Customer Reviews

King's Coat, the (Lib)(CD)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is the first book in a 12 plus book series, about the tales of Alan Lewrie, who goes from midshipman in the British Royal Navy to Captain during the 1780's to the Napoleanic Wars. The adventure is very good, the character development is excellent, we really get to know the midshipman and his thought process. Our hero is not the eagar young person wanting to join the navy, but a privledged (...)son of a Lord, who is 'pressed' into naval service by the trickery of his father. The nautical settings are accurately presented, however, the old english, and the foreign tongues that are part of the story are sometimes a little hard to understand. No need for a dictionary, but prepare to comprehend some passages that are not easy reading.
Lastly, while many of our nautical heros do not seem to have a sex life, our hero has a good and vividly portrayed one. He seems to have almost as much fun in bed as he does on the decks of a fighting ship. Overall a great start to a series, I am currently reading book 7 and look forward to the rest of the series.

The first of a growing series of books about a reluctant Royal Navy hero. I had previously read all of the later books in the series, with the exception of this book and the 2nd in the series, "the French Adirmal" (which is due for reprinting in '99), when I found this one. Thankfully it's being reprinted. It is quite humerous, and bawdy at times, but with plenty of naval action which takes place at the beginning of the American Revolution. Alan Lewry, the hero, is forced to join the Royal Navy at 17, due to some falsely accused improprieties (he was actually framed) which occured at home. Alan is whisked away into the rude and very different routines of shipboard life in the late 1700's, learning a new trade, while trying to live long enough to get back at the people who forced him into the navy. Every time he gets a leg up, so he thinks, his other leg is kicked out from beneath him. At times, it's better than the O'Brian series, only because it seems more real - with an added dose of humor. Although not written in the English spoken in the 18th century, it's far easier to follow. The action is brisk and brutal, as it must have been at the time. A great series, and if you don't mind the bawdyness, one well worth reading. There's plenty to laugh at and more adventure than you can wish for. Once started, it's really hard to put down. The series will grow on you. And you'll be buying them all and wishing Mr. Lambdin would come out with the next book.

Greg Toth

It's takes nerve to invent a new Napoleonic War-era fictional naval hero when you're competing with Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey, not to mention a half-dozen lesser lights. Except Alan Lewrie isn't really "heroic," though he has nerve when needed. He's the bastard offspring of a scheming member of the minor London aristocracy, well educated enough and skilled with weapons, but profligate with money and definitely a "user" when it comes to women. After being set up (we don't know why -- yet) and caught in bed with his half-sister, he has the choice of being hauled before a magistrate or being packed off to sea as a midshipman. After a rough few months, he learns his trade well enough to be of some use on a deck and discovers a love of artillery. He makes some friends, loses some, commits some dreadful blunders, and has some unexpected successes. He's not a villain but neither is he entirely honest. In other words, he's a very human being and probably better than most of his class by our standards. Lambdin writes with humor and verve, inventing believable characters and painting excellent word pictures of the engagements in which Lewrie takes part -- but I wish he hadn't so casually elided what appear to be substantial portions of his protagonist's first year at sea.

This entire series is incredibly addictive. Having just finished reading the series for the third time (lacking the oft lamented "The French Admiral"), I eagerly await Lambdin's next yarn. Alan Lewrie, just cast out of his comfortable life in London, thrives after getting his sea legs. Although this book and the entire series has more adult scenes than you will find with Horatio Hornblower, Lewrie's personal flaws make this a much more believable and enjoyable tale. Lambdin uses nautical and social terms of the day and paints a thorough description of life onboard a warship in the late 18th century. If you are fascinated by life during the Age of Sail, or just enjoy historical fiction, this entire series is a must read.

I don't believe Dewey Lambdin went out to try to match the depth of style and prose of Patrick O'Brian. O'Brian will be very, very difficult to even match for quite a while. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the romp and action of this novel. I have not yet read the next one, but will soon. If you're looking for lighter reading than O'Brian or C. S. Forrester, this is certainly a choice. Lambdin's Alan Lewrie character is much more of a hero/anti-hero than is Hornblower, and a little more so than is Aubrey.

This first installment Alan lewrie gets pressed into service. The story is interesting and deals mostly with Lewries difficulties adjusting to his new life as a midshipman in His Majesty's Navy. There are only a couple of battles in this book but it is still an exciting read. The one thing that I don't like is the VERY graphic descriptions of Lewries sexual exploits. It would be good enough to just let you know he bedded certain women. Those parts of the book are unneccessary. I am reading a naval adventure, not looking for pornography.

I've read all the Hornblower, Aubrey-Maturin, and Bolitho novels and find this series by Dewey Lamdin to be a fine complement to the others. Alan Lewrie is more of a rascal in the first few books than the heroes of the other series but it's also fun to watch him develop into a seasoned British Naval Officer.

What sets this series apart is the history. The first couple of books are set during the American Rebellion as told from the British side. I have read very few novels about our War for Independence that are as compelling and fast paced.

Later on, the series deals with the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Wars. Lewrie's duties takes him all over the world and the descriptions of the places and events are very well researched by author Lambdin. The reader gets a much better understanding of the times and events than in the other series by Forester, O'Brian, and Kent.

I rate "The King's Coat" at only 4 stars since it has to spend a lot of time introducing the character and getting him out to sea and there's a little less action than in most of the subsequent installments. For example, I rate the second book, "The French Admiral", 5 stars since most of it is a riveting account of the battle of Yorktown as told from the viewpoint of a British sailor.