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Title: Doctor Syn Returns Series: Doctor Syn #3 Author: Arthur Russell Thorndike Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 154 Words: 74K
Syn is not so bloody thirsty and hypocritical in this one, but I still had serious issues with the liqueur smuggling going on. While I’m not a fan of the government taxing the soul out of us (one of the reasons America kicked the Brits ass back in ‘76 after all), I don’t feel that the smuggling of alcohol is in any way justified. Alcohol is almost as evil as drugs and I’ll go so far as to say that it IS a drug, as bad as meth, crack or marijuana. While we have the God given right to defend ourselves (why I AM in favor of gun running, ghost guns and other such libertarian ideals that are opposed to a tyrannical dictatorship run by a woman who was not actually elected), He did NOT give us the right to get shit faced drunk. So do yourself a favor and get rid of it.
This was the story where The Scarecrow is given life and while we only see him in action once or twice, he’s as great a character as Captain Clegg was. Considering they are both Syn, it’s no wonder.
I’m still on the fence about this series. I can see myself waffling about it right up until I finish it and I can see myself just throwing it away in disgust and dnf’ing at a moment’s notice. Taking this one book at at time.
Even if I do finish the series, it’s not one I’ll ever recommend.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia & Bookstooge.blog
Synopsis – click to open
It tells the story of Syn, who has tired of piracy, tries to settle down as the vicar of the little town of Dymchurch in Kent, England.
Syn’s attempt to live an obscure life fails when he is drawn into the local smuggling trade. To protect his parishioners from the agents of the King’s Revenue, Syn becomes the masked Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and becomes leader of the smugglers.
During this time, he falls in love with the oldest daughter of his best friend only for her to die. He also finds his wife, who is on death’s door. She has a daughter by her lover. Said lover pretends to be the Pirate Captain Clegg and dies so that Syn will take care of his baby daughter.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Doctor Syn on the High Seas Series: Doctor Syn #2 Author: Arthur Russell Thorndike Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 182 Words: 66K
In the first book, which was the last book chronologically and sees Doctor Syn killed (oh, wait, did I just spoil that for you? Oh boo hoo, I am sooooooo sorry. Get over it, pansy), I wondered how someone who was a man of the cloth could preach what he did and still do the things that Doctor Syn did. Well, from this book it is obvious that his theology never went more than skin deep, if even that. To be blunt, Syn was a hypocrite was the start.
He is not a hero or an anti-hero, Syn is a straight up villain. He pillages, plunders and kills with nary a thought or regret and is the very definition of an Evil Pirate Captain. His revenge is the consuming fire in his life, over ruling every other thought and feeling in his head.
From a purely storywise angle, this was good stuff. Syn is talented, skilled, well off and implacable. Nothing stops him and his adventures here are many. When the local lord kidnapped Imogene and her mother near the beginning, I almost put the book down because Thorndike really had me wondering just how far he was going to go with the situation. Thankfully, while the end goal was stated, it never got there.
I’m really up in the air about continuing this series. It is grand adventure, but Syn is a scoundrel and hypocrite and I find that abominable. I will read the next book and if I still feel this way, I’ll be stopping. There is no need to read about or promote scoundrels and villains.
★★★☆☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Synopsis – click to open
Doctor Syn (a Doctor of Theology), a young man at seminary college, meets and falls in love with a beautiful spanish girl. He and his close friend save her and her mother from falling into the financial clutches of a local lord with the worst of reputations. Imogene in turn falls in love with Dr Syn. Stymied, the local lord decides to get his revenge by kidnapping Imogene and her mother and forcing Imogene to marry him. They are rescued by Dr Syn and friend and the local lord is killed, to nobody’s regret, not even his nephew, who now inherits and was a one time suitor to Imogene.
Dr Syn and Imogene marry and move to Romney Marsh. But it is too gloomy for Imogene and she goes back to one of the big towns to “help her mother”. She meets her former suitor and they seduce each other and run away to Spain together. Dr Syn gives up the cloth and vows revenge. He begins to chase them down.
He is then captured by pirates but because of his brains and skill at sword play, kills the pirate captain and takes over the crew. He loots the sea to fuel his fortune to hunt down Imogene and the Seducer. He blows up the pirate ship he is on, killing all the pirates and takes the treasure for himself. He continues his chase but each time, never quite catches them. He goes pirating again and repeats the same formula as before.
Eventually, Imogene and the Seducer drop out of sight and Dr Syn makes his way back to Romney Marsh to settle down to what unsettled peace he can have. The book ends with the ship he is on crashing on the shores of Romney Marsh and Dr Syn swimming for shore.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Doctor Syn Series: Doctor Syn #1 Author: Arthur Russell Thorndike Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 209 Words: 69K
This was NOT at all what I was expecting, not one tiny bit. I remembered vague bits of an old Disney show called “The Scarecrow’, a Zorro’esque creature fighting evil and righting wrongs. And that is what I expected here, a man in disguise fighting corrupt authority figures while Robin Hood’ing it for the little guy.
Ha!
This is the final book, chronologically, in the Dr Syn series. It is however, the first published book. I suspect Thorndike wrote this as a standalone story and then just went back and wrote all the rest of the prequels when he needed money.
Dr Syn, a clergyman of all things, is also the Scarecrow, a leader of the smugglers in the Romney Marsh area. He’s smart, well organized and not above sending anyone who gets in his way to an early grave with a bullet in their heart. We also find out that he was an infamous pirate captain that roamed the seas pillaging and looting with the worst of them.
