Customer Reviews

King's Captain: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Patrick O'Brian set the tone and future development of his masterful seafaring series in book two, 'Post Captain', and Dewey Lambdin appears to have chosen to change tack and emulate the master's style and direction here in book nine of his fine series. In 'King's Captain', he appears to have decided to grab the opportunity to fill the void left by Mr. O'Brian's passing. Previously we were presented with a rollicking naval adventure series; now we seem to be settling into a more subtle, complex view of our hero and the socio-political events of the time. In this installment, Alan Lewrie joins Horatio Nelson in glory at the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent, is finally promoted to post-captain, spends a lot of time attempting to adjust to home, hearth, wife and children before being rescued from his ambivalence about this stagnant life by the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore. Not much else happens, but this consciously slower pace allows us to watch Lewrie's personal development and Lambdin's literary development as much more attention is placed on period detail, language, pun and allusion to the delight of O'Brian fans. Loved the "Are You Being Served?" schtick, though perhaps a slim paintbrush rather than a trowel might have improved the application. One criticism: stop with the "quotation marks" around each charming 'period' word; we Aubrey/Maturin fans can handle this stuff straight. Fans of this feisty series, don't worry! 'Ram-Cat' Lewrie is still handy with pistol and sword, Lambdin's tongue remains firmly in his cheek throughout and it is not he who makes any claims of picking up O'Brian's mantle, but I for one am loving it! "Three Cheers...!"...

As a huge fan of this series, I was a bit disappointed in the last installment (Jester's Fortune) as I felt there was just not enough of the action or womanizing that made the first few novels so much fun. King's Captain also suffers a bit from this, but in place of the action we get to see Lewrie mature some. Rather than one novel after another in which the character stays the same but just rises in rank (which, considering how good the first books were, wouldn't be all that bad) Lambdin is showing Lewrie turning from his rakish former self into a family man, even if Alan does chafe a bit in the presence of his own children. I could wish for a bit more of the old ramcat in the future, but King's Captain did keep my interest, and I enjoyed seeing how Lewrie dealt with mutineers, and how he reacted to a bit of his past coming back to haunt him. Now that he's been made post, and has a new frigate to command, perhaps we will get to see Lewrie in a few more adventures that bring him the prize money he always seems to need.

While "Kings Captain" won't replace O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series for literary quality, it does rise towards the latter with its political intrigue. Lambdin has given the reader a fascinating look at what living conditions were like in England in 1797, and how they set the stage for the Royal Navy mutinies at Spithead and Nore. Newly promoted Captain Lewrie comes across as a younger, more earnest Jack Aubrey in this fine Napoleonic era yarn. Those who mourn O'Brian's passing and seek new naval adventures may not be disappointed at all in the latest installment in the Alan Lewrie naval adventure series.

Alan Lewrie, at the end of the last novel (Jester's Fortune), was withdrawing from the Adriatic as part of the British withdrawal from the Mediterranean in late 1796. This story skips forward and begins with the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in early 1797. Admiral Jervis is depicted out of character, praising Lewrie without promoting him. Jervis had the authority to promote officers he approved of and would have immediately done so if he approved of Lewrie. The real life Peter Puget received such a promotion from Jervis, even though he arrived after the battle (Puget was known from earlier accomplishments).

After a return to England to put the Jester into the dockyard, and a reconciliation between Lewrie and his father, the main part of this novel deals with the mutiny at the Nore after Lewrie is promoted and takes command of a frigate. He is confronted by an old enemy he cannot identify, and a crew split between mutineers and loyal men. The story contains little action at sea - when Lewrie is not on land, he is mainly aboard ship at anchor dealing with the mutineers. A side issue arises when someone writes a poison pen letter revealing Lewrie's past indiscretions. Overall, the novel is more about personalities than about naval action. It covers a relatively short period of time in 1797.

For novels more action-filled, covering the same time period (including the mutiny), the reader is referred to Richard Woodman's, "A King's Cutter," and C. Northcote Parkinson's, "The Fireship."

