Customer Reviews

Mutiny: A Kydd Novel (Kydd Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Book four in the Kydd series is fantastic! (see my reviews of _Kydd_ , _Artemis_ and _Seaflower_) Kydd helps an Italian nobleman escape Italy before the arrival of the French. Later, Kydd becomes embroiled in the fleet mutiny at the Nore where he must decide whether his loyalty to the navy or his mates is stronger (no spoilers here!). His decision is not as obvious as it might seem. How he gets extricated from the mutiny reads like a thriller! Lots of good intrigue. The book ends with Kydd taking charge of a gundeck at the battle of Camperdown. The description of the battle is fantastic. Stockwin puts the reader right in the thick of the action. The imagery is amazing:

p. 316 Renzi saw a midshipman, then the signal lieutenant drop in their tracks, and over at a disabled nine-pounder a corpse exuded blood that made tracks on the deck as the ship rolled and heaved.

Also, Stockwin's writing style is a real joy to read:

p. 318 Her guns opened again with a thunderous broadside, which was answered with equal venom by their opponent-but having practiced over long weeks at sea the English guns spoke faster and truer.

Not only has this series grown on me, but I have come to appreciate Mr. Stockwin's writing. His knowledge of ships and sea, languages, dialects, history and other things is impressive. A tremendous amount of research has gone into these books. The series was slow for me at first, but it has become interesting and exciting. Taken as a whole, it's a great story. At first, Mr. Stockwin set the table; now I'm feasting. I look forward to the next book.

The pairing of down-to-earth Kydd with the intellectual Renzi continues to lift this series above the run-of-the-mill (although Kydd has lost most of his gaucheness by now).

Promotion within the ranks has come to both, as a result of the Caribbean experience in 'Seaflower', and they are part of the Mediterranean Fleet - although in different ships.
While Renzi is 'enjoying' the battle at Cape St.Vincent, Kydd is stuck in Gibraltar 'suffering' the attentions of the Town Major's wife. His new confidante Cockburn tries to warn him off - to no avail, so Renzi drags him off to Venice, where they are trapped by Boney's invading forces. They escape, thanks to an 'ex' of Renzi's, but a tough decision by Renzi seems to signal an end to the friendship as they return to Blighty - and the Nore mutiny. Kydd is in the forefront, but miraculously earns a pardon (thanks to Renzi), then finds himself in the thick of the bloody battle at Camperdown.

Altogether a seeming mish-mash of events ... but after all, this is exactly what a seaman's life would be like: no plan; no greater purpose; no battle tactics; no 'story'; just go where the Admiralty sends the ship and do what the captain commands ... This is what the author is trying to convey in this series - the story is in life's little details.

And very good detail it is; the author's personal research into the locations produces a highly-believable account of little-known events in the most volatile period in British naval history. There follows a taster of the next book 'Quarterdeck', and, as we have come to expect in this genre, his sources of the facts behind the fiction.

This is the most in-depth depiction of the infamous mutiny that I've read, as - for the last time - through Kydd's eyes we see more of the behind-the-scenes machinations than if he were an Aubrey or Hornblower. *****

If you enjoyed reading the fabulous Jack Aubrey series of naval adventure novels from the late Patrick O'Brian, then you will love the Kydd Series by Julian Stockwin. Nothing can replace O'Brian, of course, but these come surprisingly close in some ways. The strength of this series is the sailor's dialogue, as created by Stockwin, a former officer in Her Majesty's Navy. Picture this scene: The press gang has just busted into a busy tavern and the leader of the group has to shout to get the attention of the befuddled customers...Stockwin's dialogue can be very funny..."So, who's fer a life on the rollin' seas?" That's from memory--it had me laughing for a day or two--but you get the idea. I have read all of Forester, Kent, Cornwell, and a few of the others, and the Kydd series is right up there with the best of them. In my opinion, the dialogue is a match for O'Brian, or even superior, although, in total, O'Brian's work remains the best that has ever been published in this genre. Moreover, Stockwin's knowledge and descriptions of the technical details of running a King's ship at the end of the 18th century is absolutely on a par with O'Brian, in my opinion.

This novel finds Thomas Kydd serving as a master's mate on board the 64 gun ship Achilles. Initially they go to Gibraltar in early 1797, where Kydd becomes involved with a married woman. His friend, Nicholas Renzi, gets him temporary duty on a frigate bound on a special mission to the Adriatic Sea in order to pry him loose from an affair that could ruin his career (and maybe get him horsewhipped by the woman's husband). This adds a side adventure to the plot with a good description of events in Venice as Napolean closes in to occupy the city. We also learn something of Renzi's past life.

