Midshipman Bolitho

I enjoyed this book immensely. Why? because there was plenty of action and the story kept moving along. There was no down time for our hero to sit around and sulk or long for some gal. Bolitho is no superhero either--he's a believable character; your average joe. The adventures were interesting and the fights were very engaging. It's also an easy read--no extraneous detail. Very good book; a good one to start out with if you're just getting into the naval warfare genre. Highly recommended.

This is another series recommended to me by my physician. The other one was the Patrick O'Brian series built around the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. That series was great! The late Patrick O'Brian was a master story teller, and he knew his square riggers in detail. Hollywood just made a movie based on his first book in the series, Master and Commander.Alexander Kent is a pen name, and this series also holds great promise, judging from this book, Midshipman Bolitho, who was born in Falmouth, in Cornwall, and the story picks up in October, 1772. This book actually contains two stories, beginning with the 16-year-old Midshipman Richard Bolitho's assignment to the British 74 gun ship-of-the-line Gorgon, on a peacetime assignment to patrol the West African coast for pirates and slavers. Bolitho, who started his naval career at the age of 12, is a veteran, at 16, as the story starts and is already looking forward to his lieutenant's examination. He comes from a naval family, numbering a father who is a post captain, and a grandfather who was a rear admiral. His family's history is the cause of friction between him and his division lieutenant, a gouty, bad-tempered character named Tregorren.The second story is closer to Richard's home, in Cornwall, while he is on leave, and concerns smugglers and wreckers who lure ships on the rocks for their cargos in the dead of night.Altogether, the stories kept my interest to the end, with good suspense, lots of action, and great descriptions of nautical scenes, ship's maneuvers and good research into the period (end of the 18th century). Dialect and usages used in the dialogue rings true and are well doneI intend to continue with the series, and have ordered the next two books in the series, Stand Into Danger and Gallant Company. I really enjoy these stories of wooden ships and iron men. I have some speaking acquiantance with the sea and sailing; I was in the merchant marine at the age of 16 myself, as a fireman on an 8,000 ton frieghter, joined the navy on my 17th birthday (from which I am retired), and built and sailed my own ketch, the Wild Goose, on the Pacific with my family.I love good sea stories, and grew up on Howard Pease's books about the merchant marine. He was largely responsible for my hitchhiking to San Francisco and shipping out at a tender age.This is a good series. I recommend it to you, if you love to read adventure stories about the sea and the men who go down to her in ships. Thanks again, Dr. John!Joseph (Joe) Pierre...

This book will whet your appetite for the entire series. It is fast moving and extreamly hard to put down. The writing is such that I was there, on deck, with young Richard. Great book!

"Midshipman Bolitho" is an excellent and early example of this genre. Bolitho is interesting and by starting earlier than C.S. Forrester or Patrick O'Brian the author provides a different perpective. As with many in this genre, Kent convincingly portrays not only the strategic and tactical aspects of the war, but also the ship construction/handling challenges. "Les Miserables" its not, but Kent also explores the society of the time and develops a number of interesting and and sympathetic characters. The series maintains its quality over the next 18 or so books. Those interested in discovering other, comparable series should pursue: C.S. Forrester, Patrick O'Brian, Richard Woodman, Dewey Lambdin or James Nelson. Other, harder-to-locate series for the addicts are from Dudley Pope, Porter Hill, Victor Suthren or Frank Eccles. I would welcome information about other similar series -- also other naval eras, army fiction, or merchant marine.