I kept waiting for the redemption arc, but it didn’t happen. Every revelation about Dr Syn just makes him out to be worse and worse and there is no repentance on his part at all. While he has embraced the lifestyle of a clergyman, he has in no way taken to heart anything he apparently preaches on. Complete and utter hypocrisy. I kept waiting for the curtain to come down and his good intentions to be revealed. And it just never happened. It actually shocked me at the end when he is captured and then killed by a harpoon, because he’s in full on pirate mode at that point.
I really wondered if I wanted to read more. I think I will though. I want to see how Syn got the point he’s shown at in this book. In many ways, Syn is a Vader without a Luke and I want to see if the downward trajectory was the same. Redemption, or the lack thereof, is something I’m always interested in when I’m reading a story.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia
Captain Collyer, a Royal Navy officer assigned to smash the local smuggling ring, uncovered the deception and Dr. Syn’s true identity, thanks in part to the tongueless mulatto (who had been rescued by Collyer years before and who had been serving Collyer as a “ferret” seeking out hidden contraband) who recognized Syn as Clegg. Syn evaded capture while at the same time making sure that Imogene and Squire Cobtree’s son Denis (who had fallen in love with Imogene) would have a happy life together (they were eventually married), but was murdered in revenge by the mulatto, who then mysteriously managed to escape, leaving Syn harpooned through the neck. As a last mark of respect, Collyer ordered that Syn be buried at sea, rather than have his body hung in chains.
Mipps escaped in the confusion of Syn’s death and disappeared from England, but it is said that a little man very much like him is living out his days in a Buddhist Monastery somewhere in the Malay Peninsula, delighting the monks with recounting the adventures of Doctor Syn and the eerie stories of the Romney Marsh and the mysterious Scarecrow and his Night Riders.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Lord Hornblower Series: Horatio Hornblower #5 Author: Cecil Scott Forester Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 213 Words: 82K
Napoleon gets defeated and Hornblower and Lady Barbara are in France. Hornblower and Barbara split up and Hornblower falls in with the woman he fell in love with back when he was escaping France several years ago. Napoleon makes his comeback, lover lady dies and then Hornblower is rescued in the nick of time by Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
Yeah, Hornblower is a scoundrel and a cad. I’d like to take a whip to him until he bleeds into unconsciousness. He excuses and justifies his unfaithfulness to Lady Barbara on the flimsiest of reasoning. It was despicable and I must say, the name “Hornblower” will forever be tainted in my mind from here on out. He is not a hero, he is not someone of character, he is not someone to emulate. He is scum and someone I would spit upon if I met him in the streets. If he were a character in the tv show “Black’s Books”, I’d cut him and totally ignore him.
It was a great story and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. Which is why this still gets 3stars. But I will NEVER recommend this series to anyone and if I hear of anyone considering it, I will strive mightily to dissuade them.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is a series that “shouldn’t” be read, but there are better things to spend your precious time on. Like a 3000 piece puzzle of yours truly! Now, doesn’t that sound like a real treat? And if you put it together backwards, you get to hear my secret message that I wrote especially just to you. Wowzers, doesn’t that sound intriguing? It sure does!
So choose wisely. Will you read about a lousy loser who sleeps around or listen to my secret message extolling the life extending properties of Bookstooge’s Special BBQ Sauce™? It goes with everything from your best Sunday Suit to your Sabbath Songbook to melted goats or even whole soccer teams. You just can’t go wrong with Bookstooge’s Special BBQ Sauce™. It’s guaranteed! Unlike this book, which is definitely not.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – Click to Open
In 1814, Hornblower is delegated to deal with the Flame, a brig full of mutineers off the French coast, near the mouth of the Seine. It is a tricky situation because the mutineers’ demands cannot be met, but they have threatened that if a Royal Navy force tries to force their hand, they will slip into a nearby French port.
Hornblower alters the appearance of his own vessel, the Porta Coeli, so it can masquerade as the mutinous vessel. As dusk falls, he follows a valuable blockade runner into port, pretending to be the Flame. Then, once the two vessels are moored, he captures it and takes it out to sea. He then pursues the Flame, which retreats to the French port. Believing the mutineers responsible, the French send four gunboats to take her. Hornblower manages to exploit the fighting to capture both the Flame and a gunboat.
Among the French prisoners is Lebrun, the young and ambitious assistant to the mayor of Le Havre. Lebrun asks to speak with Hornblower privately; he proposes to surrender Le Havre to the English fleet. Hornblower and Lebrun arrange a plan: Lebrun’s role is to undermine those parties who would resist a British seizure of the city. Overcoming some tense moments with audacity, Hornblower is able to capture the city with a half battalion of Royal Marines and finds himself its military governor.
Hornblower finds his new duties different from that of commanding a naval vessel or squadron. He finds his role demanding, in part because he is such a demanding perfectionist. The Duke of Angoulême, one of the heirs to the Bourbon dynasty, is sent to assume control of the civil leadership.
Hornblower hears that Napoleon has been able to amass a strong force, to be transported by barge down the Seine to retake Le Havre. He sends a force, borne by half a dozen large ship’s boats, to try to blow up the barges and ammunition. He puts his best friend, Captain William Bush, in command. The raid is a success and the French force is stopped, but an unexpected explosion kills most of the British, including Bush.
Hornblower is raised to the peerage, possibly in part to provide him with more dignity, gravitas, when dealing with the French heir’s entourage, as well to reward him for his accomplishments.
