Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga)
by C. S. Forester

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Book Reviews of Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga)

Book Review: 5 Baltic Battles for Hornblower
Summary: 5 Stars

Commodore Hornblower begins with Hornblower leaving his new wife and son to return to sea. How poignant this passage must have been for the first post-war readers. Hornblower, now in charge of a small squadron, must take his ships into the Baltic past hostile Danes and Swedes who maintain a sinister neutrality. What follows is a series of naval and land engagements that are typical of this type of novel. However nobody surpassed Forester in telling exciting yet realistic action stories. The battle scenes are both exciting and exhilarating yet horrifying at the same time.

During his stint in the Baltic, Hornblower rubs shoulders with the Tsar of Russia, Marshal Bernadotte of Sweden and the warrior/philosopher Clausewitz. Hornblower must try and win over those hanging onto to neutrality by a thread and those siding with the tyrant Napoleon. As always he acquits himself well although he is his own worst critic.

While Commodore Hornblower works as both an action novel and a historical novel, I think that it might have lost some of the impact that it had when it was first published. The parallels for the British people in 1940 and 1812 are very strong. There is a tyrant dominating Europe who is both willing and able to throw away far more lives than the British could manage or accept. There is Russia siding with the tyrant, invading Finland and ultimately resisting the tyrant's invasion from the west. There is Europe ready for an uprising to overthrow the tyrant. And, of course, there is Britain standing alone against the might of the entire continent until forces can be rallied to defeat the tyrant. Commodore Hornblower is a story of heroism in the Napoleonic era but it was published at the right time to remind the British people of the heroism that they had so recently shown. It's a marvelous sequel and worthy successor to Forester's pre-war efforts.

Summary of Commodore Hornblower (Hornblower Saga)

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