I guess Stockwin's contract required another book, so he cracked open his Hornblower. This book is a shameless plagiarism, a poor imitation of a much finer writer and storyteller. ( )

I have not read any of the other books in this series, but so far I am impressed. I generally enjoy historical fiction, and Julian Stockwin does a very nice job with the sort of political intrigue that keeps my attention. I think there’s a pretty good balance between the historical detail and the narrative drive. A historian of the era might find things to be annoyed about, but there was nothing ahistorical enough to pull me out of the narrative. ( )

This is another great addition into this series. While I have not been exposed to every volume, I did get used to Kydd being the main focus of the books. Readers should be warned, though, that this volume moves away from Kydd (and from naval maneuvers entirely) for much of the book. The emphasis here is on the political and military machinations that set the stage for what is to come. Even so, it is an entertaining re-telling of a familiar time in European history, and the fictional versions of these famous (or infamous) personalities are a pleasure to spend time with. ( )

17 books already? I've read about 6 of them and do have catch up on the others. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is a cross between Jack Aubrey and Richard Sharpe. While commanding a ship, most of his adventures occur elsewhere.

The first part of the book is a little side adventure unrelated to anything. Stockwin admits in the historical notes that he found early diving technology to be fascinating, and wrote a short story regarding its use in the search of the wreck of a Spanish Armada ship still not located today. The main story in Inferno concerns the British appropriation of the Danish fleet. It was not offered up willingly, and the British were forced to make good of their show of force, raining terror during a brief siege of Copenhagen. Largely an army affair, led by Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame), the fleet served not only as an escort, but also to blockade Denmark and prevent the escape of any of their ships. The purpose for violating Danish neutrality in this matter was to prevent Napoleon from invading and taking the fleet, which would have given him superior numbers that could be used to invade Britain and also to protect trade in other open markets around the Baltic Sea. Our intrepid Captain Kydd spent most of this conflict idle like the rest of the navy, except for a diversion to rescue Louis XVIII from assassins (something the Swedes actually did).

I like that Stockwin makes an effort to tell the greater story without feeling compelled to insert his hero into every scene, no matter how implausible his presence might be. Kydd is not an Aubrey or Hornblower in that everything revolves around ship actions; it's nice to see attention paid to events greater than a single ship as well as fleshing out higher ranking characters (such as nobility and ambassadors). ( )

The first of the series that I've read - plenty of action and detail to keep your interest. The story revolves around a combined naval and ground action(s) in the Baltic in the early 19th century; provides a good balance of the activities of two services and their affect on military and civilians. ( )