Hornblower so far...!

Enjoying these so much it only seems right that I gather them together in an attempt to interest any of my readers into also trying them... 😏

As a log term admirer of the late Patrick O'Brien (I think his Jack Aubrey series is perhaps the quintessence of naval historical fiction) whose series I read to completion last year, I've long felt the need to do the same for Forester's Hornblower series as almost invariably anyone talking about the genre link the two names as virtually inseparable..

I'd read a couple of the Hornblower books a long time ago, but all of a sudden the opportunity to do so arose, so taking the bull by the horns I launched myself happily into the series...

Anyone reading the books has a couple of choices on which order to read them, as unlike O'Brien, Forester wrote the books "out of order" chronologically...  so for example he went back and wrote some of the middle period books after he'd written the later books - I get the impression that Forester was not a happy writer and had to be heavily persuaded to sit down and write a new book - little bit like Conan-Doyle and Holmes...

Anyway - I chose the chronological route - so following Hornblower from the start of his naval career to the end...

Mr Midshipman Hornblower - chronologically this is the first of the Hornblower books but interestingly it was written about half way through the series as a "prequel" (blecchhhh..  horrible word). Not a novel as such.more a series of short stories, but just sublime writing.... Forester's Hornblower is a well rounded, complete character, with strengths and weaknesses, and the situations he finds himself in are always interesting, exciting, but not far fetched... as a man he is very different to Lucky Jack Aubrey - self conscious to the point of introspection, slightly humourless, tone deaf to music, thin and tall - what they share is an almost incomprehensible bravery in the face of the enemy ....

A good start....  9/10

Lieutenant Hornblower - second in the series, and the first full book after the series of short stories that made up Midshipman Hornblower...  Hornblower was promoted Lieutenant at the end of the previous book (following his exploits with the fire ships, as Hornblower effectively failed his - first and only - Lieutenants examination!)

This book starts with him as 4th Lieutenant on a 74 gun ship of the line (a two decker) which is commanded by a captain suffering from paranoid delusions... not a happy ship and the captain eventually succumbs following a mysterious fall in the hold..

Command of the the ship devolves to the 1st Lieutenant who is old, and approaching the end of his naval career, still without command, and disappointed. The ship carries on with its orders, and thanks largely to Hornblower's efforts they are largely successful..  At the every end Hornblower is finally offered a command only for the Peace of Amiens to be signed just as he gets home, and Hornblower finds himself beached on half  pay...  9/10

Hornblower and the Hotspur - with the Peace of Amiens under strain and war with France imminent Hornblower is still on half pay and scraping a living from gambling (he's a highly skilled whist player). One of his fellow players is a senior naval officer, and is aware of what happened to Hornblower at the end of the previous book. Thanks to his influence Hornblower is promoted to Commander of the sloop HMS Hotspur. Pausing only to marry his landlady's daughter in too much haste (and out of pity) he is ordered to Brest to carry out reconnoitring duties before the war breaks out, there his ship is almost overwhelmed and captured by a French frigate. Once war fully breaks out, and the rest of the British fleet arrives to  blockade Brest, Hornblower's restlessness and perfectionism results prompts him to lead attacks and landing parties.

In spite of gaining an increasing reputation as a capable officer, Hornblower has never made a financial profit, & unlike Jack Aubrey he also has a fairly negative view of the prize system (another big difference between the two). Cornwallis, who is in command of the blockading fleet takes a shine to him and sends him on a mission that should allow him to to make a large amount of money from a Spanish treasure convoy - instead, true to form Hornblower sees the bigger picture, and despite the differences in size Hotspur holds off a stronger enemy frigate sent to warn the convoy and misses out on the prize money. Happily, the treasure is eventually seized by the crown so no prizes were received, but his actions do not go unnoticed. At the end of the book, his wife delivers him a son and as a result of the action with the frigate he is promoted Post Captain as one of the final acts of a retiring Admiral Cornwallis... another 9/10 - the action with the frigate is absolute gold dust 👍