Customer Reviews

Command a king's Ship

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Years ago, when I served as a Chaplain for the 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead) in Frankfurt Germany, Dan, my Chaplain Assistant encouraged me to read the naval fiction of Alexander Kent. I had no interest in the British Navy, but Dan's enthusiasm, along with previous recommendations which had been on the mark, encouraged me to give Kent's books a try.

I began to read about the remarkable life of Richard Bolitho, whose life spanned from 1756 to 1815. In the course of 22 books we see Bolitho from his days as a lowly Midshipman (at the age of twelve) to his death as a knighted Rear Admiral during battle. Kent has even continued past Bolitho's death with a novel focused his nephew Adam, captain of a frigate, who appears throughout the saga.

I've since read C.S. Forester's books on Hornblower and have tried O'Brien's, but the lesser-known Kent outshines all in his fiction. He brings the hardships of the period to life, drawing the reader into the harsh world of the seaman, telling compelling, epic tales of courage.

Throughout Kent's books one finds impressive lessons regarding leadership and commitment to country and one's shipmates. Along with the sea battles, we learn of the press gangs, the in-fighting politics of the Admiralty, ethical dilemmas, the uneasy alliances among nations, and especially the human reaction to an irresistible yet severe life. Bolitho earns the respect and devotion of his sailors and officers through his bravery, fairness, tactical brilliance, and because he chooses to become personally involved in their lives and takes care of his men. Bolitho is not a remote, aloof or harsh leader. He is stern, yet compassionate. He is charming and complicated. On every ship he immediately learns the names and backgrounds of his men, and they find out quickly that he is committed to them. He is also flawed; Kent does not make him out to be a cardboard hero.

The many battle scenes are magnificent and horrible in their depiction of the tactics and awful bloodshed in close engagements. Heated shot, fire ships, risky maneuvering and grappling the sides of enemy ships for hand-to-hand combat mark this kind of war and determine the victor. Sometimes mutinous seaman, brutal weather, or cruel leaders become the enemy as well. Kent has exhaustively, in epic fashion, crafted the minute details of life at sea. In the process he tells compelling stories of the courage and cowardice. The brotherhood of seaman, "we happy few", as they quote the Bard, fight with and for each other. Kent even manages to get on land occasionally, and brings in some romance. But the bulk of the action involves the unique struggles of those in the warships.

In the course of his writing, Kent allows us to also see the American Revolution from a British perspective. Bolitho's brother deserts to the colonists' cause, which brings grief and disgrace to Sir Richard. Kent treats the Revolution as unfortunate and inevitable.

I want to pass on the favor Dan gave me by encouraging you to explore the unique world Alexander Kent has so meticulously and masterfully detailed. You will care about the people in these books, and in each you will find parables of leadership.

Richard Bolitho is saved from peacetime idleness in the period between the end of the American War of Independence and the start of the French Revolutionary War by being assigned a frigate mission to the East Indies. The objective is to found a colony in an area disputed with other colonial powers, but the greatest challenge comes from an experienced French captain who, with his ship, has been seconded to the service of a ruthless local potentate. Action on both sea and land is violent and bloody and, as usual in these stories, the technical detail and historic context are conveyed in a wholly convincing manner. Bolitho's woes are compounded by an unhelpful British political agent and in the midst of all the turmoil still manages to commence a secret love affair. The story builds up to a splendid climax in which Bolitho's faithful friend Herrick, who appears in many novels of the series, emerges as the principal hero of the story. A rattling good read that is hard to put down.

As I have noted before in other reviews, Kent is a great story teller. In this one, after the peace is signed at Versailles between France and England following the American Revolutionary War, the protagonist of the series (this is number five in the Bolitho series), Richard Bolitho, is given command of a 24 gun frigate, the Undine (a fifth rater), and ordered to India, where his task is to assist in taking over a Spanish post, which is to revert to the British flag. The post's governor is an admiral under whom he has previously served, and who is trying to restore his reputation after a bad command call in a previous sea battle..

There is skullduggery almost immediately, including plots to sabotage the deal by the French, who are in league with local pirates, and a love affair with a British government officer's wife. Bolitho, it would seem, is naive about women and driven more by his glands than his brain (as are many young men).

In any case, this is a whale of a story, and it will keep you reading far into the night--especially if you have reached the age when vicarious adventure is more appealing than the more dangerous kind, as have I.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

A good sea story in the Hornblower tradition, but with unexceptional writing and publishing craft. The Berkeley paperback is full of typos, plot is linear, most characters are stereotypes, and the narrative follows an all-too-predictable formula. The book is appealing even so -- the story line never stagnates and is replete with colorful descriptions of scenery and action.