During the following peace, Hornblower’s wife Barbara accompanies her brother, the Duke of Wellington, to the Congress of Vienna, leaving Hornblower at loose ends. He decides to visit the Comte de Graçay, where he resumes his relationship with the Comte’s widowed daughter-in-law, Marie. When Napoleon escapes from Elba and raises a new army, Hornblower, the Comte and Marie lead a guerrilla fight against the Imperial forces. They are eventually defeated, and Marie dies from a leg wound. Hornblower and the Comte are captured and condemned to death, but news of the Emperor’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo arrives just in time to save their lives.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
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.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Hornblower was captured by the Frenchies in the previous book. He is then being taken to Paris to face a sham trial so Bonaparte can execute him and claim that the British are doing the dirty against him, po’ innocent little Boney. Hornblower and 2 others escape, hang out at a rich French lord’s house for the winter and then steal a ship and sail off and get rescued.
This was a good adventure story but Hornblower’s actions on two accounts set my teeth on edge. He carries on a torrid love affair with a french widow while hiding out for the winter, even while he knows his wife is back in Englad giving birth to their child. It was not a one time thing, nor did he regret it as a bad thing, but simply as something that could complicate his life. He was not faithful to his wife. Pure and simple. Then we find out his wife died in childbirth and so his mind immediately turns to Lady Barbara. With his new money and promotion, she is no longer out of reach. His wife hasn’t been dead for more than a month or three, he just finds out about it and in less than a week he’s thinking about another woman. Those are not the actions or thoughts of a man I would want to emulate or to encourage anyone else to emulate.
The adventure side of things though, were great. The dash down the river in the middle of the night, in the middle of winter, was great. You can feel them freezing to death or almost drowning. And the court martial at the end, even though you know he’s going to be acquitted and proclaimed a hero, there’s that little niggling doubt that maybe the Admiralty will do something really dumb and make an example him. Forester can write, that’s for sure. I just wish he’d made a better hero. While Hornblower isn’t a wastrel like Sharpe, he’s really edging towards that line.
I wanted someone better.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Click to Open
At the end of the previous novel, A Ship of the Line, after attacking and severely damaging a superior French squadron with HMS Sutherland, Hornblower had to surrender his ship to the French. He and his surviving crew are imprisoned in the French-occupied Spanish fortress of Rosas on the Mediterranean Sea. From the walls of Rosas, Hornblower witnesses an English raid leading to the final destruction of the French ships he immobilised.
Soon afterwards, Hornblower is told that he is to be sent to Paris to be tried as a pirate for his previous actions, including the capture of a battery and some coastal vessels using a ruse of war. Hornblower, his first lieutenant, Bush, who is still recovering from the loss of a foot in the fighting, and his coxswain, Brown, are taken away in a carriage by an Imperial aide-de-camp.
The carriage becomes stuck in a snowstorm on a minor road close to the river Loire, and part of the escort leaves to get help from Nevers, the next town. Hornblower and Brown overpower the remaining guards and steal a small boat on the river. Taking Bush with them, they set out downstream, but the river is in spate, and the boat eventually capsizes in some rapids. Hornblower and Brown carry Bush towards the nearest building, which happens to be the Chateau de Graçay. The Comte de Graçay, a member of the old French nobility who has lost three sons in Napoleon’s wars, and his widowed daughter-in-law Marie, welcome them and protect them from the authorities, who eventually abandon the search thinking them drowned.
The party spends the winter as guests of the Comte and prepare for an escape in late spring. During these months, Bush recovers and learns to walk with a wooden leg. Hornblower, Bush and Brown build a new boat to continue their voyage downstream. Meanwhile, Hornblower and Marie have a short but intense love affair.
Springtime comes and the river is in perfect condition for travel. Disguised as a fishing party, the escapees make their way to the port city of Nantes. There, they change their disguise to that of high-ranking Dutch customs officers in French service, using uniforms made for them by Marie and the staff of the Chateau. They manage to recapture the cutter Witch of Endor, taken as a French prize the year before. Manning it with a prison work gang, they take the ship out of the harbour and rendezvous with the British blockading fleet.
Here, Hornblower learns that his wife Maria had died in childbed; his son, Richard, survived and was adopted by his friend Lady Barbara, widow of Admiral Leighton and sister of Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.
Returning to Portsmouth, Hornblower, in common with any other captain who has lost his ship, faces a court martial for the loss of the Sutherland. However, he is ‘most honourably’ acquitted by the court and finds himself a celebrity for his exploits in the Mediterranean and his daring escape from France. He is received by the Prince Regent (the later King George IV), who makes him a knight of the Order of the Bath and a Colonel of Marines (a sinecure providing worthy officers with extra income). Together with the money from prizes taken while he was captain of the Sutherland and from his recapture of the Witch of Endor, he is finally financially secure and free to court and marry Lady Barbara
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Ship of the Line Series: Horatio Hornblower #2 Author: Cecil Scott Forester Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 217 Words: 85K
While this receives the same rating as the previous book, I enjoyed myself much more because I was prepared for Hornblower to be a real human character and not a idealized paragon like I was expecting in the first book.
In this novel Lady Barbara is now married to an Admiral and Hornblower’s wife is pregnant. Hornblower loves his wife and does his duty by her, but he doesn’t respect her and I found that sad. She is who she is and while she’s not elegant, she loves him and does everything she can to support him. I don’t think Hornblower realizes how much of a blessing a wife like that is. Of course, the culture of money at the time didn’t care about that kind of wife, so the attitude would have trickled down without him even realizing it. Just goes to show that we can be affected by the culture around us without us even trying.
There was some good naval action and Hornblower’s fight against the Frenchies and their fiendishly devilish Freedom Fries was a good reminder to all Patriots the world over that yes, they are Freedom Fries and NOT French Fries. So don’t forget it. But seriously, there were several scenes where Hornblower is calculating angles and percentages in his head, in regards to the maneuvering of his ship, and as a land surveyor it quite impressed me. Practice can only do so much and then talent kicks it up that extra notch. It’s like adding a little BAAAM with your spice weasel, as Chef Elzar would say.
