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Mo H.

BEST HISTORICAL FICTION EVER

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2020

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I have read the entire Hornblower series a few times during my 72 years, and just completed another reading. If I live long enough, I will probably read them again in a few years. They are always exciting and entertaining, and actually taught me a lot about sailing, which is a passion of mine. Years back, I actually used a sailing technique I learned from Hornblower to save my brother's boat from sinking, bringing it back to harbor with steering and power exclusively by sail. If I hadn't remembered my Hornblower, that boat would be at the bottom of the Pacific today.

Thousands of Books Read

Superb sea story

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2017

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Superb sea story as all of Hornblower books are. I read all of this series about 50 or 55 years ago when I was young man. Now I am reading them again at 80 years old, with a completely different point of view. But my memory after all these years is dim as to the actual story s.But I do remember that I enjoyed them when I was 30 and I am enjoying them now.
I would recommend this series of books to anyone that enjoys a fast action historically correct book.

Robert Holcomb

I like the Hornblower Novels

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2014

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I like the Hornblower Novels, and have repeatedly read them since high school. What can I say?

Forester was a sailor, and it is reflected in his writing. He also must have done a lot of research. The details of how to work a full rigged ship are interesting. Forester also wrote a non-fiction book, The Age of Fighting Sail, which is very good. I read Mahan after that one.

The book begins with Hornblower's being put in change of the water portions of Admiral Nelson's funeral. Interesting in the details that have to be covered, including personnel, and the crises in countered in the course of a few days on land. Also gives and insight into the culture of the Court of St. James at the time.

The Atropos is a sloop of war. When it arrives at the Channel Fleet, it is used as a scout to keep watch on the French Fleet being blockaded. Lots of action on land and sea.

the gunner

This is the fifth book in the Hornblower Saga following Hornblower during the Crisis.

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2014

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Hornblower and the Atropus
This is the fifth book in the Hornblower Saga following Hornblower During the Crisis (Hornblower Saga) Hornblower is assigned to the twenty-two gun Atropus, a sloop of war, the smallest ship that warrants a full captain. He is assigned to go to a quiet bay in Turkey where a British ship loaded with both gold and silver has sunk in about 100 feet of water. His mission is to recover the treasure and not to alert the Turks with what is going on. He is to pick up some Ceylonese divers and their handler en route.
Naturally Hornblower demonstrates his superior nautical abilities and his deering do.
I highly recommend this book and this entire series to fans of naval adventures.
Gunner March, 2014
The next book is Hornblower : Beat to Quarters

Chuck

Book falls apart as pages are turned.

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2021

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Dozens of pages simply fall out of the book as I read it. There are no page numbers. So the books is basically disposable and can never be read again. Don’t waste your money on this version!

Five stars for the story, no stars for the physical book itself.

Pam Garden

Don't Want This Saga To End

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2012

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Having completed the twenty book series of Aubrey-Maturin by Patrick O'Brian, I was prepared to be disappointed by The Hornblower Saga. It has been quite the opposite. I keep finding Hornblower in locations that were well known to Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin, and wishing that these fictional characters would encounter one another on the streets of Mahon or London. It would be like arranging the introduction of two of your good friends to meet another of your good friends. I would advise the reader to complete Hornblower before delving into A-M, as British naval tradition and the complexities of sailing ships is dealt with in infinitely greater detail in Mr. O'Brian's novels. I did find myself feeling like an Old Salt though, as I recognized the various sails, ships terms, and naval orders learned from reading A-M first.

tertius3

Tense and action-filled

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2001

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The fifth volume: in which we find Hornblower, as a newly made Post Captain, riding the seiche wave on a canal boat(!), walking a tunnel, organizing Lord Nelson's funeral*, having a child, preparing for sea in a panic, contriving an adventure while fog-bound, conducting diplomacy in Ottoman Turkey, diving for treasure, eluding one powerful opponent and precipitously encountering another! In short, another eventful and rip-roaring adventure tale on the high seas. The difficulties in handling the (ill-fated) funerary barges are an unusual feature of this story, as are the the details on the diving practices of the day. It is gratifying how little--or how skillfully concealed--repetition there is among the authors who write novels set in the same years of the Age of Fighting Sail. This is a full-fledged continuous novel** of Hornblower in his first command after being made Post Captain, and not a collection of vignettes like some other Hornblower books.
*The sort of music that might have been played to accompany Lord Nelson's funeral can be heard on a Herald [UK] CD: #232, ASIN: B00003OT8U.) **The negative review by Wood Hughes refers to CRISIS (#4) and not to ATROPOS.

Wooden ships and Iron Men!

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2010

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"Hornblower and the Atropos" is one of the best of the renowned Hornblower series of novels. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Horatio Hornblower is given command of the "Atropos" -- a twenty-two gunner that is the smallest vessel in the British Navy which merits a full Captain as skipper. Hornblower is given several responsible missions for the Atropos to undertake, and this is a fabulous story of command, dealing with the unexpected, and all of the problems that a naval or military commander must face.

It is impossible for the discerning reader not to like this wonderful novel. It crackles with authenticity, leaving the reader wanting more. My only complaint is that the "Hornblower" series is not yet available in the USA in Kindle form. I would like very much to own the entire series on Kindle, and I suspect that many Hornblower fans share this desire.

This one is highly recommended and fully merits each of its five stars. RJB.