A King's Commander: The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures #7 (Bk. 7) [Paperback]

Dewey Lambdin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures | Publication Date: January 1, 2008

Alan Lewrie is now commander of HMS Jester, an 18-gun sloop. Lewrie sails into Corsica only to receive astonishing orders: he must lure his archenemy, French commander Guillaume Choundas, into battle and personally strike the malevolent spymaster dead. With Horatio Nelson as his squadron commander on one hand and a luscious courtesan who spies for the French on the other, Lewrie must pull out all the stops if he's going to live up to his own reputation and bring glory to the British Royal Navy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review

"Another rowdy cruise for the immensely appealing Lewrie, with almost two decades to go in the Anglo-French belligerency." —Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Dewey Lambdin is a sailor, a director, a writer, and a producer for television and advertising. He is the author of the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures series and What Lies Buried: A Novel of Old Cape Fear. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: McBooks Press; First Edition edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590131304
• ISBN-13: 978-1590131305
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,826 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical Fiction is Good Fiction, October 8, 2008

By 

R Lane Reynolds (Ms USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A King's Commander: The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures #7 (Bk. 7) (Paperback)

In this seventh installment of the adventures of Dewey Lambden's Alan Lewrie naval adventure series, our hero is finally and permanently "on his own bottom", with command of a captured French corvette renamed, in British service, HMS Jester after Adm. Hood's opinion of Lewrie himself. Our often unorthodox hero continues his association with Capt Horatio Nelson along with the proto-spy Twig, the villainous Capt Choudas, and with some regrets, the lithesome Phoebe Arentino. As the coalition moves to choke the French Republican Government's attempts to conquer its neighbors, Lewrie finds HMS Jester assigned to Nelson's squadron interdicting Republican army's plans to resupply by sea. In the mean time Lewrie has given up a doomed attempt at chastity, and set up a home away from home with Phoebe. Through it all his active conscience continues to pain him with thoughts of Caroline and the children back in England. Throughout this series Lambden has continued to surprise us with the depth of character of Alan Lewrie. At the surface he is bluff, bold, confident beyond the level of cockiness, but underneath he struggles with self doubt. With this installment, Lambden takes Lewrie to a new level of internal struggle as he fights with himself to be faithful to his family in the face of overwhelming temptation and even orders from above. All of the action, adventure and intrigue are here, seen through the eyes of rich, fully developed characters. Robert Heinlein once said "good science fiction is good fiction." I would like to say that good historical fiction is good fiction. Dewey Lambden continues, with this book, to write good fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Savory Stew, July 22, 2009

By 

Michael Kundert (Elmwood Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A King's Commander: The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures #7 (Bk. 7) (Paperback)

Taking place in 1794, A King's Commander is an excellent novel about naval war in the Mediteranean. In the book, newly appointed Commander Alan Lewrie leaves the loving arms of his wife Caroline to sail his sloop, HMS Jester, to Corsica. There he becomes re-involved with his French mistress, Phoebe, and Captain Horatio Nelson in his campaign to wrest control of the island from the French.
I really enjoyed this book. Lewrie is an interesting and entertaining character, a combination of Horatio Hornblower, Jack Aubrey, and Harry Flashman. And, while he can sometimes be a jerk, he at least realizes he's being a jerk. He also seems to be evolving with each new book. Dewey Lambdin likes to flesh out his supporting cast too (including Nelson), taking care to make them seem like real people and not just props for Lewrie. (Though Lewrie's main French antagonist, a returnee from a previous novel and suitably dangerous, is a bit too evil.)
The book has a bit of everything: desperate naval battles, political intrigue and espionage, illicit romance, and humor. The only part I had a tough time with was when Lewrie's lover Phoebe speaks. The author has her talk half English and half French which makes for heavy going. But it doesn't happen too often and with a bit of work the reader can mostly figure out what she's saying.
If you like the works of C.S. Forester, George MacDonald Fraser, or Bernard Cornwell, I think you'll really enjoy this book too.

3.0 out of 5 stars Better, but still....., December 24, 2011

By 

FJS - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A King's Commander: The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures #7 (Bk. 7) (Paperback)

Must say, there was less of the "English with a French accent" in this book than the last. Still, there was enough to slow things down. Other than that, a good read. Well, off to #8 I go.