Customer Reviews

Master Mariner Running Proud

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This book is a mans' book and has some very graphic scenes of the lives of men at sea at various times in history with their hardships and joys and fears of the unknown. Scenes with naval captains and cabin boys and strange islands, bloody fights ending in deaths on naval ships, and terrible weather conditions are woven together as seen by the Mathew Lawe, a young lad who matures in his true Self and his purpose for life. The plots of deceit and the adventuring characters are well imagined and naval stories of ages past are written with great skill. The pirate descriptions are rather much for most old ladies--I tolerated them but had unsettling dreams when I thought of how people must have suffered under such cruel and savage men. I suspect these were stories the author had heard about--they are too awful for him to have made up. The main character goes on to improve himself, however, which makes us Granmothers most pleased. (I would have thought a movie would have been made about this character by now--his life as a young pirate would be quite appreciated by today's audiences.)
The author has a compelling style that makes it difficult to put the book down long enough to get much else done around the house once reading has begun. British sailors sailed for many reasons but most had a love of the sea as if it had been their home before--perhaps in previous lives--so steady in their devotion to it after intolerable weather, near starvation, attacks by all kinds of men, and many other life threatening experiences. The thrill of navigating in uncharted waters is felt throughout the book, even knowing that those areas have been settled successfully into thriving economies in the many years hence. The many captains who are featured sailed the harsh, winter conditions in the Arctic to lush and sunny Pacific islands and many appear to have been driven to this life in some never ending pursuit of goals they could not even identify. Their perceptions of greatness and ego needs appear to have pushed them into daring and foolish situations that endangered the lives of all aboard and usually ended in disaster. The events such as the Armada, the Northwest passage exploration, the Caribbean pirates' devastating tales, the charting of the St.Lawrence, savages on Hawaiian islands, attacks on Quebec with General Wolfe, General Nelson's fights with the French, adventures on the Nile, in Naples and Trafalgar--all are here in this book. The death of Admiral Nelson signaled the end of this first book. Should the second in this series be as gripping, Monsarret will be one my favorite authors! He writes direct and precise but enough descriptions that I felt I was there.

I cried at several points because I was so excited. Each part of the story gets better and better.
I loved it. It's a pity the whole story was never finished.

This is a great novel, one of the few I have gone back to re-read. The main character shows up in different roles at a dozen or so of the great naval events in world history. It's a good way to learn a bit of maritime history.

Mark Hammer

Allowing the hero to live through all the interesting bits of British seamanship, discovery, pirating and war is a clever conceit, but in my view causes a fatal flaw. I like to believe in the characters I read about, and see how they develop with time, e.g. from youth to old age, or during an adventure or two. If the character lives for ever, he can't develop in a way which allows me to believe in him, so that the book became increasingly flat for me, and almost a chronicle of interesting historical times, but a chronicle without the excitement and tension of a developing character - he just stays (internally, it seems to me) the same.
Added to this, Monsarrat, as has been noted by other reviewers, can't describe or develop female characters, which is a serious flaw in this book, as in his others.