Hornblower and the "Atropos"

By: C. S. Forester

Narrated by: Nicolas Coster

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

"I find Hornblower admirable, vastly entertaining" - Winston Churchill

In the wake of a humbling incident aboard a canal boat in the Cotswolds, young Captain Horatio Hornblower arrives in London to take command of the Atropos, a 22-gun sloop barely large enough to require a captain. Her first assignment under Hornblower's command is as flagship for the funeral procession of Lord Nelson.

Soon Atropos is part of the Mediterranean Fleet's harassment of Napoleon, recovering treasure that lies deep in Turkish waters and boldly challenging a Spanish frigate several times her size. At the center of each adventure is Hornblower, Forester's most inspired creation, whose blend of cautious preparation and spirited execution dazzles friend and foe alike.

Public Domain (P)2009 Phoenix Audio

Critic reviews

"A rousing tale of history, character, and adventure...For once Hornblower is the mouse Instead of the cat, but he makes that role fully as dramatic as the other." ( Chicago Tribune)

Good but poor editing for volume

Great story but Coster's voice would become almost inaudible at times, forcing me to turn the volume up. The next sentence would be too loud, causing me to turn the volume down again. All very distracting.

Rodska PLEASE!

I really really really want Christian Rodska to read this and replace this reader. A good book ruined by a lugubrious reader, and completely jarring with the rest by a different and superb reader.

The whole Hornblower series

This is my second time through the Hornblower series. The first time was when you had to rent cassettes, listen to them and return them by mail.

A lot of people complain about the narrator, but I have heard a lot worse. Some of the British accent narrators seem to be very condescending and the pronunciations of certain words are hard to take for a long book. (Like the narration in the some of the John LeCarre series of books,or most of the books by Winston Churchill.)

Partially throughout the first time through the series, I kept thinking that there was something very familiar about the Hornblower character. Then I heard that Gene Roddenberry, when he was creating the first Star Trek TV show, told his writers to think of Captain Kirk as a, "Space going Horatio Hornblower." He brings his ship and crew through seemingly impossible situations to the glory of his country and his King.

When I was through with the Hornblower series, I was hungry for more, so I tried, "Master and Commander" of the Aubrey Maturin series of books by Patrick O'Brian, and found it boring and unreadable.

Great fun and adventure in 1806

The author makes you feel like you now understand more what life was like in the early 1800's. And the reader does an excellent job with the various voices and accents and making you feel the excitement and tension.

Listen at 1.25 Speed - Great Story

I almost skipped this book as the reader is ponderously slow (or perhaps I've just never forgiven Admiral Haftel for trying to take Lal away from Data). Forgive the Star Trek reference. Thankfully, took the advice of other reviewers and sped it up to 1.25, which made ALL the difference. So glad I didn't skip it, as the story is excellent with some really unique nautical situations for that era, like canal boats and salvage operations.

Listen at 1.5x speed and it is fine

What made the experience of listening to Hornblower and the "Atropos" the most enjoyable?

There must be something wrong with the recording, the narrator reads extremely slowly which doesn't fit a fast-paced light story like Hornblower at all. Once I set the playback speed to 1.5x it was fine. You can see the other books are around 8 hours long, this recording is much longer but the story really isn't.

What did you like best about this story?

Good old fashioned adventure story

Would you be willing to try another one of Nicolas Coster’s performances?

The other books in the series are narrated by Christian Rodska, who is more enjoyable to listen to - so, not necessarily.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Do not skip this book, just play it a higher speed (1.25x or 1.5x) - it doesn't make it sound like it was performed by the Chipmunks, but is far more bearable that way.

Great story

Disliked the style of the reader. Needed greater excitement, enthusiasm and drive on the action scenes.

A terrific story!

How Forester was able to write as if he lived these books is amazing. The detail, the stories, the locations, all fantastic!

Great Story

Would you consider the audio edition of Hornblower and the Atropos to be better than the print version?

Probably not. Oration seldom matches the power of imagination as one reads

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hornblower and the Atropos?

Escaping from the Turks

Which scene was your favorite?

All of the scenes describing how it was aboard a ship of war set in the time. I appreciated the descriptions of how a ship was navigated and handled in the time period of the book.

If you could take any character from Hornblower and the Atropos out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Hornblower is my obvious choice. Understanding how a seagoing man of that age thought and was able to assemble the knowledge and courage it took to command a ship of the time is fascinating. In today's wold of electronics including GPS it is hard to imagine how it was done in the past and a book like this gives a glimpse of what it was like.

Any additional comments?

The story was great but the oration itself could have used some improvement in cadence, volume, intonation, and pitch in comparison to the previous books presented in this series.

Play at 1.25 speed

Nicolas Coster reads much too slow. Playing at faster speed makes it better. GREAT STORY.