A Ship of the Line (Horatio Hornblower #2) 3.5Stars

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

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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.

★★★✬☆

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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.

• All of My “Horatio Hornblower” Reviews

Dancing Scimitar - MTG 4E

A Christmas Carol (1999 Movie)

Last year, I listened to A Christmas Carol narrated by Patrick Stewart. After reading the original novella by Dickens and then listening to it again narrated by Tim Curry, I wanted to dive into the visual side of things with a serious start. There were so many options to choose from that I decided to stick to something that I was semi-familiar with. So Patrick Stewart as Scrooge it was.

This movie definitely takes liberties, mainly in padding out scenes merely alluded to in Dicken’s novella. But the director didn’t try to change the spirit of things. To me, that’s important.

Of course, Patrick Stewart being Ebenezer Scrooge takes center stage. I thought he did a fantastic job. From the beginning at the burial scene of Jacob Marley, Stewart projected that tightfisted, angry, self-centered and utterly materialistic man of the world. His facial expressions never wavered, never let the audience forget just what kind of man Ebenezer Scrooge was. And yet, just like in the story, I could SEE Scrooge changing as the night went on. It takes a consummate actor to display such little changes without coming across as hamming it.

The story is short and so thus is the movie. It’s done before it even started. I sat down to watch it and boom, it was over! I like that. No messing around, just tell the story and move on with your life. More movies should take the hint.

[Art] Merry Christmas 2023

1 All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing,
"Alleluia! Alleluia!"
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise Him, O praise Him!
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

2 Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heav'n along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of ev'ning, find a voice,
O praise Him, O praise Him!
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

3 And all ye men of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
praise God and on Him cast your care;
O praise Him, O praise Him!
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

4 Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship Him in humbleness;
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One;
O praise Him, O praise Him!
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

A great old hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King. It was originally written in 1225 by Francis of Assisi and paraphrased into modern english by William Draper sometime between 1899 and 1919. Once I saw what Miss Ross had drawn up for her Christmas offering, this hymn immediately sprang to my mind. Couldn’t be a better mix in my opinion. Enjoy.

Deja Vu Halloo (Reeves and Worcester Steampunk Mysteries #5) 3Stars

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: Deja Vu Halloo
Series: Reeves and Worcester Steampunk Mysteries #5
Author: Chris Dolley
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Steampunk Mystery
Pages: 139
Words: 42K

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It’s been about 2 years since I read the previous Reeves and Worcester book, The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall, and I was hoping that would breathe some new life into this fifth book. Unfortunately, it did not.

Don’t get me wrong, this was still amusing and I don’t regret reading it at all, but it was starting to feel tired. Time machines, the faux-PG Wodehouse expressions, it seemed like Dolley (the author) was just going through the motions. Considering this was published in ‘20 and there’s not been another one, I suspect Dolley realized where things were headed and just stopped before he ran off a cliff. I can respect that in an author.

The timey-wimey aspect of this, with Reeves and Worcester repeating the same day over and over again, glazed my eyes over. When Reeves began explaining how they were going to break the time loop I completely checked out until they did. Worcester getting sloshed every night so he’d remember the time loop was amusing and when you throw in the various things he and Reeves get up to, it was a good time all around. There was one particular amusing part to the story where Worcester meets the Aunt and Uncle of his fiance and they are 8^th Day Secessionists. I just laughed my head off, what with being a 7^th Day Adventist myself.

One thing I would like to see is Worcester and his fiance get married. That has all the hallmarks of some serious Wodehousian shenanigan potential. But sadly, I doubt it will happen. Ahhh, it is better to have read and not got the ending you wanted than to have never read at all. Some bloke named Bookstodge made up that quote. Quite a genius, eh? I thought so. If I could track him down, I’d like to give him a solid gold dumptruck just to show him how appreciative I am of his input into the literary world.

★★★☆☆

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From the Publisher

Details-Click to Expand

It’s Groundhog Day, 1906. February 2nd is stuck on repeat, and only our intrepid trio appear to have noticed. Emmeline senses the meddling of a higher power – possibly her aunt. Reggie’s sure it’ll be the handiwork of the subterranean horror one least suspects. And Reeves considers it all “most disturbing.”

Can our heroes save the world from perpetual winter? And could ending the time loop be just the start of an even thornier problem?

This short novel is the sixth Reeves & Worcester Steampunk mystery and is set a few months after The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall.

• All of My “Reeves and Worcester” Reviews

Dark Humor

Hahahahahaa! When my brother sent me this, I just about died laughing. Ahhh, I love good humor 😉

Basil 2.5Stars

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: Basil
Series: ———-
Author: Wilkie Collins
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 473
Words: 128K

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This was head and shoulders far above Antonina. I was never bored reading this. And yet. Yes, that doomful “And yet”….

