Rating: 
Summary: An excellent series from days of wooden ships & iron men.
Review: Part of an excellent series, this classic story from the career of H. Hornblower of HM Royal Navy thrilled me as a boy, and is still good and thrilling reading after a career as a sea-going, ship-driving Naval Officer.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I kept and loved and read 100 times.
Review: Some stories are brilliant (Ayn Rand "The Fountainhead") and some are important to read (Victor Hugo "Notre Dame de Paris"), but none are more pleasurable and inspiring than this one -- C.S. Forester's masterpiece of war and courage, Commodore Hornblower. It's approximately halfway in the complete Hornblower saga of 10 stories, tracing his career from midshipman to admiral, but Commodore Hornblower was written when the character was fully alive to the author and it inspired me beyond anything else I've ever read. If you're interested in the problem of leadership, it is essential reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Good adventure reading
Review: Start with Midshipman Hornblower and take a vacation. You won't put any book in the series down until you finish them all.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the whole package
Review: Start with Midshipman Hornblower and take a vacation. You won't put any book in the series down until you finish them all.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of fun
Review: This book was great from start to finish. I have always loved this period of Naval history, and was really pleased with the acurate depiction of the British navy at this time. I recomend this book to people of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: It was one of the best in the Hormblower Saga.
Review: This book was very interesting. My favorite part was the action between the bomb ketchs and the french privateer. Although I liked BEAT TO QUARTERS better, this is the next best book in the saga.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine showing in this series
Review: This Hornblower novel was a very good one. A lot of it is about politics on land just before and during the beginning stages of Napolean's invasion of Russia.Hornblower has some new fangled weapons that he has never used before. Bomb ketches. He has two of them. What they really are is small vessels containing two 13 inch mortars each. The are ideal for bombarding with a plunging fire over walls and other obstacles. Incredibly accurate and very destructive. Hornblower has two occasions on which to use them. And, as might be expected, with great success. Anyway, Hornblower is made commodore of a small squadron of ships, including Nonsuch captained by none other than his life long friend, Bush. He is set upon a mission to assist the Russians in the Baltic in any way in which he see fit. Perfect orders for someone that is willing to think outside the box. Hornblower ends up sinking a French privateer. As can be expected, the French are outraged and invade the small country of Pomerania in defiance. This causes the Russions to become a little upset. Eventually, the French launch the invasion of Russia. The Russians are soundly beaten on all fronts except for the small port town of Riga. Hornblower is able to help with the defense of the town and it's approaches. He even leads an infantry assault into the French trench line. This is another good book. Not a whole lot of naval action, but enough to keep the nautically minded interested. Lots of politics and history though. There is not a lot of information on the Baltic theatre of the war. Napolean was being attacked and beaten in the south by Wellington. For some unknown reason, Napolean thought that it would be a good time to attack Russia. His invasion started during the summer. They were in moscow by November. But Russia's ally, Old Man Winter, was waiting. He chased the French all the way back to Poland and beyond. During the withdrawal of the French, his allies were defecting left and right. First the Spanish and the Portugese. A few weeks later the Austriand and Germans, then the Prussians. Well worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but O'brien is better.
Review: This is a nice book to read. It is an exciting story about the napoleonic wars. It also shows what a leader has to do to be successful: plan ahead, always learn and have a big heart. However, after reading some of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by POB, the `feeling' I get when reading is that this guy (Hornblower) is too much of a saint and the characters are just not developed as they are in the A-M books.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent. One of the most interesting of the series.
Review: This is one of the most interesting of the series. Get to see Hornblower delivering another blow to Napoleon and his armies.
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