The King's Coat [Hardcover]

Dewey Lambdin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1989

The very first Alan Lewrie naval adventure in this classic series is now back in print!

1780: Seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding--rather unexpectedly--that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise. . . .

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Comparisons will be made between Midshipman Alan Lewrie and Forester's Horatio Hornblower, but this auspicious beginning of a series has a very modern sensibility. In 1780, at the age of 17, our hero, bastard son of Sir Hugo Willoughby, is already a practicing rake in London. Caught in flagrante with his sluttish half-sister, he is banished to the Navy in a nasty ploy by Sir Hugo to rob the boy of his inheritance. During Alan's year on the 64-gun Adriadne , on the American-built schooner Parrot and on the frigate Desperate , he becomes an adept, even valiant sailor. There are foes at sea (a snotty fellow midshipman, a sanctimonious captain, American rebels) and ashore (Sir Hugo and minions), but there are also friends, notably Lt. Kenyon, skipper of the Parrot , and Lucy Beauman, beautiful niece of an admiral. Lambdin's crisp, gory action scenes possibly are marred for landlubbers by heavy nautical jargon, but graphic ribaldry involving a couple of older ladies needs no translation.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Lambdin's Alan Lewrie stacks up well with C.S. Forester's Hornblowe r and Alexander Kent's Bolitho as a fictional naval officer. In this first novel, Lewrie, at 17, is unwillingly made a midshipman in the British navy of 1780. He sails first in a ship-of-the-line, later in a schooner, and finally a frigate. Storms, battles, duels, and difficulties begin to change him from a spoiled fop into a competent officer who is slowly coming to take pride in his hard service. Lambdin makes his character very human and believable. Questions about his background and prospects are left intriguingly unanswered. Lambdin also demonstrates a good enough grasp of sailing and 18th-century sea warfare to satisfy readers of this genre, who are quick to catch any mistakes. A good yarn that promises to become a good series.
- C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 397 pages
• Publisher: Donald I. Fine Inc.; 1st edition (June 30, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556111428
• ISBN-13: 978-1556111426
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dewey Lambdin is the author of fourteen previous Alan Lewrie novels. A member of the U.S. Naval Institute and a Friend of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, he spends his free time working and sailing (he's been a sailor since 1976). He makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, but would much prefer Margaritaville or Murrell's Inlet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kudos for King's Coat, November 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The King's Coat (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a great read! The battle scenes are comparable to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. This book is fastpaced and action packed. Alan Lewrie is the opposite of Hornblower and Jack Aubrey which is completely refreshing, even if he is a lecherous rascal. The dialogue is fresh, quick witted, salty and to the point. I love this character and can't wait for the next book in the series. The fact that the author is a sailor makes the sailing lingo understandable and he includes information about ships and sailing points that helps the reader (sailor and non-sailor alike) understand the business of sailing that takes place in this book completely. Mr. Lambdin has given us in The King's Coat an excellent beginning to a wonderful series and a very rememberable rogue in Alan Lewrie.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Harold Robbins meets C.S. Forester, August 18, 2000

By 

Frank J O'Connor - See all my reviews

This review is from: The King's Coat (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you like nautical fiction of the great age of sail (e.g. Forester, O'Brian, Woodman, Marryat), you will enjoy this opening volume of the action-packed, fast moving and realistic adventures of our tarnished hero, Alan Lewrie. While on water, this book is as good as any of the above writers, excepting of course the incomparable O'Brian. However, our author founders on land with trashy sex scenes more appropriate to a Harld Robbins potboiler. The author trying to model his protagonist on Fraser's Flashman, or Fielding's Tom Jones comes badly ascupper. These humorless sex scenes are perhaps why this nautical series is not as popular as many others. However, once back on the high seas, this book recaptures its pace and becomes highly exciting and enjoyable. One day, however, I hope to open a book with a handsome, brave, cunning and feisty hero in possession of a small penis. It will, however, not be written by the otherwise entertaining Mr. Lambdin.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Wooden Ships/Iron Men fun, July 28, 2000

By 

Carper (Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The King's Coat (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is nowhere in the literary league of Patrick O'Brian, but seem pretty well researched. The characters are likable and fun, full of weaknesses as well as strengths. The bawdiness of the book is a real pleasure--this were real people having a wild time. The swearing is incredibly creative as well, a nice change from similar books which may say "he cursed like a sailor". The sounds like the way people might really have talked. Great fun.