It's Valentine's Day, 1797, and the JESTER sloop under Commander Alan Lewrie is prowling behind the line-of-battle ships as Admiral Jervis seeks to close with the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent. And when Captain Horatio Nelson goes against orders in breaking out to pursue his own instincts against an enemy division, Lewrie gets sucked into the action against his much better judgment. But Nelson's success gets him promoted Rear Admiral and Lewrie, from pure dumb luck combined with a willingness to take a chance when necessary, ends up being made post and is given PROTEUS, a spanking-new frigate -- with a perhaps mystical personality. And that's just about all the naval action you'll find in this ninth in the series, but that's because history has once again caught Lewrie up, in the form of the widespread mutinies at Spithead and the Nore. Lambdin does an excellent job of placing these close-to-revolutionary events in the context of the times: High taxation, soaring prices for consumer goods, industrial revolution and continued low wages for those not involved in it, and an increasingly repressive Tory government. Denied by circumstances the usual privilege of taking a core of favored crewmen from his last command to his new one, he must learn his way around not only a new ship and new responsibilities but an entirely new group of subordinates. And cope with the mutiny when it comes to him. And deal with his wife and family. And cope with the notion of his rapscallion father living next door. Not to mention all those women in his past! I suspect this installment may disappoint those who merely want blood and action and don't care about "real" history, but I enjoyed it a great deal.

Terrific book. unfortunately the Kindle edition has numerous errors. the most grievous being the opening chapter was mistakenly put at the END of the book. once i figured that out I enjoyed the read.

I have NOT read the book yet... but thanks to another reviewer, found the screw-up he mentioned --- the low star rate is to get others attention and warn them....

As I said, they messed up the book formatting.
Chapter #1 is actually located at about 95% of the way into the book.

If you go to the supposed chapter #1,at the beginning, the opening is:
"It should have been a glad day. Yet to Lewrie it seemed to be one of infinite sadness. Though the harbour waters were sparkling and glittering, the skies were fresh-washed blue, stippled with benign and pristine brush-stroked clouds; the sun was bright; and the day was just warm enough to be mild, yet not hot enough to be oppressive; and gulls and other seabirds swooped and dove and hovered with springtime delight ... it was his last day. The morning he surrendered command of HMS Jester."

Yet, the author in the Afterword says:
"I've always liked to open things with a bang, which is why this installment of the Alan Lewrie saga began with the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent on Valentine's Day, 1797--quite apt, that holiday, in light of Lewrie's later troubles with "the Fair Sex."

As you read the afterward, all of a sudden, there it is, the start of the REAL chapter #1. The line reads:
"There was a thunder 'pon the sea."
He's aboard Jester and is in the battle.
Tried to report it, not sure if they got it.

This is for Lambdin, Dewey (2002-09-19). King's Captain: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure . Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

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OK, I just completed reading the book and it turned out to be rather enjoyable.
I'll still leave the one star to attract attention to the formatting issue. If not for that I'd be inclined to give it 3.5 or 4. (I know, no such thing as a 3.5).
So, I'm off to number 10.

Not entirely unlike an older James Bond film, this ninth book in the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures starts out with a bang, or rather, the notable Battle of Cape St. Vincent (in 1797) where Lewrie is pretty much dragged along into glory with Nelson, winning him a nice shiny medal... but also, sadly, losing him the HMS Jester, which, after three years at sea needs a re-fitting and a new Commander, as Lewrie is slated to make Post Captain. Happily, Lewrie is reunited with his family after that long absence, but typically begins to chafe a bit at domestic life on the farm. When orders come from the Admiralty, he's guiltily anxious to get to sea again. He's assigned to a gorgeous new frigate, the Proteus, however, the ship has begun to have an odd history already--something worrisome to superstitious seamen, and Lewrie has to deal with an entirely new and untried crew. And then comes the mass mutinies in the Channel and the Nore and it looks as if things are starting out under a very unlucky star for the new Captain and the new ship...

After reading nine books, I (and others) would either have to be masochists or we'd have to be confirmed fans of this series, and I'm all for reading for pleasure, not pain! I love this series. Reading each book is like getting together with an old friend who is just too much fun to ignore. Lewrie remains very human and flawed and essentially likable, with a few truly admirable traits. His life is full of adventure and it reveals a glimpse of a fascinating period with many people and forces at work. And Lewrie's love of the sea and the Royal Navy shipboard life continues to come through to add to the pleasure. I can't wait to read more!

Good reading, another series to go with O'Brian and Kent. I will buy the entire series.

Very good book in the Alan Lewrie series. Recommend that anyone that likes historical fiction read this series but start with the first book and read sequentially.