Another good Hornblower sea novel. ( )

Summary: Another fun adventure with Captain Hornblower. Adventure, excitement and nautical fun.

Things I liked: The character of Hornblower continues to amuse. I also liked the fact that Hornblower's 1st lieutenant is a bit of an try hard under-performer it makes a very refreshing change from the typical everyone of the goodies is an absolute hero who's good at just about everything.

Things I thought could be improved: The book ends on a bit of cliff hanger that isn't resolved in the subsequent book. I'd like to have seen more of Hornblower at home with his family and his relationship with his son and daughter.

Highlight: Hornblower getting fooled by the local chief when he thought he was doing the fooling. Then being faced by the impossible challenge of two armed forts and a battleship. The synthesis of what for me makes Hornblower a great read about an amazing character ( )

Una de las batallas más emocionantes que se han narrado nunca. El 8 de enero de 1806, en su primera misión al mando de las Atropos, Horatio Hornblower organiza el funeral por el Támesis d euno de los grandes héroes de la historia naval británica, lord Nelson. Pero poco despuñes recibe la orden de dirigirse a Malta, un verdadero nido de espías. Pero el gran acontecimiento de esta nueva entrega de la serie es la memorable batalla naval que el protagonizaron la Atropos y la Nightingale frente a una fragata española de cuarenta y cuatro cañones, la Castilla.

This volume in the series consists of several entertaining episodes, each allowing Hornblower to show his mettle in different ways, but as much as I always enjoy that—and I really do—they don't come together to form a cohesive narrative or build to a compelling denouement.

This volume also suffers from a lack of interesting secondary characters. I've become accustomed to Hornblower's encounters with other captains or shrewd foes or incompetent superiors or reliable lieutenants...and while some of these flitted on the page from time to time, none of them connected with Hornblower in any meaningful way, leaving our clever captain more than typically alone in his anxiety-ridden mind, unremarked by and unremarkable to any but his reader.

It's not as satisfying to watch Hornblower triumph against the odds when not one of his contemporaries is given the opportunity to share in my delight at his wily, resilient intellect. ( )

A short Hornblower novel, but as usual entertaining. We start with Hornblower happily on his way back to sea, and his first command. First, though we get a thrilling canal boat ride, the downhill skiing of its day. This is followed by the funeral of Horatio Nelson, with a tense moment. Atropos is only a twenty two gun Sloop, but being Hornblower's it comes with baggage. There is a German princeling, complete with a one man court, and more importantly, a section of Ceylonese divers, with a covert mission. before the trip is over we have had a course in free diving, some nineteenth century surgery, and a gunfight. It is one of the better Hornblower novels in my opinion. My copy is one of the first English edition. ( )