The Loyalist's Son

Rating:
Summary: The Loyalist Son
Review: " The Loyalist Son is an enjoyable read that gives you both sides of the American fight for freedom. I enjoyed it very much." Joseph L. O'Steen...author of Falcon's Revenge and the Nathan Beauchamp of the Royal Navy Series.

Rating:
Summary: The Loyalist Son
Review: " The Loyalist Son is an enjoyable read that gives you both sides of the American fight for freedom. I enjoyed it very much." Joseph L. O'Steen...author of Falcon's Revenge and the Nathan Beauchamp of the Royal Navy Series.

Rating:
Summary: What a pleasant surprise !
Review: If you like naval fiction set in the 18th Century - this book is for you !!! I read it in one day. Anybody who likes C.S. Forester, Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope, Jan Needle, David Donachie or Julian Stockwin will love THIS book !!!

Give it a try and buy it - you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: What a pleasant surprise !
Review: If you like naval fiction set in the 18th Century - this book is for you !!! I read it in one day. Anybody who likes C.S. Forester, Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope, Jan Needle, David Donachie or Julian Stockwin will love THIS book !!!

Give it a try and buy it - you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: "There is a certain poetry in the details of war."
Review: In a tumultuous storm in the Chesapeake Bay in 1775, men from His Majesty's brig Weasel attempt to board a merchant schooner, Trust, thinking it a privateer. Phillip Fairaday, a Loyalist who is master of the schooner at only twenty years of age, finds his ship boarded but his own men still in control--in the storm-tossed boarding, Lt. Eliot Marlborough of the Royal Navy has been wounded by his own sword. Fairaday saves Marlborough's life, and the two men begin an association which the author plans to develop into a series about the Revolutionary War.

Battle action on sailing ships is fast and furious here, and White successfully conveys the excitement of these dangerous times, illustrating the conflicted loyalties of the colonists, the determination of Royal Navy officers to protect their own positions and reputations, the lure of wealth from privateering, and the difficulties of managing a war in which one cannot always be certain who is friend or foe--or even who is in charge. The Royal Governor in Virginia frees a number of slaves and presses them to form a militia to fight the rebels in Williamsburg, and former sea captain Fairaday and his brother both accept short term commissions leading these freed slaves against the rebels in an effort to protect their way of life and their father's wealth. The action alternates between land and sea as the battle for Norfolk begins.

White has done a great deal of research, though this novel is not an exact reconstruction of the historical record. The vocabulary of ships and sea, the general tenor of the lives of the seamen (many of them pressed into service against their will), the brutality of cannon fire and hand to hand combat, and the overall confusion and lack of organization as the revolution proceeds all add to the excitement of the action here. The plot line ranges widely as Fairaday moves from the sea to his father's estate, on to an army garrison, where he participates in land battles, and then returns to sea again. The characters, which are not fully developed, may grow as the series continues, with the author providing hints of future relationships and surprises to come. The abrupt ending of this novel sets the scene for another novel, which may begin where this one leaves off. White presents seafaring aspects of the American Revolution in a way which makes complex history accessible and appealing, especially to lovers of naval history. Mary Whipple

Rating:
Summary: The Loyalist's Son
Review: This book was a pleasant surprise and a great find. The first book in a new naval series, The Loyalist's Son sails along at a brisk clip. As much John Buchan as Patrick O'brian. (Also a bit of old Kenneth Roberts). The action is quick and the characters real while addressing an often overlooked chapter in the beginning of the American Revolution. Highly recommended. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

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Summary: Patriotism with Punch
Review: This novel is an interesting look at the war of the English and Americans in the Chesapeake Bay late in 1775. Very well researched and excellently written.

It has a quick pace and a lot of things seem to happen very quickly, but it never has its protagonists performing absurd feats of heroism as writers like C.S. Forester, Alexander Kent, etc. are sometimes prone to.

The sequel called Standards Left Ragged is supposed to be released in 2004. I hope it is as good as this one.