51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Royal Navy and a Quasi Peace, February 26, 2002
Alexander Kent is now depicting the Royal Navy without a defined enemy and the impact this is having on it. Without a belligerent France across the Channel, the strength of the navy is slashed to the bone and beyond.
Adam Bolitho is still in command of the frigate Unrivalled only now is dealing with ships packed to overflowing with Africans en-route to slavery and with North African pirates. Neither of these opponents are giving much concern to politicians and merchant bankers of Great Britain, except in so far as they are accumulating wealth from the transport and auction of slaves. The man in the street knows little about this and cares less.
It is this apathy of the public that the Royal Navy in general and Adam in particular must battle. It might be easy to die for your country when the enemy is French or Spanish, but when it is a slave runner, the concept becomes a little vague. Fighting in the Bay of Biscay is one thing, fighting in the Bight of Benin is something else entirely.
Kent creates the atmosphere of these times with great care. You are faced with seamen, tossed onto the beach without thought, after being through tremendous hardship and danger. You are also faced with the families that they had left behind and now must support in some form or fashion. Also, there is the aristocracy, both of society and the Royal Navy that must be maintained. These features never go away. One would think that the needs of the Naval aristocracy would decrease as the Navy shrinks - far from it!
Adam Bolitho is a complex man and as I learn more about him, I can see this. From a bastard orphan to a successful naval officer, we have seem him evolve. Yet he is still dogged by his origins - he has never forgotten the days as a youngster fending for himself as his mother became unable to care and support him.
This is a book without the flash and thunder of a fleet action. Now it is a series of actions between schooners and sloops and oared launches. Adam's ship is too big and powerful to be of decisive value except as a resevoir from which to draw men to man the smaller ships. It is this type of action that is honing the skills of the men of Unrivalled and preparing them for the ultimate combat with African pirates.
Throughout the book, we are reintroduced to charecters of the past, Thomas Herrick, Daniel Yovel, Graeme Bethune and others. We see an appearance by Richard's daughter Elizabeth as she starts to connect to Adam for after all, in spite of birth situation, he is her closest surviving relative and vice versa.
This book is a continuation of the Bolitho family saga. It continues to add to what we know of the family, even if it is only in small details, such as the name of Adam's mother. I found it thoroughly enjoyable and a fine addition to my library. I would recommend it to anyone who has read even a few of the preceeding books on the Bolitho family.
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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bring Richard back, Mr. Kent!, December 24, 2001
This novel is tagged as a Richard Bolitho novel. It's not. Mr. Kent chose to kill Richard Bolitho off two novels ago and left us with his whining nephew, Adam, who annoyed me from the very beginning. I'd been reading of Richard's many and varied adventures for 25 years and Mr. Kent kills him off in one paragraph!? How did faithful, loyal Allday feel? Who knows? Mr. Kent chose to totally disregard his friendship with Richard. I was so disgusted I donated the book to my local library. Adam is a whiner. The women in Kent's latest novels have the men wrapped around their little fingers. Geez! Where's the fabulous comraderie of the earlier novels, the triumphant battles and the agony of defeat? Also, he killed off most of the wonderful characters I so enjoyed (thank goodness dear Allday was spared, the *only* character left I can empathize with). So no. I will not read another Adam novel.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Another Bolitho, August 18, 2003
Since Peace has broken out following the final defeat of Napoleon, the British Navy is on short rations. Nevertheless, Capt. Adam Bolitho is somehow kept on to continue his seaborne adventures begun in the previous volume, #24 Second to None. Before confronting the Dey again, he is assigned to the anti-slave patrols off Africa, and also encounters serious trouble while sailing as a courier for the Admiralty.
This is the second novel in this Napleonic Wars series to focus exclusively on Adam Bolitho, Adm. Richard's nephew. Adam is not a genius of tactics or leadership like his mentor. Actually, although Richard is gone, Adam and the other characters spend quite a bit fondly moping about him while they go sailing back and forth. Author Kent waxes nostalgic and layers this novel with extended sentimentality about Richard, We Happy Few, Catherine, Herrick, etc. etc. Naval action is relatively perfunctory relative either to the early books or the sentimental involvements here of Adam with his crew of faithfuls, and with another beautiful but troubled damsel. In other words, this book is strictly for people who've read all the others and are willing to reminisce about their leading characters, many of whom make cameo appearances here.
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