After returning to his ship in Gibraltar, the Achilles returns to England and is diverted to the Nore after learning of the mutiny at Spithead. That only delays the problem, and actually gets the ship into a bigger problem when the mutiny spreads to the Nore and the North Sea fleet. Kydd finds himself drawn into the plot and putting his life on the line as a mutineer.

The novel is one of the better descriptions of the events at the Nore and within the North Sea fleet. The author has carried out some good research, and gives a good description of the area at that time, as well as the events within the mutiny. Nicholas Renzi needs to go to great lengths to preserve Kydd's life, but makes him a turncoat to the foredeck hands. Kydd also loses Kitty, the new love in his life (sailors seem to have raging hormones that take them from woman to woman).

The novel ends with action at the Battle of Camperdown, and Kydd's step up to a temporary rank of lieutenant and a meeting with Admiral Onslow, from the same town in England, which brings him to the admiral's attention. The Admiral knows of the school run by Kydd's parents.

One reason I did not give the novel a five star rating is because of errors in the extraneous material introduced by the author, always a problem especially when an author inserts color commentary. Some literary license can be tolerated, but not errors in basic geography. In the last sentence of Chapter Two, for example, he puts Naples in the northern Adriatic (please invest in a map before you write the next novel). There is also a problem with the interlude in Gibraltar as women and children had been evacuated before the time indicated in the novel. The evacuation is covered in the biography of Peter Puget, who commanded the ships used for the evacuation.

I would note that I have the same problem with Stockwin's novels that I had with O'Brien's novels, i.e., too much action in too short a time period, with ships zipping about at high speed from one point to the next. In reality, sailing was a slow business, especially if you encountered head winds. Also, the descriptions of ship handling may leave the reader a bit glassy-eyed if one is not a deep-water sailor. It was a very technical profession which Stockwin has made very evident.

I would question the author's comments about the lack of masters mates, which some accounts from the period seem to indicate were fairly common. Perhaps this was a transition period where more emphasis was placed on midshipmen (who, essentially, were untrained apprentices and highly expendable).

Julian Stockwin's Kydd series now stands at 8 volumes. Mutiny is the fourth in the series and finds Thomas Paine Kydd a master's mate serving on the 64 gun Achilles in 1797.
I guess I'm an advocate of Stockwin primarily because Stockwin's books move the genre from the officer's point of view to that of the seamen of the day. I also appreciate what I come to think of as four themes Stockwin weaves within and between his books. In addition to the seafaring adventure, we get to explore the lifestyle of the men of the service at different stages in their careers. And the author exposes us to the more general seaman's culture of the time. Finally, Renzi is used to help his main character develop the skills necessary to move up the ranks.
Mutiny starts with the voyage to Gibraltar where Kydd gets himself entangled with a married woman. To escape the pending crisis, he ships out to Venice to help diplomats who are escaping Napoleon. From there he stops briefly at Gibralter and then back, after two years, to England. Achilles drops anchor at Nore and soon becomes one of the ships involved with the great Nore and Spithead Mutiny. This event takes more than two hundred pages of the story and Stockwin presents a comprehensive picture of the insurrection from the seamen's point of view. Kydd is a Master's Mate, a warrant officer, in this part of the series and thus squarely between the ordinary seamen and the officer's ranks. Thus, this part of the tale explores the lifestyle and circumstances of the rank and file at a critical period on British Naval history. This career situation is balanced with a more serious affair between Tom and Kitty Malkin, the sister of one of Achillies' crew. Tom's involvement in the mutiny becomes serious and Renzi assumes the task of attempting to extract Tom from possible death as a result. The final event of the book is the famous Battle of Camperdown where Tom returns to his skills on the water.
I would stress that Stockwin is writing the Kydd Series. Readers who become hooked on Tom are readers of all of Stockwin's books. We are watching this young man move up the ranks of his profession. As such, it is important to track critical events in each volume. In this manner we will develop reference points in the ever expanding world that Stockwin creates. In Mutiny we find the second appearance of Lord Stanhope who acts both as a politician and a mentor to Renzi in different stages of the story. We can be sure he will appear again before the last book is completed. I've evolved what I call Kydd's Log wherein I track the ships on which Kydd serves, the Admirals with whom he interacts, his globe of ports, his blunders and good fortunes, and his `black book'. This log, I find, helps me remember events from adventure to adventure. Maybe it is this `bridge' that allows readers to always report back with each new book to their cohorts that Stockwin has written another page turner.

