Following the footsteps of Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey, whose ripping adventures capture thousands of new readers each year, comes the heir apparent to the mantle of Forester and O'Brian: Dewey Lambdin, and his acclaimed Alan Lewrie series. In King's Captain, Lewrie is promoted for his quick action in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, but before he's even had a chance to settle into his new role, a mutiny rages through the fleet, and the sudden reappearance of an old enemy has Lewrie fighting not just for his command, but for his life.
King's Captain
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From Publishers Weekly
The ninth book in Lambdin's Alan Lewrie series (The King's Coat, etc.) begins rousingly enough with the famous British defeat of a Spanish armada at Cape Saint Vincent in 1797. Lewrie comes in for some glory by trusting Nelson and participating in an apparently foolhardy maneuver that ensures victory for the English. After a short visit at homeDdreaming all the while of anticipated prize moneyDLewrie is made captain of the brand-new frigate Proteus. Before he sets to sea, though, Lewrie and his officers are ensnared in the mutinies at Spithead and Nore. The tars are petitioning for fairer wages, medical care and shipboard treatment. Lewrie faces a fierce enmity from a seaman he isDerroneouslyDsure he has never met before and spends most of the book planning to wrest HMS Proteus away from the mutineers. Eventually, of course, he does, and again, of course, Lewrie comes out on top. The delivery of a last-minute anonymous letter detailing Lewrie's extramarital escapades acts as a teaser for the next book. It is impossible not to compare Lambdin's Lewrie adventures to Patrick O'Brian's dazzling Aubrey-Maturin seriesDand the comparison does not favor Lambdin. O'Brian would probably have dealt with the Nore mutiny in a chapter or two: Lambdin takes considerably more pages. There is less seamanship here and practically no memorable characters. Language veers from the quaintly archaic to the brashly anachronistic: "Do-able, d'ye think?" Despite efforts at painting Lewrie as a forerunner of Flashman, there's no real humor. Also, Lambdin's afterword explaining doings at the Nore should have been a foreword. Readers desperate for an O'Brianesque fix may squeeze some enjoyment out of Lambdin's latest, but they will perhaps not be surprised to discover that Alan Lewrie is no Jack Aubrey. (Dec. 15)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Lambdin supplies another rousing installment in his excellent naval adventure series featuring stalwart Commander Alan Lewrie. Fresh from a stunning victory against the formidable Spanish Armada in the Battle of St. Vincent's Cape, Lewrie is promoted and rewarded with the command of an enviable new warship. Shortly after being installed as the captain of the H.M.S. Proteus, he must contend with a treasonable mass mutiny, a bitter enemy bent on revenge, and several rather complicated romantic entanglements. A rip-roaring sea yarn brimming with riveting action and lusty diversions. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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By John Kwok
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
While "Kings Captain" won't replace O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series for literary quality, it does rise towards the latter with its political intrigue. Lambdin has given the reader a fascinating look at what living conditions were like in England in 1797, and how they set the stage for the Royal Navy mutinies at Spithead and Nore. Newly promoted Captain Lewrie comes across as a younger, more earnest Jack Aubrey in this fine Napoleonic era yarn. Those who mourn O'Brian's passing and seek new naval adventures may not be disappointed at all in the latest installment in the Alan Lewrie naval adventure series.
Format:Hardcover
Alan Lewrie, at the end of the last novel (Jester's Fortune), was withdrawing from the Adriatic as part of the British withdrawal from the Mediterranean in late 1796. This story skips forward and begins with the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in early 1797. Admiral Jervis is depicted out of character, praising Lewrie without promoting him. Jervis had the authority to promote officers he approved of and would have immediately done so if he approved of Lewrie. The real life Peter Puget received such a promotion from Jervis, even though he arrived after the battle (Puget was known from earlier accomplishments).
After a return to England to put the Jester into the dockyard, and a reconciliation between Lewrie and his father, the main part of this novel deals with the mutiny at the Nore after Lewrie is promoted and takes command of a frigate. He is confronted by an old enemy he cannot identify, and a crew split between mutineers and loyal men. The story contains little action at sea - when Lewrie is not on land, he is mainly aboard ship at anchor dealing with the mutineers. A side issue arises when someone writes a poison pen letter revealing Lewrie's past indiscretions. Overall, the novel is more about personalities than about naval action. It covers a relatively short period of time in 1797.
For novels more action-filled, covering the same time period (including the mutiny), the reader is referred to Richard Woodman's, "A King's Cutter," and C. Northcote Parkinson's, "The Fireship."
Format:Hardcover
As a huge fan of this series, I was a bit disappointed in the last installment (Jester's Fortune) as I felt there was just not enough of the action or womanizing that made the first few novels so much fun. King's Captain also suffers a bit from this, but in place of the action we get to see Lewrie mature some. Rather than one novel after another in which the character stays the same but just rises in rank (which, considering how good the first books were, wouldn't be all that bad) Lambdin is showing Lewrie turning from his rakish former self into a family man, even if Alan does chafe a bit in the presence of his own children. I could wish for a bit more of the old ramcat in the future, but King's Captain did keep my interest, and I enjoyed seeing how Lewrie dealt with mutineers, and how he reacted to a bit of his past coming back to haunt him. Now that he's been made post, and has a new frigate to command, perhaps we will get to see Lewrie in a few more adventures that bring him the prize money he always seems to need.
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