Even though this ended on a cliffhanger, with Hornblower surrendering to some Frenchies, I didn’t feel the need to rush out and immediately read the next book. It was more like something to look forward to, seeing how Hornblower would handle captivity. I’m kind of excited to read the next book when it rolls around. That’s always a good way to end a book.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia.org
Details – Click to Open
Hornblower has recently returned to England from the Pacific in the frigate HMS Lydia, having gained widespread fame (but no financial stability) as a result of sinking the superior ship Natividad in battle. As a reward for his exploits, he is given command of a seventy-four ship of the line, HMS Sutherland, once the Dutch ship Eendracht,[a] and which is, in Hornblower’s estimation, “the ugliest and least desirable two-decker in the Navy List”.
He is assigned to serve under Rear Admiral Leighton, Lady Barbara Wellesley’s new husband. Throughout, Hornblower is torn between his love for Lady Barbara and his sense of duty and loyalty to his frumpy wife, Maria. His feelings for Maria are complicated by the previous loss of both of his children to smallpox.
Hornblower’s first orders are to escort a convoy of East Indiamen off the Spanish coast. He successfully fights off simultaneous attack on the convoy by two fast, manoeuvrable privateer luggers. Since he has been forced to sail with an understrength crew, and had to make do with “lubbers, sheepstealers, and bigamists”, he breaks Admiralty regulations and presses twenty sailors from each Indiaman just before they part company. With his ship now at full complement, Hornblower wreaks havoc on the French-occupied Spanish coast. He captures a French brig, the Amelie, by surprise, storms a French fort and takes several more vessels in its harbour as prizes, repeatedly fires upon several thousand Italian soldiers marching along a coastal road, and saves his Admiral’s ship from certain ruin by towing it away from a French battery during a severe storm.
When Hornblower encounters a squadron of four French ships of the line that have broken through the English blockade of Toulon, he attacks them despite the odds of four to one, and manages to disable or heavily damage all of them. However, with many of his crew killed or wounded, including Bush, who loses a leg, and his ship dismasted, he is then forced to strike his colours and surrender. This novel ends as a cliffhanger.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Beat to Quarters Series: Horatio Hornblower #1 Author: Cecil Scott Forester Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 204 Words: 76K
I have heard about the Horatio Hornblower series my entire life. Some friends of mine were big naval buffs and loved all the history of this series. That was enough, even back in highschool, to turn my interest away from it. Then I read some of the Seafort Saga, which was touted as “Hornblower in Space”. Seafort was an antihero who everything turned bad for. He rescues a space princess. She dies horribly and he’s sued by her brothers and his wife divorces him over it. That’s just a made up example, but that’s how Seafort went. There were no happy endings. So that turned me off of Hornblower yet again.
But here I am, 30 years later. My tastes have changed, broadened, narrowed and expanded. While readers/reviewers like Mogsy can churn through the latest pile of new releases like a voracious horde of piranhas, I am finding myself going the opposite direction. I don’t WANT the new books. Give me those old books! I used to think that meant the 1980’s. But with Riders introducing me to the Shadow and the fantastic luck I tend to have with those, well, the 1930’s started looking good. Throw in the original Conan stories by Howard, also in the ‘30’s and yeah, backwards in time seemed the way to go. And Hornblower was published in ‘37. So I gathered unto myself the collection of 12 novels, even if the last one wasn’t completed due to the author dying. Hmmm, sounds kind of like Sunset at Blandings, the final Blandings Castle novel.
Hornblower is a competent but totally self-conscious and utterly class aware kind of character. I had a hard time relating but just had to accept it. He had a bad experience trying to be friendly with an officer below him one time and the lesson he took from it was to be silent, enigmatic and uncommunicative with anybody on the ship. This makes him lonely and miserable. But all he can think about is how talking to his officers might somehow bring dishonor on him. It was utter balderdash. But it made Hornblower a real character. He HAD character.
I’ve also heard how wonderful these are for middle graders. That’s balderdash too. Hornblower is a married man but almost gets involved with a noblewoman who forced her way on the ship to get a ride home. Before he cuts things off for good, Forester tells how Hornblower has a train of thought that “ended in rapine and murder”. It was much darker than I was ever expecting. It wasn’t bad, but it was adult in its theme and was not at all appropriate for middle graders. We’ll see where Forester sends Hornblower in future books in that regards.
Finally, I am reading these in publication order and not in internal chronological order. While there can be benefits to reading books in chronological order, I have found that reading them as the author wrote them allows for a fuller journey in regards to how a series matures. Instead of skipping all over the place in terms of skill and even style, you simply walk along the path and experience the change as it happens. It’s not always obvious and many times might have zero bearing on one’s enjoyment of a particular author (Dickens for example), but for it sets my mind at ease knowing I’m reading the story the way author thought it. With this paragraph I am closing in on the 600 word mark for this section of the review. That’s too long so I shall end this now.
Except.
That cover. Is that awesome or what? Gaaaaahhhh! I shall commit seppuku with a dull spoon for dishonoring myself, my family and my cow for being so wordy. I just went to 639 words; make that spoon rusty!
