lbay

Stumbled across this at B&N while looking for a book for reading on a trip. It had a good cover illustrtion and the usual back cover blurb about being a successor to Patrick O'Brian. Since no one will write a series of books as unique as O'Brian, such a blurb should always be ignored. It is more truly in the Alexander King (Douglas Reeman) style. The gimmick of Master and Commander Hayden trying to make post rank despite unfair opposition at the Admirality is a tried and true one and allows him a somewhat preposterous scope of action and opportunity. But what the heck, it fills up the book with plenty of action. Though I must say, I have never seen a golf game included in a naval adventure before. The oddest thing in this second of a series of books, is the author's lack of explaining almost anything that has happened before. A skillful author can drop in a few lines to explain the backstory from earlier books without being too repetative. Unfortunately, the reader of A Battle Won has no idea of what happened to Hayden's father or mother, where Henrietta came from, or his relation to various other characters. At least, the contretemps with the two beautiful French emigres' at the end of the book was an somewhat unusual touch.

2022-11-14 17:20