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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forester, O'Brian, Russell? Just Possibly, November 17, 2007
This review is from: Under Enemy Colors (Hardcover)
S. Thomas Russell debuts with `Under Enemy Colors' an age of sail novel set in 1793. Lieutenant Charles Hayden finds himself summoned by the First Secretary of the Navy Philip Stephens who offers him a position aboard the Themis as first lieutenant - with an added duty to file secret reports with Stephens. Hayden reluctantly accepts what he feels are Stephens' somewhat dishonorable demands. Arriving for service he finds a ship in utter disarray under the command of the `shy' tyrant Josiah Hart. Hayden's efforts to set the ship aright are frustrated by the captain and the second lieutenant as much as by a fractious crew.
That much the reader learns in the first 50 pages. From there Russell takes the reader along on a rollicking good tale with a stealthy night-time ambuscade, espionage on French soil, sea battles with broadsides and boardings, and a mutiny. For all the action Russell also manages to weave in Hayden's back story (his mother is French), a budding romance, a debate society among the middies, and even an inventor's attempted improvement on the ship's guns. Russell's talents shine as he unfolds the courts martial and accompanying naval intrigue.
`Under Enemy Colors' inevitably draws comparison to the tales of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Russell relishes the challenge. This reviewer finds himself somewhat surprised, but delighted to report that Russell's Charles Hayden just may be up to the task. Russell at times seems to be in a rush to get his series fully under sail, but perhaps that may be excused by the obvious care and devotion the author gave to writing this book. Russell promises another installment in 2009. Let's hope it fulfills the promise of `Under Enemy Colors', which was just a heck of a lot of fun to read.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Think Hornblower, not Aubrey-Maturin, October 8, 2007
This review is from: Under Enemy Colors (Hardcover)
It's a little sad that every novel of a young man rising through the British Navy during the period of the Napoleanic Wars must now be considered derivative, but there it is. There is Hornblower, there is Aubrey and Maturin, there are many lesser series that cover the same ground (errr.. water).
Patrick O'Brian once complained that he started the Aubrey-Maturin cycle too late in Jack Aubrey's career, since he was against writing prequels. S. Thomas Russell will not have that problem. He has begun what must be intended to be a long series of novels about the exploits of his half-English, half-French protagonist Charles Hayden in 1793, when Hayden is a first lieutenant. Minor characters are not as well developed, too one-sided. The names Wickham and Hart are minor references back to Austen and O'Brian.
Books of this type require descriptions of the sea and sailing, descriptions of battle, and at least a passing acquaintance with Jane Austen-style romantic complications. Russell provides a good balance of each in his first volume. The author also does a better job describing some actions, such as stepping a mast with the help of sheers, than other authors do.
In my opinion, Russell is roughly the equal of CS Forester in describing action, setting up plot, and fleshing out his characters. He does not come up to the literary level of Patrick O'Brian. The writing has a few rough spots, and from the set up, I was hoping for a "Murder on the Orient Express" at sea type of mystery, which did not develop at all. I am looking forward to the author's next effort with the continuing cast.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
solid naval fiction, September 8, 2007
This review is from: Under Enemy Colors (Hardcover)
A good start to a new series! This is more of a character-driven novel rather than an action-oriented book with almost non-stop sea battles. There are fighting and battles, to be sure, but in this book, as in real life at that time, the great majority of a naval officer's time was spent dealing with shipboard life rather than in sea battles. The writing is surprisingly good. I was reminded of Stachel's comment to his squadron commander in The Blue Max when asked about his ability, and so as not to seem boastful he replies "I'm comfortable in the air". Russell is obviously "comfortable" with words and sentences--or think of a veteran sailor in a small boat on a rough sea being "comfortable" on the water. Too many authors, including too many best-selling authors, are not comfortable with words and sentences--these authors almost regard them as an enemy--and the labored writing style is often masked with violent action or other plot devices. Russell's writing seems completely unlabored, and the characters are well-drawn, the dialogue believable, and there's a wealth on naval minutae to work with.
It should come as a surprise to no one that influence and interests weighed very heavily with the Admiralty. Men of little ability could, with friends and family in proper places, rise to levels far above what they deserved or could handle--merit played a minimal role. The hero, Hayden, is without influence, and must serve under a cowardly bully who has influence to spare. Flogging captains and mutinous crews are popular plot elements in naval fiction. But the classic case of this was anything but fictional: Hugh Pigot of the Hermione (see Dudley Pope's excellent nonfictional account The Black Ship). Bligh, by contrast, might seem tender-hearted.
There's a good court-martial and the usual romance. I might note a couple of things. First, in most naval fiction, the author likes his or her protagonist to protagonize, so to speak. The hero should direct the action rather than be an also-ran. This means that the hero must almost always be the captain (or acting captain) of a smallish ship (frigate or smaller) involved in independent action--which gives the hero an ability to shine. Think of Cochrane, the model for most protagonists in naval fiction. Being captain of a 74 in a fleet under the command of an admiral gives less scope for the hero to control the action. Likewise, being 3rd mate on any ship is not a popular place for a hero. Even in the early Hornblower stories, it seems that most of the time Hornblower was busy taking prizes back to port and thus in command. I'm grateful for the fine Lewrie series by Dewey Lambdin where in the early novels Lewrie is a low-level player literally learning the ropes ("kissing the gunner's daughter" sounded appealing to him!). So I hope Russell has prequels--several prequels--about Hayden's earlier career.
The second thing I'm not comfortable with here is the ship's surgeon who is addressed as "Doctor" rather than "Mr". Actual doctors were rare at sea: surgeons were common. Doctors had much higher social status, since they did not do any surgery, whereas surgeons of necessity worked with their hands (like common laborers) and thus could not be considered true gentlemen. But this was just a minor distraction from a fine novel.
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