These irritations didn't stop me from ordering more of the same. After all, the same things could be said of the C. S. Forester books.

Alexander Kent's novels are typically filled with action. Chronologically earlier entries in the series like In Gallant Company, Sloop of War, Stand Into Danger and To Glory We Steer were all action-packed page turners. In Command a King's Ship Kent attempts to do the same but I didn't find the results as satisfactory. It's a good read and a must for series aficionados but it's not one of his best.

In this entry with key survivors from To Glory We Steer, Captain Richard Bolitho is off to the East Indies where piracy is alive and pirates can set up private empires. Europe is now at peace and Bolitho must cooperate with his former Spanish adversaries. However, things go awry well before they leave the Atlantic Ocean. At their destination, Bolitho faces two formidable adversaries. He also has to face his nemesis within the British administration. There are nefarious schemes to be unraveled and fierce battles to be fought. All the elements are in place for a superb action story.

Bolitho also falls for the wife of an administrator adding romance to the story. Perhaps this element is a little too formulaic. Needless to say the husband is a cad. Perhaps it would be more interesting if her husband had been a decent man and the tension created by them both not wanting to hurt him would have been greater. As it stands, the fact that a woman is married to a nasty man is long-standing literary justification to conduct an adulterous affair.

The novel progresses with Bolitho torn over his professional duties and his personal desires. The romance is fluff and the battle scenes are fairly good. One problem that I have with Kent's novels and this one in particular, is that Kent doesn't set the reference for the battles. If Bolitho is approaching an island, it's not clear from which direction. Does the port face north, south, east or west? Is the land on the starboard or larboard side? Which way is the wind blowing? The reader rarely gets enough information to clearly understand what's going on?

It's a good story but not one of his best.

Captain Richard Bolitho of the frigate Undine finds himself sailing for Madras in the East Indies, his ship carrying his former captain, Admiral Beves Conway. Bolitho remembers Conway from his own days as an impressionable midshipman, but now Conway is a man on the verge of breaking after being made the scapegoat of a naval disaster. The admiral has been appointed governor of an outpost beyond Madras, which the Spanish who were so recently Britain's enemies have agreed to turn over to Conway. Bolitho and an East India Company brig carrying Viola Raymond, his recent and married lover, arrive to find the outpost almost destroyed by a pirate "king" who holds sway over the area with the help of a French brig and its captain. The pirate has kidnapped the outpost's Spanish governor. Bolitho proposes to get the man released, and to break the pirate's power. How he goes about achieving those goals makes for an exciting read in this early entry in the long running series, which I have just re-read after reading it initially not long after its first paperback release. It stands the test of time very well. A typical Kent novel in the true C.S. Forester tradition.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Granite Island"

Well, the American Revolution is over the French Revolutionary Wars have not begun yet, so, what to do with our hero? Well, send him off to the East Indies to protect the interests of the Honourable Company. Bolitho is in command of a ship on a 'secret' mission. On the way to the Indies, he has to stop off in Africa for water, where he naturally has it out with some natives. After a short stop in India, it's off to the Indies, where he battles the French and pirates. It's all a lot of fun. Great adventure and action. One problem, though; as another reviewer wrote "I had trouble visualizing the ship maneuvres relative to land. Action proceeds and suddenly there's land or a channel where I didn't expect it, or on the opposite side from where I imagined it." I had exactly the same problem. It was really hard to imagine the lay-out of the land. I had this problem no matter where Bolitho was--Africa or the Indies. So, it made following the story a bit difficult.
One thing that I like about historical fiction is that it is a gateway to learning for me. For example, if Bolitho is assigned to the Indies, I pull out the map to track his routes; which countries control which islands? And so on. The topics are legion and a quick look in a dictionary or encyclopedia makes the story more enjoyable. The list of things I have learned by reading historical fiction is endless. This book opened up a new world for me, as I knew practically nothing about the East Indies at the end of the American Revolution.

No one writes a better seafaring tale like Alexander Kent. Haveing read ALL of this series, I am breathlessly waiting for the next in the series. Richard and Adam Bolitho are very memorable characters that you wish you knew in real life. You'll never miss seeing a masted ship after reading any of Kent's books.

This tale is filled with crashing cannon fire, foaming waves, shattered hulls, storms at sea, great characters and dialog. Another book to join the others in this series, classics.

Alexander Kent is an excellent author. The adventure sequences in his novels are the type that you just can't put down once you are emersed in the story. Unlike other adventure novels where the hero has super human powers Bolitho is genuinely human and protrays human emotions in all of the stories that I have read including Command a Kings Ship.