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia.org
June 1808 Hornblower is in command of the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia, with secret orders to sail to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua (near modern Choluteca, Choluteca) and supply a local landowner, Don Julian Alvarado (“descendant” of Pedro de Alvarado by a fictional marriage to a daughter of Moctezuma), with muskets and powder. Don Julian is ready to revolt against the Spanish. Upon meeting Don Julian, Hornblower discovers that he is a megalomaniac who calls himself “El Supremo” (which Forester translates as “the Almighty”), views himself as a deity, and has been killing those who he regards as “unenlightened” because they do not recognise El Supremo’s divine status. El Supremo claims to be a descendant of Moctezuma, the holy god-made-man of the Aztecs, and also of Pedro de Alvarado, one of the Spanish invaders of Mexico.
While Hornblower replenishes his supplies the 50-gun Spanish ship Natividad is sighted off the coast. Unwilling to risk fighting the much more powerful ship in a sea battle, Hornblower hides nearby until it anchors and then captures it in a surprise nighttime boarding. El Supremo demands that it be turned over to him so that he may have a navy. After hiding the captured Spanish officers to save them from being murdered by El Supremo, Hornblower, needing his ally’s cooperation, has no choice but to accede.
After offloading war supplies for El Supremo, Hornblower sails south. Off the coast of Panama he encounters a Spanish lugger, from which an envoy arrives to inform him of a new alliance between Spain and England against Napoleon.
When Hornblower visits Panama City to meet with the Spanish Viceroy, the Englishwoman Lady Barbara Wellesley, a (fictional) sister of Marquess Wellesley and Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), comes aboard. The packet ship she was on in the Caribbean had been captured some time before. Freed by Spain’s changing sides, and fleeing a yellow fever epidemic ashore, she requests passage back to England. Hornblower reluctantly takes Lady Barbara and her maid Hebe aboard, warning her that he must first hunt and destroy the Natividad before El Supremo can capture a Spanish ship carrying funds crucial to the Spanish war effort from Manila to Acapulco.
In the subsequent battle Hornblower uses masterful tactics to sink the Natividad, though the Lydia herself is heavily damaged. Limping back to Panama to effect repairs, Hornblower is informed that, now that there is no further threat from the Natividad, he is not welcome in any Spanish American port. He manages to find a natural harbour on the island of Coiba, where he refits.
After completing repairs, Hornblower encounters the haughty Spanish envoy once again on the same lugger. He is invited aboard the lugger and finds El Supremo chained to the deck on his way to execution.
Hornblower sets sail for England. On the long voyage home he and Lady Barbara become strongly attracted to each other. She makes the first overt advances and they embrace passionately, but Barbara’s maid Hebe walking in on them brings Hornblower to the realisation that a ship’s captain must not indulge in sexual dalliance with a passenger. He tells Barbara, truthfully, that he is married. After her rejection Barbara avoids him as best she can. The Lydia arrives at Saint Helena soon afterwards and Lady Barbara transfers to a more spacious ship.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
For anyone who doesn’t know, Wilkie Collins is known for writing The Moonstone, sometimes called the first detective novel. He was also a contemporary and friend to Charles Dickens. As you should know, Dickens was known as quite the wordy author, always using 5 or 6 words where 1 would have sufficed. Some find this trait of his insufferable, some love it. I happen to love it. When it is done by Dickens. This was also Collins’ debut novel and in it he tries to out-Dickens Dickens. If 1 word would suffice, Collins crams in 10-15. Usually of the most purplish prose possible too. I found it insufferable.
What is worse, this was also boring. Rome is surrounded by a barbarian horde of goths and everyone just sits there and starves to death. Collins can barely be bothered to scare up some drama for us.
The struggle between Paganism and Christianity, as portrayed, also betrayed Collins inherent apathy for either. He was no believer in anything. It should have had some real pathos, some “zing” instead of two old men living their lives out according to their principles.
This was the first book in one of those “Complete Author X” collections. Bad choice, even though I know they’re going alphabetically. If I hadn’t already read Moonstone and had my interest whetted by that, and this was my first Collins, I’d have tossed it into the rubbish heap and not read anything more by him. Really hope the next book is a little more interesting.
★★☆☆☆
From Wilkie-Collins.info and Bookstooge.blog
The plot revolves around two separate but related struggles. That of the old pagan and new Christian religions, seen as equally destructive, embodied in the opposing characters of Ulpius and Numerian; and that of the strong figure of the Goth, Goisvintha, (modelled on Norna in Scott’s The Pirate) seeking revenge against the weak heroine, Antonina.
In the Rome of 408 AD, the young Antonina lives with her father Numerian, zealous in his aims to restore the Christian faith to its former ideals. Numerian’s steward, Ulpius, brought up in the old religion, secretly lives only to restore the forbidden gods of pagan sacrifice. Vetranio, their wealthy neighbour, has designs on the innocent Antonina. When they are surprised by Numerian in an apparently compromising situation, Antonina flees outside the city walls just before Rome is blockaded by the encircling army of the Goths.
Antonina is captured by the chieftain, Hermanric, who falls in love with her. His sister, Goisvintha, was the sole survivor of a Roman massacre in which her children perished and has vowed revenge on Rome and its people. She attempts to kill Antonina but is prevented by Hermanric who allows Antonina to escape. During the weeks of the siege, she lives in a deserted farmhouse, visited nightly by Hermanric. Goisvintha betrays her brother to the Huns who kill him, while Antonina escapes for a second time.
Ulpius, meanwhile, has discovered a breach in the city wall and attempts to betray Rome to Alaric in exchange for his destruction of the Christian religion. Alaric is interested only in humbling his enemies into surrender and seizing a large tribute of gold. Returning towards the city, Ulpius discovers Antonina and accompanies her to Rome where she finds her overjoyed but starving father. Antonina begs the last morsels of food from Vetranio at a macabre and suicidal ‘Banquet of Famine’, preventing him from making a funeral pyre of his palace.
