Lieutenant Hornblower

By: C.S. Forester

Narrated by: Patrick Macnee

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The second act of the Hornblower saga is a gripping, rip-roaring tale of turmoil and triumph on the high seas. With new responsibilities thrust upon him, a young Lieutenant Hornblower is now fully in command of a ship for the first time. Faced with the challenges of near-mutiny, bloody hand-to-hand combat, deck-splintering sea battles, and the violence and horrors of life aboard the fighting ships in Napoleonic Wars, Hornblower must find a way to endure and overcome, as only a hero of his stature can.

©1989 Wendell Minor; 1979, 1980 by Dorothy E. Forester; 1951, 1952 by C.S. Forester (P)1999 NewStar Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"This is quite a story, one of the best in the apparently limitless Hornblower series, and a pleasure...from beginning to end." (The New York Times)
"I recommend Forester to every literate I know." (Ernest Hemingway)

Fight On

#2 in the Hornblower saga. This one is told from the viewpoint of Bush, a senior LT, and Horatio's best buddy. It's action on the high seas in the 1790s for King and country. Good, fun, action. The reading seems a bit overacted and in particular, the female characters don't really have any depth. Bush seems pretty unimaginative and not worthy of future promotion. In the action against the "Dons", we see Hornblower at his best. I shall press on next month to #3

An Excellent Series

The Hornblower series were introduced to me by my dad. Since then I have read every book in the series. Once I was able to lay my hands on one of the books in the series in my high school and spent every library minute reading the book (they did not allow us to check out books of our choice at this school) till I was finished. I now own several in the series and have over the years picked up the nicer editions from good second hand book stores. I have yet to listen to them on tape or on audible. Now that I have discovered them on Audible i plan to get them for my dad who has now unfortunately gone blind (if i can only find a way to have him use this technology).
If you havent read them yet, i strongly recommend that you give them a try. But, they will grow on you and start and make it hard to stop! The wonderful writing and the descriptions of naval battles and life at the sea in the days of yore make this a most unforgettable series.

Terrible recording

The tinnyness of the recording is painful. But the performance is great. Could use a remastering.

Lieutenant Hornblower

I was first introduced to Hornblower books while in grade school, I am now 51 years old and listing to this most excelent adaptation has made me wish to read the whole series again. The narration is excellent and it is a grand story. I would recomend this book to anyone who loves adventure books sea stories.

Disappointing narration

Great story, but I felt that the characters were only partially developed and I blame that on the narrator, Patrick Macnee. After listening to the entire Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian as read by Simon Vance, I guess I became spoiled. Vance was wonderful. Macnee doesn't seem to connect to the characters. He is more interested, in my opinion, in hearing his own voice than in conveying a realistic conversation. I would like to listen to more of the Hornblower series, but only if I can find someone other than Macnee as a narrator.

Slow start but then wonderful writing & adventure

This is an excellent entry in the Hornblower nautical series set during the Napoleonic Wars. Hornblower has been promoted to Lieutenant and is serving under a sadistic captain. It's a grim start that goes on too long, but then the story line shifts to sea and land action in the Caribbean, and the action and writing are first rate. Lts. Hornblower and Bush become friends, and there are other interesting character developments, too. A very strong book in the Forester - Hornblower series, and no can beat Patrick Macnee for his expert narration.

Great novel awful sound quality

I decided I really wanted to introduce myself to the Hornblower series, so I checked out which novel would be best to start with, then searched for it here on audible. Very pleased to find it. Low price. Excellent... Or so I thought. I don't understand why audible would compromise it's standards by selling an audition with such extremely poor sound quality. It sounds like it's being read in a toilet cubicle of a train station.
The narration is also quite poor. The narrator has a lovely voice, but his grasp of character are so cheesy, I think they have given me high cholesterol. The book is horribly overacted, making it difficult to engage with the characters. The female dialogue, in particular, is cringe-worthy. I now see that audible carries another version of the novell. I really don't understand why only this version appeared when I searched.
Despite these problems, I enjoyed the story and loved the main character. Will continue with the series if I can find another version.
Poor form, audible! This is one customer who is far from trundles.

Classic

Alll the books. about British naval hereoes ,real and fictionali draw from Forester .......
And that fills in details ,and awareness about what the British control of the sea. Without this one misses the truth that Napoleon
was the character and the reality of what was the "real" first world war.

Great story. Well done.

Enjoyed this volume like all the rest. Excellent presentation. Will listen to all remaining volumes.

Embarrassing Sound Quality

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I'll be honest I quit listening to this book after about 10 minutes. Not because of the store but because of the unbelievably bad sound quality. I was so looking forward to this story but can't bring myself to struggle through this narration. I hope that someone re-records this story very soon.