The Commodore

By: C. S. Forester

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Exclusively from Audible

In the ninth instalment of the series, C.S. Forester transports us to the quaint village of Smallbridge. Predictably restless and eager to embark on his next adventure, Horatio Hornblower dreams of returning to the seas and commanding his next ship.

Now happily married to Lady Barbara Leighton and widely celebrated for his recent successes with the navy, Hornblower has been knighted and appointed a commodore.

Fortunately for Horatio, his uneventful days as village squire are soon interrupted when he is sent word from the Admiralty. Ordered to embark upon a diplomatic and military mission to protect Britain's Baltic interests, Horatio is quick to choose a squadron and leave his small village life behind.

Fighting against the savage Baltic weather, Hornblower must impede Napoleon from conquering Sweden and Russia and, as always, ensure that no French privateer can prevent him from achieving his goals.

Hailed by the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Sir Winston Churchill for being 'admirable and vastly entertaining,' C.S. Forester became a hugely influential 20th-century author.

Born in Cairo, raised in London and buried in California, the metropolitan writer experienced huge success with his Horatio Hornblower series as well as with his later works, The African Queen and The Good Shepherd.

His literary genius is perfectly encapsulated within this endlessly entertaining narrative, and his heroic protagonist draws us in to another titillating journey through the Napoleonic wars.

Narrator Biography

Christian Rodska is an English television and voice actor best known for his role in the 1970s series Follyfoot.

From the The Monuments Men and The Eagle of the Ninth to The Likely Lads, Z Cars, The Tomorrow People, Coronation Street, Bergerac and Casualty, his extensive and diverse acting career has led him to become a highly solicited radio and audiobook narrator.

He has now voiced over 150 unabridged audiobooks including Winston Churchill's biographies, Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms and Sebastian Faulks' A Possible Life. He has been praised for his ability to vary in vocal pace and style, and as such, Christian boasts 12 Earphone Awards from Audiofile Magazine.

©1945 C.S. Forester (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Christian Rodska recounts this naval war adventure with the gusto of Commodore Hornblower as he travels the seas. Hornblower assumes command of a ship undertaking voyages rivaling those of Napoleon and his army of adversaries. We hear the compassion, wit, and intelligence with which Hornblower commands his ship. The politics of the times, the responsibilities of leadership, and the trials of serving at sea in a century gone by are captured in this narrative depiction of British naval life." ( AudioFile)

A Great Sea Story

Christian Rodska does an outstanding job narrating this series. This is book 9 in the series. Hornblower is now a Commodore and sent off in command of the Baltic fleet. All the other books have taken place in the mediterranean so this is a nice change of place. Napoleon has taken, Denmark, Norway, German. During the story he attack Sweden and Russia as well as Latvia. The battle is the book is the battle of Riga. This book is so different with the Swedish, and Finish (taken by Russia) politics and the scenes from St Petersburg and Hornblower meeting the Czar. C.S. Forester writes a great story and provides a great deal of history with his story. If you love the Napoleon era sea story you will enjoy this story.

This adaptation is incomplete!

I know this series almost by heart. “The Commodore” as presented here is missing the last critical chapter. Currently it ends with HH hearing music but does NOT include the book’s last chapter explain he has contracted typhus almost dies and been evacuated to Konigsberg, Prussia which, by his efforts, has turned against Bonaparte. It omits his return to England and Barbara on Christmas still ill but recovering. I complained about this years ago but Audible has obviously done nothing to fix its error. THIS in an ABRIDGED VERSION! Fans of HH beware!

Much better

Christian Rodska is leaps and bounds better than that other narrator, and C.S. Forester's earlier works are much more robust than his prequels. I decided to read in chronological order instead of publication order and I'm doubting if I made the right choice.

audible ended before the book did.

chapter 24 was omitted.
The leather bound book I own had the last chapter, but I guess they omitted chapter 24 for some strange reason.

For the Record, the last Chapter IS missing

Great book, I checked a pdf of the book online, and sure enough, the audible version cuts out the last chapter. This does not hurt the story because it is already wrapped up, and you learn what happened afterward in the next book anyway. Overall, excellent story.

Great story but they omitted the last chapter

I have read the book before which is a great story. My only but sizable complaint is that they’d omitted the last chapter. The story ends very abruptly in a very unsatisfactory manner which is very disappointing

Perfect narration

Christian Rodska is perfect in the entire Hornblower series. His reading is a pleasure to hear.

great story

another great entry to the series. highly recommend to anyone interested in the period.

Listen to Over and Over Again

The skill of the actor doing the voices combined with the excellent writing style and adventurous content makes an audiobook that I have listened to over and over again, just like some other Horatio Hornblower novels and other novels I’ve downloaded. Not all audiobooks are worthy of revisiting, but this one is.

The last chapter is MISSING!!!

The last chapter is MISSING!!! Other than that, I loved it! The narrator is amazing.