A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions

By: J.A. Nelson

Narrated by: Alex Knox

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

How far would you go to keep a deathbed promise?

Surrounded by the bodies of slain monarchs, a dying prince extracts a promise from his friend, Horatio: “Tell my story”. Rival kings of warring nations strive to lay claim to the throne, now vacant, but what will happen to the people who live there, at Helsingør’s Krogen Castle? How will Horatio preserve his honor and the prince’s legacy while surviving this murderous kingdom and the men who would rule it?

Despite the odds and threats against him, Horatio persists, weaving the story of his dear friend into the fabric of one of their oldest and most revered medieval texts. But when a nefarious Spaniard thwarts his plans, Horatio must once again risk everything to fulfill his oath. With the help of some unexpected allies in the form of Margrete, a courageous lady-in-waiting, and Lanier, a disgraced French nobleman, Horatio undertakes this perilous quest that will lead him on a journey none of them could have ever predicted, to a place none of them ever thought they would see. 

And after their hard-fought journey will it all be for naught? Will Hamlet’s glory be Horatio’s downfall?

This historical adventure story tells the fictional tale of how Horatio’s oath gave birth to the legend of Hamlet.

©2019 Jennifer A. Nelson (P)2020 Jennifer A. Nelson

Excellent historical fiction

I really enjoyed this novel, a book that takes its inspiration from the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. It's Hamlet and the aftermath told through the eyes of Hamlet's best friend Horatio. In this story, Horatio is both maddening and complex, in other words, a fully formed, interesting character. The story is full of action, love, betrayal, tenacity, and rich historical detail. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of friendship, both Horatio and Hamlet, as well as Horatio and Lagnet. All in all, I'd recommend it not just to fans of Shakespeare, but any fan of historical fiction. The narrator was also top notch.

A Whirlwind Mix of History and Adventure

Throughout this novel, author J.A. Nelson paints a detailed portrait of royal life in Denmark in the middle ages. References to common practices at the time, such as studying one’s astrology to calculate the best blood-letting technique to relieve ill humours, and to other very intimate aspects of life, such as the meals served, the practices of chivalry, down to the details of dress are simultaneously impressive and help the reader appreciate all of the sights and sounds that would Horatio and his counterparts would have experienced in context.

The opening scene of the book is somewhat of a whirlwind, with a lot of actions happening simultaneously, and obscure middle age references flying through the text rapid fire. However, once Horatio has been given a moment to catch his breath and devise a plan, the reader is settled in for a satisfying, detailed traipse through moments in history that are rarely explored in such fine detail, and with such intimate emotion.

Ever wonder what happens after Hamlet’s death?

This ingenious historical fiction takes on that monumental challenge—a page-turner from the beginning. The author takes you on a wild ride of action and adventure, love, betrayal, murder, and redemption. The narration is masterful, teleporting you into the author's vivid world. What are you waiting for? Start listening now!

Well-Written Historical Fiction

A well-produced audiobook with an excellent narrator. A Man of Honor very much captured the spirit of Shakespeare, with poignant introspection and lewd jokes alike. I really enjoyed the character of Horatio, and following him through his journey. The drawback came from the pacing; we get a detailed look at Horatio's every thought and action, even when these things did not drive the plot, or were repetitive. Horatio's personality carried me through, but some parts of the story dragged.

Exciting Adventure

A Man of Honor, or Horatio’s Confessions picks up at the end of Shakespeares Hamlet when Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story as he dies in his arms. As Hamlets best friend and secret keeper, Horatio vows to keep his friends dying wish, and in doing so begins a journey that he may not be ready for.

The author has a way with words that allowed me to feel fully immersed in the story. I walked alongside these characters as they schemed, fell in love, and more. Even if you aren’t familiar with Hamlet, you will enjoy listening to this book. It’s full of adventure and will make you want to reread Shakespeare as it sheds new light to the characters in the play. A definite must listen for those who enjoy Shakespeare, adventure, historical fiction, and everything in between.

Great Story and preformance

I found this story by JA Nelson very engaging and Alex has done a great job bringing it to life. I am looking forward to more stories from this up and coming author.

