These books are still a great read. The pacing is much faster than in the O'Brian books. Recently came across a series of naval adventures from this same period, but with an American hero, by James L. Hurley. Have you read any of them?
I prefer Hornblower to Aubrey. Not familiar with Hurley. I read and much enjoyed the entire Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent, and I have a bunch of Dudley Pope's Ramage books, but have yet to try one.
You should also look up the Halfhyde books by Philip McCutchan. Halfhyde is a british naval officer on board dreadnought class war ships around 1900. If fact, McCutchan has written a lot of other naval adventure books, a bunch set during WWII.
Seems a little weird that Argosy published the first three Hornblower books out of order.
As to the rivals of Horatio Hornblower…
I once heard Anne McCaffery say (more or less) that Alexander Kent wrote the same book over and over. But that he was so good at it that nobody noticed/cared. I've read a number of the Bolitho series and enjoyed them. But, I doubt I'll ever finish the series.
Mt absolute favorite series of that period is Dudley Pope's Captain (the Lord) Ramage series. In the opening paragraphs of the first book, "Ramage," you discover that Nicholas Ramage was once a fellow Midshipman to HH.
Ramage's father, the Admrial & Earl of Blasie(sp?) twenty years before became the scapegoat for senior government blundering. Because of that, Ramage often has more enemies in the British Navy than in the French. He must defeat the French without being stabbed in the back by his own superiors.
The books read like an Errol Flynn swashbuckler, but are jam-packed with authentic background. Last I heard all 18 books were available from Macbooks in a uniform edition. Lots of U.S. libraries used to stock them, as well. U.S. paperbacks may still be around, but hard to locate. "The Triton Brig" a/k/a "Ramage & the Freebooters" had a bodice-ripper romantic cover, for instance.
4 comments:
These books are still a great read. The pacing is much faster than in the O'Brian books. Recently came across a series of naval adventures from this same period, but with an American hero, by James L. Hurley. Have you read any of them?
I prefer Hornblower to Aubrey. Not familiar with Hurley. I read and much enjoyed the entire Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent, and I have a bunch of Dudley Pope's Ramage books, but have yet to try one.
You should also look up the Halfhyde books by Philip McCutchan. Halfhyde is a british naval officer on board dreadnought class war ships around 1900. If fact, McCutchan has written a lot of other naval adventure books, a bunch set during WWII.
Seems a little weird that Argosy published the first three Hornblower books out of order.
As to the rivals of Horatio Hornblower…
I once heard Anne McCaffery say (more or less) that Alexander Kent wrote the same book over and over. But that he was so good at it that nobody noticed/cared. I've read a number of the Bolitho series and enjoyed them. But, I doubt I'll ever finish the series.
Mt absolute favorite series of that period is Dudley Pope's Captain (the Lord) Ramage series. In the opening paragraphs of the first book, "Ramage," you discover that Nicholas Ramage was once a fellow Midshipman to HH.
Ramage's father, the Admrial & Earl of Blasie(sp?) twenty years before became the scapegoat for senior government blundering. Because of that, Ramage often has more enemies in the British Navy than in the French. He must defeat the French without being stabbed in the back by his own superiors.
The books read like an Errol Flynn swashbuckler, but are jam-packed with authentic background. Last I heard all 18 books were available from Macbooks in a uniform edition. Lots of U.S. libraries used to stock them, as well. U.S. paperbacks may still be around, but hard to locate. "The Triton Brig" a/k/a "Ramage & the Freebooters" had a bodice-ripper romantic cover, for instance.
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