than endings in previous books.

Only two more unread Hornblower books after this one! (Oh, plus The Life & Times.) I must savour them, because I don’t know what I’m going to do afterwards. I’m going to be at a bit of a loss. (I know, I know, there’s always O’Brian’s Master & Commander, but… it’s just not Horatio.)

I think I enjoyed this book more than all the other Hornblower books I’ve read so far. This time, Hornblower is a Commodore and has a whole bunch of ships in his command. Of course, Bush is there. Bush has to be there, just for the fact that he’s Bush. Hornblower is involved with Russia – doing everything he can to prevent Napoleon from taking over even more of the world than he already has. (Oh wait, isn’t that what he’s supposed to do for a good portion of this series?) Of course, a twist is thrown in when one of the men of Hornblower’s crew unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Prince of Sweden and the Czar of Russia.

Hornblower was much more enjoyable as a character in this book. Not to say that I don’t usually enjoy him, but he’s actually loosening up a little bit, and allowing himself to not be all stoic in front of other people. He’s growing much more fond of those who serve in the navy with him, and it’s really rather endearing.

You know what I really, really hate? (In hopes to be not too spoilerish for those who haven’t read this but plan on it…) When I’ve just started to like a character when BAM! He’s dead. It’s different than if I had liked the character all along – I feel at least like I’ve appreciated my time reading about him. But if I just started to like the character? I feel so betrayed by the author about the fact that this character is now dead. How could you make me just start to like someone and then kill him off?! I mean, really. Totally unfair and I get totally bitter.

(Oh, I totally love that Bush has his own Wikipedia entry. That makes me all giggly and fangirlish!)

Flying Colours starts off where A Ship of the Line finished. Captain Hornblower has surrendered his ship to the French, is now a prisoner on his way to Paris (along with Bush and Brown) to be tried, and Napoleon wants him dead. Flying Colours is the story of Hornblower’s escape from France to England where he knows a court martial awaits him. Their escape is aided by a most unusual ally – a mayor of a French town – at whose house the group abides for the winter and until Bush’s amputated leg heals.

It amuses me that I always seem to forget how emotionally involved I get with the Hornblower books. My love for Hornblower and Bush (and consequently my love for Paul McGann – what a wonderful job he did as Bush!) has grown considerably in the past few days.

There are a lot less characters that make an appearance in this book – less people Hornblower has to deal with on a day-to-day basis, which I thought was absolutely wonderful as it gave Bush more time in the story (I know I’ve mentioned before how much I love Bush, and it’s almost as much as I love Pellew). I love how we get to see more Bush, and get a better idea of the relationship between the captain and his first lieutenant.

I am however, starting to feel really bad for all the women in Hornblower’s life. They all fall in love with him, and yet he can’t love any of them back, because he’s already in love with Lady Barbara. Pfft. Those poor, poor women.

In this installation of Forester’s series, it’s the early 1800′s, and Hornblower is the captain of a ship of the line, and under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Percy (Lady Barbara’s husband). Hornblower and co are positioned near Spain, and he has to deal with finding enough people to man his ship, the Spanish not always living up to what they say, and, of course, the French.

I have a feeling that A Ship of the Line has been my favourite in the Hornblower series in a while, though I can’t quite figure out why. As much as I like Lady Barbara, I was quite pleased that she was only in it for just a little bit. Maybe it’s because it meant I got more time with the boys.

One of the other captains serving under Percy also happens to be Bolton, who had served on the Indy with Hornblower, and oh! I always love it when Hornblower meets up with other people from the Indy. It gives me such a feeling of homecoming! Even if they didn’t have a big role, just the mere fact that they served on the same ship makes me think of Pellew, and that is enough to bring a smile to any girl’s face.

Also, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I’ve decided that the reason I adore Bush so much is because of how he thinks of Hornblower:

Bush had the queer feeling – he had known it before – as he looked at Hornblower’s haughty expression that he was a father dealing with a high-spirited son; he loved his captain as he would have loved a son if ever he had had one.

But oh, that last battle scene, where Horatio is fighting off the four French ships; the despair he feels at the end of it, is so … tangible, and I was feeling his despair along with him. Poor little Hornblower…