Hornblower and the "Hotspur"

By: C.S. Forester

Narrated by: Patrick Macnee

Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Napoleon is about to invade England, and it falls to young Horatio Hornblower to stop him. It's 1803, and the imperial leader of France is amassing an army of ships and planning his attack. Throughout several spectacular confrontations, Hornblower proves himself to be not only a courageous and worthy opponent, but also one of the most fascinating, complex heroes of our time. Hornblower and the "Hotspur" is the third in C.S. Forester's 11-volume series about one of the Royal Navy's most daring and resourceful officers.

©1962 by C.S. Forester, Renewed 1990 by Dorothy E. Forester (P)1999 New Star Media Inc.

Critic Reviews

"With meticulous attention to nautical detail, which no committee of old sea dogs has been able to fault, C.S. Forester has shown himself to be a master of the genre." (The New York Times Book Review)

Macnee sinks Hotspur

I recently borrowed Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and Lieutenant Hornblower from my local library and couldn't wait to get the next book on audio, so I visited my account here. Unfortunately, the books here do not do the series justice. Macnee is a horrible narrator. Macnee's performance would lead you to believe that all characters except Hornblower are deaf and extremely stupid, including Lt. Bush and other favorites. Macnee never seems to get too far beyond his own, dull voice. Get the unabridged versions from a library or Amazon, and make sure Macnee is NOT the narrator.

Poor Presentation of a Really Good Book...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Why abridge a good book? Had I had any other option... I would have purchased the unabridged copy.The narrator was absolutely TERRIBLE. The background audio was a mess at times... with interference & annoying music. With such classic, complex characters... you are missing out when you listen to Patrick's version. He fails to convey the emotions, intelligence, & complexity of the characters he narrates... there are perhaps three to four voice variations used for the characters... & most of the dialogue associated with the officers & crew gives one the impression that everyone is on the verge of suffering an aneurysm or stroke. The speech is drawn out & slurred... to the point of comedy & completing defusing any gravity or drama that might be associated with the situation.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hornblower and the "Hotspur"?

My biggest takeaway was how much I dislike the narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

I believe the book might have been better narrated by SIRI, Amazon's Alexa, or Cortana. I would have rather heard the book 'read' by Stephen Hawkings.

Do you think Hornblower and the "Hotspur" needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes. The books are great.Re-do the audio book... PLEASE.

Any additional comments?

Honestly, suffering through the audio here makes me want my money back.I expect better, Audible... much better.

A good story...insufferable narration

Downright painfully is the best way I can describe the narration of this book. Some of the worst character voices, or should I say VOICE because there was almost only obe voice used for 90% of the spoken parts.
I did not know until listening to the story that there were six R's in the word sir. Some of the most ridiculously drawn out speech mannerisms I could imagine.
Having said all that in the last 2 hours of the story it was a marked improvement. Throughout the entire story the narration (when the characters were not speaking) we're done quite well.
oOverall if you're following the series you should still listen to this book, but the first two so far out shine the quality of this one that I suppose it's not so bad that it is abridged.

Excellent book, poor recording

Where as the book is a wonderful classic, saddly the recording has places that the recording is weak and the pitch changes. Audible should review the book and upgrade the recording.

ABRIDGED! False advertising

This is not the complete book.
Just went through line by line and chunks are left out; to the detriment of the story. Disappointed that audible would advertise it as unabridged.

Great story, tedious reading.

The story is excellent. But the narrator chose rather strange and annoying voices for many of the characters. Comboned with mis-pronunciations of terms such as starboard and leeward, this lent an amateurish air to the story.

Still fresh

I've read all the Hornblower books when I was young. I was afraid that listening now would have been a disappointment. It wasn't. The story was still gripping and the reader was engaging. I just wish the other books were also here.

Hornblower and the

C.S. Forester's novel about life aboard a British Man of War is ledgendary. In the Hotspur, Hornblower's reputation as an aggresive, determined captain come into fine focus. He is an honorable man with a realistic sense of what can be attained if you work hard, dare greatly and are willing to pay the price. I wish the entire series was available. Patrick Macnee does a masterful job of bring this famous story to life. Highly recommended.
George Carpenter

Music overlay is annoying.

The narrator performs so slowly as to be sleep-inducing and the music overlay is annoying in the extreme.

Book great, narrator no

The book and author was terrific, the narrator not so much. The narrator was irritating.