Commodore Hornblower [Hardcover]

C S Forester (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: LITTLE BROWN & CO @ (1950)
• ASIN: B000SG02JU
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

More About the Author

C. S. Forester (1899-1966) wrote several novels with military and naval themes, including The African Queen, The Barbary Pirates, The General, The Good Shepherd, The Gun, The Last Nine Days of the "Bismarck," and Rifleman Dodd. But Forester is best known as the creator of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval genius of the Napoleonic era, whose exploits and adventures on the high seas Forester chronicled in a series of eleven acclaimed historical novels. Over the years Hornblower has proved to be one of the most beloved and enduring fictional heroes in English literature, his popularity rivaled only by Sherlock Holmes.

Born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith in Cairo, Egypt, Forester grew up in London. At the start of World War II he traveled on behalf of the British government to America, where he produced propaganda encouraging the United States to remain on Britain's side. After the War, Forester remained in America and made Berkeley, California, his home.

The character of Horatio Hornblower was born after Forester was called to Hollywood to write a pirate film. While the script was being drafted, another studio released Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn, based on the same historical incidents about which Forester was writing. Rather than seek another movie project, and to avoid an impending paternity suit, Forester jumped aboard a freighter bound for England. By the end of the voyage he had outlined Beat to the Quarters, which introduced the now legendary character Hornblower, Bush, and Lady Barbara.

Forester died in 1966 while working on Hornblower During the Crisis.

Back Bay's editions of the Hornblower novels are numbered according to the chronology of Hornblower's life and career, not according to the sequence in which they were written. The series is comprised of the following titles:


Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
Lieutenant Hornblower
Hornblower and the Hotspur
Hornblower During the Crisis
Hornblower and the Atropos
Beat to Quarters
Ship of the Line
Flying Colours
Commodore Hornblower
Lord Hornblower
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Baltic Battles for Hornblower, June 8, 2000

By 

Bill Mac "hmcs_kenogami" (windsor, ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

Commodore Hornblower was Forester's first attempt to replicate the pre-war success of his Horatio Hornblower trilogy; Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line and Flying Colours. After emerging victorious from the greatest war in human history, would his readership still be interested in a more distant conflict? The answer was "Yes", but Forester made sure by including strong parallels between the Napoleonic Wars and World War II. The result, as a historical novel, was as relevant to the readers of the day as if it had been written about WWII. Commodore Hornblower works as a historical novel of the Napoleonic era and as a reminder of the immense struggles and sacrifices of WWII.

Commodore Hornblower begins with Hornblower leaving his new wife and son to return to sea. How poignant this passage must have been for the first post-war readers. Hornblower, now in charge of a small squadron, must take his ships into the Baltic past hostile Danes and Swedes who maintain a sinister neutrality. What follows is a series of naval and land engagements that are typical of this type of novel. However nobody surpassed Forester in telling exciting yet realistic action stories. The battle scenes are both exciting and exhilarating yet horrifying at the same time.

During his stint in the Baltic, Hornblower rubs shoulders with the Tsar of Russia, Marshal Bernadotte of Sweden and the warrior/philosopher Clausewitz. Hornblower must try and win over those hanging onto to neutrality by a thread and those siding with the tyrant Napoleon. As always he acquits himself well although he is his own worst critic.

While Commodore Hornblower works as both an action novel and a historical novel, I think that it might have lost some of the impact that it had when it was first published. The parallels for the British people in 1940 and 1812 are very strong. There is a tyrant dominating Europe who is both willing and able to throw away far more lives than the British could manage or accept. There is Russia siding with the tyrant, invading Finland and ultimately resisting the tyrant's invasion from the west. There is Europe ready for an uprising to overthrow the tyrant. And, of course, there is Britain standing alone against the might of the entire continent until forces can be rallied to defeat the tyrant. Commodore Hornblower is a story of heroism in the Napoleonic era but it was published at the right time to remind the British people of the heroism that they had so recently shown. It's a marvelous sequel and worthy successor to Forester's pre-war efforts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the whole package, September 17, 2003

By 

Jack Purcell (Placitas, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

Start with Midshipman Hornblower and take a vacation. You won't put any book in the series down until you finish them all.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The saga continues, July 25, 2003

By 

Michael H. Siegel (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga) (Paperback)

Commodore Hornblower is an excellent continuation of the adventures of Horatio Hornblower. Fresh from his dramatic victory in Spain and France, Hornblower is dispatched to the Baltic. His mission is to both frustrate Napoleon and support Russia, one of the few nations yet to be conquered by the tyrant.

The result is a tale that fits in perfectly with the Hornblower cannon. Horatio's adventures in the Baltic cover the whole gamut from challenging French privateers to foiling assassination plots to fending off a siege in Riga. And Forester levens the action with a constant reminder of the historical context. 1812 was possibly the most desperate year for England, when it seemed the whole world was against her. (Although, perhaps with his audience in mind, Forester tacitly left out the fact that Britain was at war with America as well. For history buffs, this omission is conspicuous.)

Hornblower is his usual compelling self -- brave, brilliant but with his dark sides. He make decisions and has thoughts that would be considered far too complex and realistic for today's action heroes. I found myself as fascinated by Hornblower himself as I was by the thrilling action scenes.

This is an excellent continuation of the Hornblower series.