Hornblower : Beat to Quarters (Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT WAS NOT LONG after dawn that Captain Hornblower came up on the quarterdeck on the Lydia..." (more)
Key Phrases: Lady Barbara, Captain Hornblower, Don Julian (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

June 1808, somewhere west of Nicaragua-a site suitable for spectacular sea battles. The Admiralty has ordered Captain Horatio Hornblower, now in command of the thirty-six-gun HMS Lydia, to form an alliance against the Spanish colonial government with an insane Spanish landowner; to find a water route across the Central American isthmus; and "to take, sink, burn or destroy" the fifty-gun Spanish ship of the line Natividad or face court-martial. A daunting enough set of orders-even if the happily married captain were not woefully distracted by the passenger he is obliged to take on in Panama: Lady Barbara Wellesley.

From the Publisher

8 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (September 30, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316289329
• ISBN-13: 978-0316289320
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,624 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 6 in The Horatio Hornblower Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start with this one., August 3, 2000

By	bruce horner (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

If you're new to the Hornblower series, start with this one. Then read Ship of the Line, then Flying Colors. The three are practically a triptych, whereas the others all feel like they have space between them. Also, since Forester actually wrote Beat To Quarters first, there's in 'introductory' quality to it that no other book in the series has. The series compares favorably with the Aubrey/Maturin series I think. Odd that they were both cut short by the deaths of their respective authors.

In short, start with this and the next two as a trilogy, then proceed in any order you want.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I ignored an actual battle to read this..., May 27, 2002

By	bensmomma "bensmomma" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

...or, to be more precise, I sat within yards of a major Civil War re-enactment so engrossed in this book that I managed to ignore artillery and musket fire. I am a big fan of the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, but previously looked down my nose at Hornblower, I think because I knew it solely from TV and movies. This book never slows down for a minute--not just battles but ship repair and revictualling seem gripping in the hands of Forester.

Based on the films, I was not expecting Hornblower to show much internal life--he always seems to be superhuman on screen, but in the book he must struggle with his softer nature to develop his imperious style. Likewise I expected nothing interesting in the way of female characters, but it was a happy surprise to find Lady Barbara Wellesley on board ship.

If you will forgive a few O'Brian/Forrester comparisons: O'Brian is funnier. Forrester's battle scenes are a bit easier for me to follow. Hornblower is a more interesting or at least complex character than Aubrey, but O'Brian has the advantage of Maturin, who not only adds character but allows for dialogue rather than the perennial internal monologues Hornblower has with himself because he has no one of rank to talk to.

I hope that more seasoned readers of the series will agree with this appeal to newer readers: Even if you have read neither author, this book is a good place to start.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In my opinion the best Hornblower book written., August 9, 1998

By A Customer

I first read BEAT TO QUARTERS when I borrowed it from a public library in 1940. It is now 1998 and the third copy of the book is in my book case, the other two copies, being paper-backs, having been read until worn out.

I might add that, in my opinion, any aspiring writer would do well to read Forester, not to copy his style, but to realise that any good author can entertain, but only the great can enthrall; and only the greatest can make you "see" a character (even a minor one) in only two short lines of print.

His death robbed the reading world of one of its most readable authors.