Loved it

A Man of Honor, or Horatio's Confessions is an awesome book that I read when I purchased it as a Kindle book a few months ago. I’ve never listened to an audio book before and since I liked this book so much, I thought I would give it a try. It was pleasing to listen to, and I was surprised at the number of things I had overlooked in my first read over. I’m glad I revisited this book and I’ll try out a few more audio titles also.

I’m ashamed to say I still didn’t get around to reading Hamlet, though reading this book twice really makes me want to do so, but for anyone else reading this review that didn’t read Hamlet, you should know this is a great story that stands on its own and you don’t need to read it to walk away from this book satisfied.

The characters are great, and the story moves along at an exciting pace. I recommend it to anyone who likes Shakespeare, adventure stories, great writing and great characters.

Excellent, well crafted plot

I am always intrigued by anything linked to the works of Shakespeare and have recently enjoyed listening to audio books as I travel so, Man of Honour seemed the perfect combination! The narrative takes off from where Shakespeare’s Hamlet ends, with Horatio, Hamlet’s dear friend, taking the main stage as he seeks to fulfill a promise to the dying Hamlet, albeit reluctantly. You feel that you are stepping into the very point where Shakespeare leaves us, standing amidst the murder and tragedy that ends Hamlet. I was extremely impressed with the believable flow from Hamlet (which I love!) and the way the old and new tales weave together.
While I have given it 4 stars overall, it would be 5 for the content because it really is very enjoyable, excellent language and well crafted. However, the narration lets it down. It is maybe because I am listening in the UK and in other countries it may not appear to be such a error to have asked someone to put on an English accent. I found the mispronunciations frustrating and distracting. I found that it was harder to ‘read’ the expression and nuance of the speech than I have come across in previous audio books, but again this may be a personal irritation with the limitations of the narrator who came over as a little robotic at times.
Overall, if you can get past the narration it is well worth listening to, or maybe reading the book if you would rather. The plot is excellent and in keeping with Shakespeare’s style. It feels a very plausible continuation and because of how the author draws on the characters from the original tale, filling in backstories for characters that I am so familiar with. I did feel like I was embarking on Horatio’s journey with him and he is an excellent, although flawed character and I was increasingly drawn into the depth of his despair and his complexities. A highly recommended story, and hopefully others will be better able to get past the odd accent of the narrator.

Entertaining but spoilt for me by the narration

This is entertaining stuff but unfortunately as an audio book the whole thing was utterly ruined by the narration. For some reason the narrator was directed to perform the whole thing with an awful faux English accent. Why? The inconsistency of the accent, mispronunciations and stilted, mangled delivery utterly spoilt it for me. There are hundreds of examples within the 13 plus hours worth, but the sort of thing that springs to mind are the French king Louis referred to as 'Lewis' even by his French subjects and the word 'buoyed' (as in to be uplifted) was somehow pronounced 'boo-yayyed'??? It seems a bit churlish to pick this sort of thing out, but the fake English accent drove me insane. And what's more it was totally unnecessary because the main character was Danish?
As for the story, I thought it was a really good idea. It struck me as a little over long, and it was a overly wordy. For example, the sun never set; instead the golden solar orb slowly sank beneath the distant magenta sky line etc. Adjectives were rather too liberally scattered through every paragraph for my taste. Perhaps the overly wordy nature of the text was supposed to reflect Horatio as a verbose wordsmith and scholar, but the nature of the narration didn't allow this to come through. Again, this really isn't an issue but this sort of material badly performed is never going to be easy listening.
Once again the stilted narration hid the subtleties of the story. At times I genuinely couldn't tell if it was supposed to be serious or tongue in cheek: Horatio masters the art of archery in a single afternoon! Horatio and the civilian upper class inhabitants of a besieged castle are taught to fight with long swords and other medieval weapons 24 hours before the attack of an all-conquering army! Hand cannons seem to reload magically (I thought reloading took minutes, not seconds) to allow for a shoot-out in an inn! A better performance from the narrator would have either played up the farce to make it apparent it was comical, or down played it to make it more serious. Perhaps the whole point was that Horatio was continuously lying to us even within his confession and hence the inconsistencies, which would make sense in terms of the plot, but again the narration was not up to conveying that aspect of the story. As it was, I just could not tell.
BUT, what a brilliant concept for a story!!! And that, in itself is why you should listen to it.