Antonina is stabbed but recovers, her father stays alive, Ulpias dies, Goisvintha goes completely insane and Vetranio retires to the country side.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Titus Andronicus Author: William Shakespeare Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Play Pages: 219 Words: 63K
Synopsis:
From Wikipedia
Shortly after the death of the Roman emperor, his two sons, Saturninus and Bassianus, quarrel over who will succeed him. Their conflict seems set to boil over into violence until a tribune, Marcus Andronicus, announces that the people’s choice for the new emperor is Marcus’s brother, Titus, who will shortly return to Rome from a victorious ten-year campaign against the Goths. Titus arrives to much fanfare, bearing with him as prisoners Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons Alarbus, Chiron, and Demetrius, and her secret lover, Aaron the Moor. Despite Tamora’s desperate pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son, Alarbus, to avenge the deaths of twenty-five of his own sons during the war. Distraught, Tamora and her two surviving sons vow to obtain revenge on Titus and his family.
Meanwhile, Titus refuses the offer of the throne, arguing that he is not fit to rule and instead supporting the claim of Saturninus, who then is duly elected. Saturninus tells Titus that for his first act as emperor, he will marry Titus’s daughter Lavinia. Titus agrees, although Lavinia is already betrothed to Saturninus’s brother, Bassianus, who refuses to give her up. Titus’s sons tell Titus that Bassianus is in the right under Roman law, but Titus refuses to listen, accusing them all of treason. A scuffle breaks out, during which Titus kills his own son, Mutius. Saturninus then denounces the Andronici family for their effrontery and shocks Titus by marrying Tamora. Putting into motion her plan for revenge, Tamora advises Saturninus to pardon Bassianus and the Andronici family, which he reluctantly does.
During a royal hunt the following day, Aaron persuades Demetrius and Chiron to kill Bassianus so that they may rape Lavinia. They do so, throwing Bassianus’s body into a pit and dragging Lavinia deep into the forest before violently raping her. To keep her from revealing what has happened, they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands. Meanwhile, Aaron writes a forged letter, which frames Titus’s sons Martius and Quintus for the murder of Bassianus. Horrified at the death of his brother, Saturninus arrests Martius and Quintus and sentences them to death.
Some time later, Marcus discovers the mutilated Lavinia and takes her to her father, who is still shocked at the accusations levelled at his sons, and upon seeing Lavinia, he is overcome with grief. Aaron then visits Titus and falsely tells him that Saturninus will spare Martius and Quintus if either Titus, Marcus, or Titus’ remaining son, Lucius, cuts off one of their hands and sends it to him. Though Marcus and Lucius are willing, Titus has his own left hand cut off by Aaron and sends it to the emperor. However, a messenger brings back Martius’s and Quintus’s severed heads, along with Titus’s own severed hand. Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their former enemy, the Goths.
Later, Lavinia writes the names of her attackers in the dirt, using a stick held with her mouth and between her arms. Meanwhile, Aaron is informed that Tamora has secretly given birth to a mixed-race baby, fathered by Aaron, which will draw Saturninus’s wrath. Though Tamora wants the baby killed, Aaron kills the nurse to keep the child’s race a secret and flees to raise his son among the Goths. Thereafter, Lucius, marching on Rome with an army, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. In order to save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire revenge plot to Lucius.
Back in Rome, Titus’s behaviour suggests he might be deranged. Convinced of Titus’s madness, Tamora, Demetrius, and Chiron (dressed as the spirits of Revenge, Murder, and Rape, respectively) approach Titus in order to persuade him to have Lucius remove his troops from Rome. Tamora (as Revenge) tells Titus that she will grant him revenge on all of his enemies if he convinces Lucius to postpone the imminent attack on Rome. Titus agrees and sends Marcus to invite Lucius to a reconciliatory feast. Revenge then offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora as well, and is about to leave when Titus insists that Rape and Murder stay with him. When Tamora is gone, Titus has Chiron and Demetrius restrained, cuts their throats, and drains their blood into a basin held by Lavinia. Titus tells Lavinia that he will “play the cook”, grind the bones of Demetrius and Chiron into powder, and bake their heads into two pies.
The next day, during the feast at his house, Titus asks Saturninus if a father should kill his daughter when she has been raped. When Saturninus answers that he should, Titus kills Lavinia and tells Saturninus of the rape. When the Emperor calls for Chiron and Demetrius, Titus reveals that they were baked in the pie Tamora has just been eating. Titus then kills Tamora and is immediately killed by Saturninus, who is subsequently killed by Lucius to avenge his father’s death. Lucius is then proclaimed Emperor. He orders that Titus and Lavinia be laid in their family tomb, that Saturninus be given a state burial, that Tamora’s body be thrown to the wild beasts outside the city, and that Aaron be hanged. Aaron, however, is unrepentant to the end, regretting only that he did not do more evil in his life. Lucius decides Aaron deserves to be buried chest-deep as punishment and left to die of thirst and starvation, and Aaron is taken away to be punished thus.
My Thoughts:
The last time I read some Shakespeare was last year in August when I made it through Richard III. I needed a break and so of course, once I’m back, I start out with Titus Andronicus, possibly the most violent, the most disturbing and the most outlandish of all his plays. I’m going to keep the “Synopsis” and “My Thoughts” format for Shakespeare even while I’ve abandoned it for all the rest of the books I read. I want a place I can put the entire synopsis from Wikipedia and then easily hide it with the details code. I don’t ever plan on reading Shakespeare again but I do want to know what each play is about.