"Mutiny" is the fourth book in Julian Stockwin's "Kydd" series. These books are set in the Napoleonic-era Royal Navy and follow in the same vein as C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books.

In the first book, Kydd was initially a pressed seaman, but by "Mutiny" he has worked himself up to a master's mate. After a couple of adventures in the Mediterranean, Kydd ends up embroiled in the Nore mutiny. Stockwin's well-researched account of the mutiny is very well-done.

Although it has taken a few books, I'm finally truly enjoying Julian Stockwin's books. "Mutiny" is the best, most entertaining of the series so far. Kydd is growing as a character and Stockwin's writing style is developing. Anyone who has enjoyed Horatio Hornblower or Patrick O'Brian will enjoy these books.

The worst thing you can do is to read the Aubry/Maturin series of Patrick O'Brian and then go to the Julian Stockwin series on Kydd. If you haven't read O'Brian yet, save it until you've gone through Kydd. Unfortunately the O'Brian death has brought his series to the end after twenty generally five star volumes while Stockwin in working on his eighth. O'Brian's literary skills make Stockwin seem almost amateurish. Both do well with the language and customs of the period plus give a good insight into life during that period. But O'Brian's characters are richer, more complex and more interesting. Both recount several historical events dealing with the Napoleonic Wars and add flavor to the study of that period. But, generally, read Kydd first and then dive into volume one of O'Brian's. Should you skip Kydd completely? Stockwin has taken the different tack of starting Kydd as a civilian pressed into naval service and working up from the bottom of the naval hierarchy. We see O'Brian's Aubrey as just attaining the rank of Master and Commander in his first volume. So the starting lines are markedly different. I also think that Stockwin will be better received by the younger reader (teen and upward) as the plots, dialog are much less subtle and easier reading. O'Brian likes to throw curve balls in American vernacular or spinners if were to follow his frequent references to cricket.

The weakest book so far in the series. Implausible plot twists. Still, I enjoy the main character, and there is great potential in future books. I will stick with it.

This is the fourth book in the Thomas Kydd saga and by far its darkest and most political.The bulk of the book is taken up with the mutinies which rocked the Royal Navy to its foundations in 1797 ,especially with events in the Nore ,Kent.The mutiny came perilously close to bringing down the government and of inciting the French to invasion.

The book does not begin there however but in the Mediterranean ,especially Gibraltar and Venice.Kydd has an affair with a married woman in Gibraltar ,from which he is rescued by a mission to the Venetian Republic to rescue a British diplomat at risk of being taken by the French who are poised to take over the Republic .While in Venice,Kydd's friend Renzi meets an old flame ,one who proves useful in the execution of their mision.While a satisfactory slice of period adventure this Venetian affair is but the prelude to the heart of the book -the mutiny.
The grievances of the sailors -low pay ,poor provisions ,liberty in port-have been touched upon in the first part of the book but move centre stage as ,thanks to government duplicity and intransigence ,the position of the sailors hardens to outright mutiny.Kydd is drawn to their side despite many reservations ,and becomes as aide to the shrewd leader of the mutiny ,Parker..Much of the book is taken up with deatils of the mutiny and its internal politics and is set in the gloomy area of the Nore.This book lacks the vasty romantic backdrops of the previous books in the series .However ,Kydd does find time for romance ,with the sisiter of a late shipmate ,Kitty.and the book closes with a rousing battle against the Dutch (The battle of Camperdown).However this is more about the mutiny than about derring do on the high seas and is a sober ,ref;ective book that might disappoint those wanting sea battles and salt air in their faces (metaphorically speaking)

An anomaly in the series maybe but a solid worthwhile read for all that

This entire series is well written. It takes you on a journey with two charachters Kydd and Renzi. They are both enlisted in the Royal Navy, and as such you get to see something that you never did in the Aubrey or Hornblower novels and that is life for the enlisted Royal Navy sailor. Kydd (the main charachter) is pressed into the Navy in the first book. Renzi, a wealthy intellectual who is "slumming" for his past sins that he thinks he can reconcile through low service, is his companion. This is as close as the books get to the O'brien series.

In this book, we see that Kydd and Renzi have become embroiled in the Spithead mutiny. This is a very famous event in the history of England but very rarely touched by fictionalist or historian alike. As the author is Austrailian, I don't think he found the subject taboo and gave some great fictional insite on the event.
Do yourself a favor and try and find the entire series, they are incredibly readable with out much of the political trappings that slow down the O'brien books.