Basil is a spineless, cowardly, weak willed, weak minded nincompoop. He’s not a villain by any means. I’ve often wondered how stupid people go through life, what lens are they viewing it through? I feel like this novel answers that. He is constantly “struck dumb” by people asking him questions. Questions he should already have the answers to since he’s taking certain lines of action. It would be like me asking you why you just drank a gallon of gasoline when you know you are not an automobile and that gasoline is poison to humans. If you just looked at me with a cowlike expression on your face and stuttered, you’d be a stand-in for Basil, hands down. This particularly galling to me as he is a very articulate writer and never even THINKS to write down answers ahead of time to some questions he knows will be coming his way. He is also extremely passive. His older brother swoops in near the end of the novel to help him out and Basil mentions nothing to him about a madman who is out to kill him. He keeps absolutely silent on the issue. His reasoning for doing so are as fatuous as anything he had done previously. I wanted to wring his neck and kept hoping that the madman WOULD kill him, just to rid the world of one more stupid idiot. Sadly, that’s not how things turned out.

Collins is at his wordiest here. There was one time that a paragraph went on for a page and a half and part way through I realized it was all one sentence. No semi-colons, just lots of commas and parenthetical thoughts tossed in to stretch things out. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

I’m going to read The Woman in White next and if that doesn’t really impress me, I’ll have to think long and hard about reading any more Collins. As a reader, I feel that I can do better.

★★✬☆☆

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From Wilkie-Collins.info

Basil is the younger son of a proud, stern father and comes of an ancient, noble family. He has a devoted younger sister, Clara, and a wild but good-natured older brother, Ralph. Travelling home, on impulse by omnibus, Basil falls in love at first sight with Margaret Sherwin, a linen-draper’s daughter. He follows her home to the newly-built suburbs north of Regent’s Park and, after contriving a meeting, asks her father for permission to marry; but because of his own father’s certain opposition, the marriage should be kept secret. Mr Sherwin agrees on condition that the marriage takes place within the week but is not consummated for one year, since Margaret is only just seventeen. The delay will give Basil time to persuade his father to accept the marriage, and he cannot be forced to withdraw from it. The marriage duly takes place and Basil spends the next few months visiting Margaret every evening under the supervision of the mildly deranged Mrs Sherwin. He tries unsuccessfully to improve Margaret’s mind and after overhearing two of her tantrums begins to doubt her character.

Sherwin’s confidential clerk, Robert Mannion, returns from a business trip to France. Mannion’s previous background is cloaked in secrecy and he has a strange power over the family. Nevertheless, he professes friendship and uses his influence for Basil’s benefit. After a strained visit to his father’s country house, Basil returns to find both Margaret and Mannion changed. On the evening before his year’s ‘probation’ is completed, Basil is disconcerted that Margaret has gone to a party and will be escorted home by Mannion. He decides to collect her himself but sees her leave early with his rival. Basil follows them to an hotel and through a thin partition wall hears Mannion seduce Margaret. Basil waits and attacks Mannion, hurling him to the ground with such force that he is permanently disfigured and loses the sight of one eye. Basil collapses into delirium.

On recovering, he realises that Margaret is as much to blame as Mannion, despite threatening letters from Sherwin defending her. Basil confesses the ignoble marriage to his father who disowns him, tearing his name from the record in the family Bible. Mannion writes from hospital, revealing his secret past. His father was a gentleman who lived beyond his means. His patron was Basil’s father, who refused to intervene to prevent his being hanged for forgery. Mannion had lived a miserable existence under assumed names until a friend arranged employment with Sherwin where he made himself indispensable. He had watched Margaret develop and despite her deceitful nature regarded her as his prize. Basil’s marriage had compounded the family offence and Mannion resolved to take revenge by ruining his happiness and reputation.

Ralph returns from the Continent and visits Sherwin to buy his silence. He fortuitously obtains a letter written by Mannion which confirms Margaret’s guilt. Margaret, visiting Mannion in hospital, contracts typhus from which she dies. Basil sees her when she is at the point of death, forgives her and leaves London for Cornwall. Mannion forces him to leave the fishing village where he is staying and confronts him on the cliff tops. While gloating over his revenge, Mannion falls to his death on the rocks below. The shock causes Basil to collapse. He is brought back to London by Ralph and Clara and reconciled with his father. After writing his history, Basil retires to the country to live quietly with Clara.

• All of My “Wilkie Collins” Reviews

Cyclopean Mummy - MTG 4E

A Christmas Carol 5Stars

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 Christmas Carol
Series:
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 89
Words: 29K

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Yep, good stuff. Having listened to this in various audio editions for the last 2 years, I decided that it was time to actually re-read it. Last time I read it was back in ‘13. A decade. One of the boys at church was just being born then and several of the girls weren’t even a gleam in their daddy’s eye yet. Measuring my book reading by peoples’ lives is kind of scary. Because it makes me feel powerful and wise and like I can do anything, such as read a book. Again 😉

Because this is my umpteenth time, I specifically looked for little details that I hadn’t noticed on earlier reads. I found them. It helped that I sat down one evening and just read this from beginning to end. At 89 pages that’s not a big chore. I didn’t take note of the little things, but as I read them, I mentally said to myself “Bookstooge old fellow, we don’t remember THAT detail do we?” and I nodded sagely to myself for my perspicuity.