Ugh. Titus murders his own son. His daughter is raped and maimed. He chops off his own hand. Another son is sent into exile. He kills the men who raped his daughter, bakes their flesh into a pie and feeds it to the mother of the men. He then dies himself.
Good times on the Good Ship Lollypop, eh? Not even Shirley Temple could have tap danced this into a happy story. There were several times I was just about ready to call it quits on Shakespeare and to let him rot in his mouldering grave. But I forged ahead because I was wearing my Big Boy Pants and that’s what you do. All I can say is that whatever I read next from Shakespeare had better be better than this play.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Shogun Series: The Asian Saga #1 Author: James Clavell Rating: Unrated / DNF@68% Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 1113 / 757 Words: 438K / 298K
When I read this in 2010, I loved it. It wasn’t perfect but the utter foreignness of the setting (1600’s I think, in Japan) made for an enthralling read.
This time, all I could read were the sailors swearing like sailors. The biggest part was that they would claim to be Christians and then take Jesus’s name in vain as part of their daily routine. I’m not blaming Clavell for including it, which is why I’m leaving this unrated, but it is not something I want to get comfortable with. It was starting to bug me and then it happened with several of the characters multiple times in just a few pages, so I decided I had had enough and dnf’d the book.
I don’t know why it bothered me so much this time and not so much back in ‘10. While I am older, I don’t feel like I can say I am more mature as a Christian, if anything I realize just how much in the shallow end of the pool I really am. My own temptation to swear at work is waaaaaay greater and thus harder to fight against. I’m less involved at church. I didn’t think much about it when I just dnf’d it, but now that I am writing, it is a puzzling aspect to me. I haven’t come to any conclusion but now I am curious. Something changed in me and I don’t know what it is. I’ll have to keep on cogitating on it.
I definitely won’t be re-reading the rest of the Asian Saga, as I remember not enjoying them nearly as much as I did Shogun back then. So another re-read that didn’t quite work out. I seem to have gone through a list of books like that in the last month or two. Good thing my tbr is close to 300!
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Richard III Author: William Shakespeare Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Play Pages: 312 Words: 90K
Synopsis:
From Wikipedia
The play begins with Richard of Gloucester describing the re-accession to the throne of his brother, King Edward IV of England, eldest son of the late Richard, Duke of York (implying the year is 1471):
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Richard is an ugly hunchback, “rudely stamp’d”, “deformed, unfinish’d”, cannot “strut before a wanton ambling nymph”, and says he is “determined to prove a villain / And hate the idle pleasures of these days.” Through a prophecy, that “G of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be”, he has contrived to have his brother Clarence conducted to the Tower of London (the king interpreted the prophecy as George of Clarence, but the prophecy could just as easily refer to Richard of Gloucester). Speaking to Clarence en route, Richard blames the queen and says that he will himself try to help Clarence. Richard continues plotting:
I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter.
What, though I kill’d her husband and her father?
Lady Anne attends the corpse of Henry VI with Trestle and Berkeley going from St Paul’s Cathedral. She bids them set down the “honourable load” then laments. Richard appears, and Lady Anne says that “Henry’s wounds […] bleed afresh”. He confesses the murder, and she spits at him. He offers himself to her sword, but she drops it. He offers to kill himself at her order, but she accepts his ring. Richard exults at having won her over so and tells the audience that he will discard her once she has served his purpose.
The atmosphere at court is poisonous. The established nobles are at odds with the upwardly mobile relatives of Queen Elizabeth, a hostility fueled by Richard’s machinations. Queen Margaret, Henry VI’s widow, returns, though banished, and she warns the squabbling nobles about Richard, cursing extensively. The nobles, all Yorkists, unite against this last Lancastrian and ignore the warnings.
Richard orders two murderers to kill Clarence in the tower. Clarence relates a distressing dream to his keeper before going to sleep. The murderers arrive with a warrant, and the keeper relinquishes his office. While the murderers are pondering what to do, Clarence wakes. He recognises their purpose and pleads with them. Presuming that Edward has offered them payment, he tells them to go to Gloucester, who will reward them better for having kept him alive. One of the murderers explains that Gloucester hates him and sent them. Pleading again, he is eventually interrupted by “Look behind you, my lord” and stabbing (1478).
The compacted nobles pledge absent enmities before Edward, and Elizabeth asks Edward to receive Clarence into favour. Richard rebukes her, saying: “Who knows not that the gentle duke is dead?”. Edward, who has confessed himself near death, is much upset by this news and led off. Richard blames those attending Edward. Edward IV soon dies (1483), leaving Richard as Protector. Lord Rivers, Lord Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan, have been imprisoned. The uncrowned Edward V and his brother are coaxed (by Richard) into an extended stay at the Tower of London.
Assisted by his cousin Buckingham, Richard mounts a campaign to present himself as the true heir to the throne, pretending to be a modest and devout man with no pretensions to greatness. Lord Hastings, who objects to Richard’s accession, is arrested and executed on a trumped-up charge of treason. Richard and Buckingham spread the rumour that Edward’s two sons are illegitimate and therefore have no rightful claim to the throne, and they are assisted by Catesby, Ratcliffe, and Lovell. The other lords are cajoled into accepting Richard as king despite the continued survival of his nephews (the Princes in the Tower).
