Customer Reviews

Midshipman Bolitho and the Avenger

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Richard Bolitho series is one of the most popular of all naval fiction series. The author brings authenticity to the subject having served in World War II in the Royal Navy and being a sailor in his own right. Perhaps that is why I found Richard Bolitho and the Avenger disappointing. It is a novel that could be much better.

In Richard Bolitho and the Avenger, Bolitho returns to his native Cornwall following his adventures in Richard Bolitho Midshipman. He brings fellow midshipman Martyn Dancer along. After some home cooking and introductions, it becomes obvious that there is something rotten in Cornwall. Murder, smuggling and witchcraft appear to be present in the area. Bolitho and Dancer spend the rest of the book trying to solve the mysteries on land and sea. Some of Bolitho's family relationships are explored along the way. The story is respectable if familiar and the novel is a quick light read. It is neither challenging nor terribly rewarding.

I was disappointed in several ways with Richard Bolitho and the Avenger. There is not much to this novel. The copy that I read was a hardback published in 1978 with a price tag of $10.50 which doesn't seem too unreasonable. However, there were only 143 pages and the print was not small. I don't think Kent gave the readers value for their money. Unlike its predecessor, much of the action takes place on land. Sure there are sailing passages and the climactic scene does take place at sea but it reads more like a change of pace for the author. It might have suited Kent after 10 years of Bolitho adventures but it doesn't fit when reading the series chronologically. Also, Bolitho seems to know less about command than he did in the first book.

Richard Bolitho and the Avenger is an enjoyable little story and it can be read in one sitting but I wouldn't go out of my way to obtain it. It's much like paying for a pint and getting a glass: you might enjoy what you got but still think that there should have been more.

This is the second book in Alexander Kent's Richard Bolitho's series. Our hero, Richard, is assigned to his brother's small craft to ferret out and destroy some smugglers/pirates on the southwest English shore. The story was fine, but what really draws me to this series is that there is lots of action. Something is always going on. Kent doesn't bore us with trivial details and long explanations. This is a good book and a worthy read.

Alexander Kent goes back to the start of the career of Richard Bolitho, and with his usual exciting, detailed style rushes you forward into the career of a British naval officer during the American Revolution and the Napolionic wars. Exciting, humanistic and very informative about the British navy and the ships the men served.

A fictional British Navel officer's life story modeled on England's greatest war hero, Admiral Nelson. This long series of tales begins with a simple tale of a young man going to sea in the age of "wooden ships and iron men". The series follows Midshipmen Bolitho up thru the ranks to Admiral and reports on many of the great sea battles of the time; Trifalger & Battle of Copenhagen. Probably the best of this type of tale since C.S. Forrester's "Horatio Hornblower" series. Once you start reading you'll find yourself hungry for the next installment and dreading the inevitable that some day you will have read them all... Generally not available in the US except thru Amazon.