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Title: Commodore Hornblower
Series: Horatio Hornblower #4
Author: Cecil Scott Forester
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 251
Words: 97K
Hornblower is now married to Lady Barbara, is the lord of some estate and is on land with enough wealth to never need to work again. And he’s miserable as sin. So when the Admiralty gives him orders to go to sea again and wreak havoc on the French and try to cozy up to the Russians, Hornblower’s protestations ring particularly hollow. He also has a one time fling with some Russian duchess/countess/whatever. But it is so downplayed and not blatantly referred to that I wondered if it had actually happened. Quite the change from the previous books and how Forester handled Hornblower’s infidelities.
Now that Hornblower is in charge of a fleet (a small one, but a fleet nonetheless), the naval action is quite different. The focus isn’t on one ship and its particular actions, but on the various ships and this time we are treated to some bombers, which are light ships with big mortars. Very different than a cannonade between sailing ships. I appreciated the change in tactics that involved and even the type of naval action was a welcome change. I don’t want each book to be a naval clone of the previous one.
We also get a much more confidant Hornblower. He still has his doubts about himself, especially when one of his decisions leads to the death of a Lieutenant that was a favorite and was a stand-in pseudo-son but those doubts weren’t at his core anymore like they had been in previous books. I was glad to see that change. It felt like Hornblower was finally growing up, now that he was in his 40’s, sigh.
Even though I enjoyed this more than the previous book and Hornblower’s infidelities were down played, I’m forced to give this the same rating. Forced you say? That’s right, forced. The High Admiralty wrote me a letter and stated that if I rated this higher they would put me on half-pay for the rest of my life. Which with inflation and Bidenomics means I could buy one can of baked beans each week. So yes, I think the threat of being forced to live on one can of Bush’s Baked Beans each week qualifies as being forced. And if you disagree, well, that’s mutiny and I’ll hang your scurvy necks from the mast head as an example to the rest of you mutinous readers! Arrrgh, grrrr, belay the wind in the foremast, avast! And other such nautical’y sounding terms 😉
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Summary – Click to Open
Having achieved fame and financial security, Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower has married Lady Barbara Leighton (née Wellesley) and is preparing to settle down to unaccustomed life as the squire of Smallbridge in Kent. He still yearns to serve at sea and accepts with alacrity when the Admiralty appoints him a commodore, puts him in command of a squadron and sends him on a diplomatic and military mission to the Baltic. His primary aim is to bring Russia into the war against Napoleon.
Hornblower is shown dealing with the problems of squadron command, and using naval mortars (carried on special ships known as bomb vessels) to destroy a French privateer. This leads to the French invasion of Swedish Pomerania. Later his squadron calls at Kronstadt, where he meets with Russian officials, including Tsar Alexander I, who is favourably impressed by Hornblower and his squadron. Hornblower narrowly averts a major diplomatic incident when his secretary and interpreter (a Finnish refugee assigned to him by the Admiralty) attempts to assassinate the Tsar at a court function.
After Russia enters the war, Hornblower’s squadron takes an important role in the defence of Riga, which is besieged by French forces. The bomb vessels again take an important role, and so do amphibious operations under the protection of the squadron.
At the end of the novel, the French and Prussian troops abandon the siege and retreat. Hornblower accompanies the pursuing Russian forces until they meet the Prussian army, which has halted to form a rearguard. Hornblower meets with the Prussian general – Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg and persuades him to change sides.
At this point it becomes clear to the accompanying Brown that Hornblower is gravely ill, apparently with typhus. In some editions of the novel the story ends here with the hallucinating Hornblower imagining himself being greeted in Hampton Court by Lady Barbara and his infant son. C.S. Forester however provided an additional chapter in which the convalescent Hornblower returns safely to Smallbridge in time for Christmas.
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