I suspect that after this year I’ll let this story rest for a couple of years before I try again. Hopefully not another full decade, but a couple at least, maybe even a couple of couples. I don’t want the enjoyment and fun and goodness of a story to be squeezed out because I was so greedy and grasping in my literary hunger. Just as eggnog is meant to be consumed in a small portion of the year, so too must certain stories be consumed in a measured pace.

This was a good start to my Christmas Carol on Sunday’s for December. Please look forward to next Sunday when I review the movie version of A Christmas Carol starring Patrick Stewart.

★★★★★

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From Wikipedia (click on Details to expand)

The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled “staves”.

Stave one

A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.

That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley’s ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.

Stave two

The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge’s boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge’s lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, who died young while giving birth to Fred, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. Scrooge’s neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge, upset by hearing Belle’s description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost remove him from the house.

Stave three

The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market with people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and to celebrations of Christmas in a miner’s cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred’s Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit’s family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge’s concern for their welfare.

Stave four
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes involving the death of a disliked man whose funeral is attended by local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided. His charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions to sell to a fence. When he asks the spirit to show a single person who feels emotion over his death, he is only given the pleasure of a poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge’s name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.

Stave five

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation to the charity he rejected the previous day, anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner and spends the afternoon at Fred’s Christmas party. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay, and begins to become a father figure to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.

• A Christmas Carol (2013 Review)
• A Christmas Carol narrated by Tim Curry (2021 Review)
• A Christmas Carol narrated by Patrick Stewart (2022 Review)

Imperator (Galaxy's Edge #4.5) 4Stars

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: Imperator
Series: Galaxy’s Edge #4.5
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 323
Words: 104K

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Ahhh, this was fantastic to return to the Galaxy’s Edge universe again. The Star Wars That Could Have Been. I read the final book of Galaxy’s Edge: Season One (Retribution) back in February of ‘21. I then read many of the spin off series and the final Galaxy’s Edge book I read was Angles of Attack in August of ‘22. Since then I have been patiently waiting for Anspach and Cole to finish up Season Two of the main Galaxy’s Edge series and then had to wait for an opportune time to slide it into my reading rotation.

So imagine my surprise when I came across a Galaxy’s Edge book I hadn’t read it. It was labeled #4.5 and fit between books 4 and 5 (duh, but you can’t be too careful). So I decided to kick off my reading of Season Two with this prequel. It was a good refresher course all about Goth Sullus and his history and what he was afraid of the entire time. I also felt that it introduced The Big Bogeyman so that I remember who/what that is, which is what I’m assuming S2 will be all about. If I had read this when I supposed to, I suspect I would have forgotten most of this by now.

This is the story of Goth Sullus, aka Caspar Sullivan, the Man who would be Emperor with a power no one can resist. He has sought this power for the good of the galaxy though, as it just won’t act like it should, ala how Caspar thinks it should. We go from the time his parents were killed to the attack on him as Emperor by his own Elite. His search for the power leads him to a planet where a twisted Yoda-like character named Urmo trains him in the ways of the Crux.

This was not a linear story at all but at the same time it was. We follow three different time lines of Caspar’s life and each time line is linear, but how and when we jump from one to the other is apparently random. But the authors handled it in such a way that I never felt confused about which timeline I was in nor did I get story whiplash jumping from one to the other. They handled it admirably well.

Caspar’s life is ruled by fear, even once he becomes Goth Sullus, and that fear is what drives him, motivates him, spurs him on. It’s not a good fear either and it makes him become the man that is capable of being Goth Sullus. All in all, this was a great character study of a weak man who was given much power.

On a side note, I’ll be using the Details code for the synopsis so there will be no repeats of Season One where some of those books had six page long synopses. You will not have to scroll through that this time around. On my honor!

Finally, that cover. Oh, is that total Star Wars vibes or what?!?!? Ahhhh, it is a soothing balm to my soul. Here’s the big version:

★★★★☆

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From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Warrior. Slave. Survivor. Emperor.

As a crumbling Galactic Republic falls to the relentless assault of a merciless foe, so begins the rise of an enigmatic emperor intent on saving a corrupt galaxy-spanning civilization from itself… and from something much darker that lies beyond the reaches of the known.

Just as the reins of power fall into his iron-fisted grasp, an assassination attempt by a hidden cabal within his own inner circle jeopardizes every plan he has set in motion for his Dark Legion, his Imperial Navy, and his ultimate conquest of the stars. But the assassins have no idea who they are actually dealing with… or what he has become.

Imperator is a darkly heroic epic that spans the boundaries of time, space, friendship, and one man’s quest for a power that never should have been found.

• All My “Galaxy’s Edge” Reviews
• Galaxy’s Edge: Season One
• Galaxy’s Edge: Tyrus Rechs
• Galaxy’s Edge: The Savage Wars
• Galaxy’s Edge: Order of the Centurion
• Galaxy’s Edge: Dark Operator