Richard asks Buckingham to secure the death of the princes, but Buckingham hesitates. Richard then recruits Sir James Tyrrell who kills both children. When Richard denies Buckingham a promised land grant, Buckingham turns against Richard and defects to the side of Henry, Earl of Richmond, who is currently in exile. Richard has his eye on Elizabeth of York, Edward IV’s next remaining heir, and poisons Lady Anne so he can be free to woo the princess. The Duchess of York and Queen Elizabeth mourn the princes’ deaths. Queen Margaret meets them. As predicted, Queen Elizabeth asks Queen Margaret for help in cursing. Later, the Duchess applies this lesson and curses her only surviving son before leaving. Richard asks Queen Elizabeth to help him win her daughter’s hand in marriage. She is not taken in by his eloquence, and stalls him by saying that she will let him know her daughter’s answer in due course.
The increasingly paranoid Richard loses what popularity he had. He faces rebellions, led first by Buckingham and subsequently by the invading Richmond. Buckingham is captured and executed. Both sides arrive for a final battle at Bosworth Field. Prior to the battle, Richard is sleeping and visited by the ghosts of his victims, each telling him to “Despair and die”. They likewise attend and wish victory on Richmond. Richard wakes, screaming “Jesus”, then realises that he is all alone and cannot even pity himself.
At the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485), Lord Stanley (who is also Richmond’s stepfather) and his followers desert Richard, whereupon Richard calls for the execution of George Stanley, hostage and Lord Stanley’s son. But this does not happen, as the battle is in full swing, and Richard is at a disadvantage. Richard is unhorsed on the field, and cries out, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse”. Richmond kills Richard and claims the throne as Henry VII.
My Thoughts:
I ended up enjoying this more than I thought I would. Richard is a despicable character and I enjoyed seeing his rise to power because I knew his fall was sudden and immediate (at least in the play. In real life, no idea). At the same time, he is a mesmerizing character and it was baffling to see others fall into his clutches because of his honeyed tongue while his actions were in direct contradiction. He was a great example of unchecked power
However, this was very long. A play at over 300 pages seems excessive to me and trying to cram Richard’s entire rise and fall into one play, well, Shakespeare gave Henry VI 3 plays for goodness sake!Of course, if somethings had been cut altogether, it probably would have been better.
This play, while I enjoyed it, made me realize that my capacity for Shakespeare has definite limits. As such, I’m going to give him another break until next year. Then I’ll have to decide whether to do a 6month stint or to space them further apart (or is that “farther”? That’s one of those things I simply cannot get my head about. I’m good with “to”, “two” and “too” but further/farther, I’m lost). Any thoughts?
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Henry VIII Author: William Shakespeare Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Play Pages: 261 Words: 75K
Synopsis:
From Wikipedia
The play opens with a Prologue (by a figure otherwise unidentified), who stresses that the audience will see a serious play, and appeals to the audience members: “The first and happiest hearers of the town,” to “Be sad, as we would make ye.”
Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny. Their speeches express their mutual resentment over the ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham. Later Buckingham is arrested on treason charges—Wolsey’s doing.
The play’s second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on Wolsey as his favourite. Queen Katherine enters to protest about Wolsey’s abuse of the tax system for his own purposes; Wolsey defends himself, but when the King revokes the Cardinal’s measures, Wolsey spreads a rumour that he himself is responsible for the King’s action. Katherine also challenges the arrest of Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Duke’s Surveyor, the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckingham’s trial to occur.
At a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as masquers. The King dances with Anne Bullen.
Two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of Buckingham’s treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers and to the public. After his exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolsey’s hostility toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the Queen, while the nobles Norfolk and Suffolk look on critically. Wolsey introduces Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King; Campeius has come to serve as a judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine.
Anne Bullen is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant. Anne expresses her sympathy at the Queen’s troubles; but then the Lord Chamberlain enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Anne’s sudden advancement in the King’s favour.
A lavishly-staged trial scene (Act II Scene 4) portrays Katherine’s hearing before the King and his courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and refuses to stay for the proceedings. But the King defends Wolsey, and states that it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial. Campeius protests that the hearing cannot continue in the Queen’s absence, and the King grudgingly adjourns the proceeding. (Act III) Wolsey and Campeius confront Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting; Katherine makes an emotional protest about her treatment.
Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown (Act III Scene 2) plotting against Wolsey. A packet of Wolsey’s letters to the Pope have been re-directed to the King; the letters show that Wolsey is playing a double game, opposing Henry’s planned divorce from Katherine to the Pope while supporting it to the King. The King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realises that he has lost Henry’s favour. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell will not be brought down in Wolsey’s fall from grace.
The two Gentlemen return in Act IV to observe and comment upon the lavish procession for Anne Bullen’s coronation as Queen, which passes over the stage in their presence. Afterward they are joined by a third Gentleman, who updates them on more court gossip – the rise of Thomas Cromwell in royal favour, and plots against Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Scene 2) Katherine is shown ill; is told of Wolsey’s death; has a vision of dancing spirits. Caputius visits her. Katherine expresses her continuing loyalty to the King, despite the divorce, and wishes the new queen well.
Act V. The King summons a nervous Cranmer to his presence, and expresses his support; later, when Cranmer is shown disrespect by the King’s Council, Henry reproves them and displays his favour of the churchman. Anne Bullen gives birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. In the play’s closing scenes, the Porter and his Man complain about trying to control the massive and enthusiastic crowds that attend the infant Elizabeth’s christening; another lush procession is followed by a prediction of the glories of the new born princess’s future reign and that of her successor. The Epilogue, acknowledging that the play is unlikely to please everyone, asks nonetheless for the audience’s approval.
My Thoughts:
The edition of The Complete Shakespeare I am reading has these “History” plays in alphabetical order instead of chronological order, so we skipped right over Richard III. That’ll probably be next.
I didn’t actually care. I cared less about this than I did for the entire Henry VI trilogy, which I didn’t think was possible.
