A King's Commander (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Do-we hafta read this stuff?
Review: Clearly a quickie knock-off on the Patrick O'Brian series, about the only thing these books seem to have going for them is that the "hero" is so frightfully obnoxious the reader keeps hoping Alan "Lurid" Lewrie will get his just rewards. Stuck on an island will little choice in reading material, I'll admit to reading two in the series...the second (A King's Commander) in the hopes that something would rattle the prick's marbles sufficiently to make him semi-interesting. Don't bother with this garbage; get the master in historical naval fiction, Mr. O'Brian.

Rating:
Summary: A Leader of Men, a Warrior and a Sailor in Spite of Himself
Review: I've read the Hornblower and OBrien, but this series by Lambdin is truely the best! Historical accurate gritty, real, and loads of fun usually. This is truly a great adventure serie. I keep checking for his next book.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Quicky Sequel
Review: It is disappointing to start a series that had such promise only to have to toil through this poor effort obviously rushed to press. While it is surprising that Lambdin apparently never learned to punctuate properly, it is even more surprising that the publisher did not have an editor on hand to correct this very rough draft. A re-read of anything Patrick O'Brian ever wrote is far more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Quicky Sequel
Review: It is disappointing to start a series that had such promise only to have to toil through this poor effort obviously rushed to press. While it is surprising that Lambdin apparently never learned to punctuate properly, it is even more surprising that the publisher did not have an editor on hand to correct this very rough draft. A re-read of anything Patrick O'Brian ever wrote is far more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: A Leader of Men, a Warrior and a Sailor in Spite of Himself
Review: Lambdin's hero is the perfect foil for Jack Aubrey. Jack Aubrey, Patrick O'Brian's hero is a classic tarry-handed, lead-by-example fighting sailor to the bone but takes himself a little too seriously. Alan Lewrie, Lambdin's main man, also a real lead-by-example fighting sailor to the bone sees himself almost too much like a goat instead of a hero. Nonetheless, Jack Aubrey had mids like Lewry that he was rightly proud of. More importantly, they both get the King's work done in Bristol fashion without wasting a minute. Their men revere them both and follow them into the bellies of beast after beast. That they emerge victorious is as expected as it is wondrous but, in both cases, it makes great reading. If you are seeking lessons in Napoleonic Era England's dress, forms of address, gossip and politics embedded in robust tales of derring do, read O'Brian. If you want entertainment with much less history and a with a ring-side view of a real boy-becomes-man tale, go for Lambdin. That Lambdin's man still hasn't recognized himself for the man he has become makes him even more enjoyable. Sure he is a scooundrel but he is a successful scoundrel and a winner as well. Personally, I find both protagonists equally entertaining and believable. I can't imagine having to pick one over the other when I can have both.

Rating:
Summary: Pandering to the Visual Audience with Gratuitous Sex
Review: There's no reason for this book to even exist, let alone be published. Lewrie is a '90s sterotype of the 18th Century Gay Blade who has no morals worth mentioning. Though charming in some respects, he cannot be relied on to keep an oath. Why should anyone trust him? Indeed, why should we like him?

Rating:
Summary: Pandering to the Visual Audience with Gratuitous Sex
Review: There's no reason for this book to even exist, let alone be published. Lewrie is a '90s sterotype of the 18th Century Gay Blade who has no morals worth mentioning. Though charming in some respects, he cannot be relied on to keep an oath. Why should anyone trust him? Indeed, why should we like him?