At the Edge of Honor (Honor Series) – Robert N. Macomber

Read Time:1 Minute, 42 Second

371239899I should just quit trying.  I'm never going to enjoy a nautical historical fiction series as much as I do C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series so I should just quit looking.  The latest attempt is the story of Union sloop captain Peter Wake knocking around Key West during the Civil War. it is the first book in a series that sees him in the world of naval intelligence all the way through the Spanish-American war and after.

Forester aficionados have to get over our assumption that every naval officer is an angst-ridden genius, and I promise that is not the reason I didn't love this book.  The guy has his problems, but near – paralyzing self-doubt is not one of them. I actually moderately enjoyed the book, and if some of the favorable outcomes of his various stratagems were a little forced, and the deus ex machina at the end creaked atrociously, I actually had nothing bad to say about the book until the ending – where clearly the author held up a sign telling the characters to wrap things up.  Obediently, they did, but it was terribly clumsy.  

I am still on the fence about whether to get the next book in the series.  What I should actually do is get out the first Patrick O'Brien Aubrey novel and read it again and see if I like it compared to Hornblower.  I didn't when I first read it, but that's on me – there's no way the book should come off unfavorably against anything.  That I thought it did is probably a good indication that I am officially a terrible judge of nautical historical fiction. 

But I can't help it.  Commiserating with Horatio about his feelings for Lady Barbara is one of my favorite pastimes.  You can keep your Jack Aubreys and Peter Wakes.   

 

 

 

About Post Author

Michael C. Smith

Marshall, Texas lawyer. I post on things that attract my interest while puttering in my study. Mostly family, books, home, history, World War II and scale modeling.
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