A King's Commander (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures) [ILLUSTRATED] (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dewey Lambdin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
It's 1793 and lusty young Alan Lewrie of the British navy (H.M.S. Cockerel, etc.) is now commander of HMS Jester, patrolling the Ligurian Sea in order to support the onshore Austrian army, harass the French navy and remind various Italian states to mind their business. The main plot centers on Lewrie's attempts, goaded by the English spymaster Twigg, to catch and kill the French spymaster Choundas, a wonderfully malevolent enthusiast for the Terror known as "Le Hideux" ever since Lewrie horribly wounded and mutilated him nine years earlier. Le Hideux plots to rob a large British silver shipment and to capture Lewrie, hoping to torture and maim him, or at least to kill him. As usual, Lambdin offers a tersely effective explication of the political background-as well as an abundance of sea action (often described in language that will baffle landlubbers), depictions of shipboard life and discussions of the effective leadership style of Horatio Nelson, who's also on hand. There's also some superstitious talk about Celtic sea gods, annoying Franglais from Lewrie's doxy ("Wiz you, I am 'appy! Eef eet tak' time for to be ze grande lady, c'est dommage. I be mistress to one man, on'y. Vous!"), an occasional anachronism and a brief mention of the impending arrival of a young artillery officer "with the improbable name of Napoleon Bonaparte." Brisk and light, this is much closer to C.S. Forester's Hornblower series than to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books, but it will please fans of historical nautical adventure nonetheless.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Scapegrace British naval officer Alan Lewrie (H.M.S. Cockerel, 1995, etc.) sails into troubled waters during the third year of England's war with revolutionary France. In the spring of 1794, Lewrie leaves Portsmouth for the Mediterranean at the helm of his first command, an 18-gun sloop renamed Jester after its capture from the French. Arriving in Corsica, he renews acquaintance with the luscious Phoebe Aretino, the demimondaine who loved and lost one of Lewrie's fallen shipmates. Rousted from his cozy love, the lusty captain (whose wife and children cause him manageable pangs of remorse) joins a Genoa-based squadron (led by the young, aggressive Horatio Nelson) on blockade duty offshore northern Italy. Eager for glory, not to mention prize money, Lewrie assaults a coastal town garrisoned by French troops, silencing its harbor battery and seizing a string of supply vessels. Initially pleased by his subordinate's bold stroke, Nelson distances himself in the wake of atrocity allegations; besides, the unfounded reports make Lewrie easy prey for Zachariah Twigg, a Foreign Office intelligence operative. The raid also alerts Guillaume Choundras, a vindictive Breton with whom Lewrie has crossed swords before, to the hapless captain's whereabouts. To plant misinformation in the right circles and lure his old foe into battle, Lewrie is obliged to bed Claudia Mastandrea, an aristocratic courtesan who spies for the French. Surprised by Phoebe at this pastime, Lewrie slinks back to sea, where he indeed catches up with the villainous Choundras. After an exciting shallow-water chase, he follows the former privateer onto the beach at Vado Bay, where the Austrians are massing for an attack on French occupation forces. Having chased his quarry far inland, Lewrie fells him with a single shot from a long rifle; believing Choundras dead, the resilient mariner returns to the good ship Jester for a long voyage home. Another rowdy cruise for the immensely appealing Lewrie, with almost two decades to go in the Anglo-French belligerency. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; First Edition edition (January 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449000222
• ISBN-13: 978-0449000229
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #573,530 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Leader of Men, a Warrior and a Sailor in Spite of Himself, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

Lambdin's hero is the perfect foil for Jack Aubrey. Jack Aubrey, Patrick O'Brian's hero is a classic tarry-handed, lead-by-example fighting sailor to the bone but takes himself a little too seriously. Alan Lewrie, Lambdin's main man, also a real lead-by-example fighting sailor to the bone sees himself almost too much like a goat instead of a hero. Nonetheless, Jack Aubrey had mids like Lewry that he was rightly proud of. More importantly, they both get the King's work done in Bristol fashion without wasting a minute. Their men revere them both and follow them into the bellies of beast after beast. That they emerge victorious is as expected as it is wondrous but, in both cases, it makes great reading. If you are seeking lessons in Napoleonic Era England's dress, forms of address, gossip and politics embedded in robust tales of derring do, read O'Brian. If you want entertainment with much less history and a with a ring-side view of a real boy-becomes-man tale, go for Lambdin. That Lambdin's man still hasn't recognized himself for the man he has become makes him even more enjoyable. Sure he is a scooundrel but he is a successful scoundrel and a winner as well. Personally, I find both protagonists equally entertaining and believable. I can't imagine having to pick one over the other when I can have both.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better and better . . ., June 14, 2004

By	Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: A King's Commander (Alan Lewrie) (Hardcover)

Just as Alan Lewrie has gotten much better at this Royal Navy thing, Lambdin has gotten better and better at writing novels about him. From a feckless 17-year-old midshipman, Lewrie has advanced in this seventh in the series to an experienced, competent commander of his own ship-sloop, . . . though he's sometimes equally feckless. If only he could keep his breeches buttoned, his life would have a lot fewer problems in it. But even with a loving wife and three kids back home, he still finds himself involved, willy-nilly, with the lovely young Phoebe Aretino from the previous installment. He won't keep her, though, which is just as well for him. On the professional front, having been posted off to the Med, Lewrie finds himself participating in a small way in that spectacular victory over the Republican French navy known as the Glorious First of June. Then he's off to join Hood's fleet and to participate in the conquest of Corsica as a colleague of Capt. Horatio Nelson -- and to be caught up in the machinations of Mr. Twigg, the spy from his time in the Far East, as well as Choundas, the French captain and pirate who has good reason to hate him, . . . and of whom Lewrie admits well-justified fear. The author seems to have gotten under control his penchant for over-writing and over-reliance on period slang, and his ability to clearly describe naval actions and ship-handling have progressed from occasionally shaky to considerably above average. But most important, Alan Lewrie, filled with self-doubts and a full realization of his own shortcomings even while he repeatedly proves his courage and his worth to the navy, is a fully realized human being of whom the reader can develop some understanding and about whom one cares -- even when he does something personally stupid.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent book if you love naval history and adventure, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

Dewey Lambdin does it again.A worthwile, exciting read