Access Stand Into Danger Designed By Alexander Kent Formatted As Audio Books

S. Forester's Hornblower series spawned a whole genre of historical novels about the British navy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Patrick O'Brian's AubreyMaturin novels are probably the most literarily accomplished, but there are plenty of entertaining practitioners, Alexander Kent's series about Richard Bolitho, who much like Hornblower rises from midshipman to admiral in the course of a dozen or more books, is pretty typical.

This is number two in the series inBolitho has just been promoted from midshipman to lieutenant and joins a frigate at Plymouth under a dashing captain and a hardnosed first lieutenant determined to put the junior officer to the test.
The frigate is off to the new world on a secret mission involving a shipload of Spanish treasure hidden somewhere in the Caribbean there are interludes of intrigue in Madeira and Rio de Janeiro including an entirely implausible sentimental entanglement for young Bolitho before we get to the showdown with the pirates on the Spanish Main.
I didn't buy the love story, which is intrusive and rings false, but there's plenty of maritime lore and swashbuckling, good fun if you're a fan of the genre.
Just as brilliant as when I first read it when I was about, many years ago, Great adventure story, beautifully told, Loses a star for the romantic subplot Treasure, Treachery and Forbidden LoveStars

Stand into Danger is the fourth book is the series about Richard Bolitho, a young officer in the Royal Navy.
Although it was not the fourth written by Alexander Kent, it is fourth based on the internal chronology,

Plot summary

Richard once again finds himself aboard a new and much larger ship, Destiny, Having recently completed his officer's exam, he finds himself in the unfamiliar position as third Third Lieutenant aboard the ship, He is quite young for the position and looking to build credibility, As soon as full crew is obtained, the ship sets said for South America for a purpose that is unknown to the crew, It is quickly revealed that the trip is searching for a treasure lost and to settle old scores, There are some battles at sea, some battles on land, some politics and some subterfuge, In the midst of this there is some serious injuries and forbidden love,

The Good

An Oldie but a Goodie

This Classic series by Alexander Kent is considered by to be some of the best Historical Naval Fiction written and for good reason.
The setting is well crafted and very detailed, While I couldn't point aft, find the poop deck or explain a jib boom, the nautical detail is both extensive and intriguing, It serves to provide a feeling of authenticity,

The Character of Richard Bolitho is likeable and well developed, The reader is following along with his career and we are learning of his failings, success, pain and achievements, Many of these historical military novels use well tread plot points, A fleeting love interest, a unduly cruel and/or incompetent leader, a poorly treated and/or misunderstood protagonist who is put in an unfortunate position.
While some of these appear in this volume fleeting love interest much of the standard fare is not present,


The Bad

While the detail and characters are well drawn, the story progression drags the book down, It is as if the story is told in snapshots, We follow the story arc by viewing distinct moments in time without seeing what came between the pictures, I found the story to be rather chaotic in its presentation, As a result, the relatively slim volume took me much longer to complete than in should have, Many times throughout the story I had to stop and ask myself what exactly it was that was happening, In fact, by the end of the book, I wasn't sure if they had accomplished what they had set out to do, This is a major failing for any book and dragged the rating down significantly,

Final Thoughts

While I was on the fence about this volume, I will certainly read on at some point.
Unlike more recent novels, this story has a sense of innocence and is

suitable for many ages, Had I been aware of this series in my early teens, I imagine I would have quickly devoured each and every book in the series.
Despite it's shortcoming, the series is entertaining and exciting and certainly worth a look,


Content Advisories

It is difficult to find commentary on the sex/violence/language content of book if you are interested.
I make an effort to give you the information so you can make an informed decision before reading, Disclaimer I do not take note or count the occurrences of adult language as I read, I am simply giving approximations,

ScaleLowestHighest

Sex ,

There is some kissing and mildly lustful thoughts, Once character has feeling for a married woman and the feelings are returned, There is a singular episode where sex is implied,

Language

There are a few minor obscenities, I believe it would be acceptable for early teens and up,

Violence

There are multiple battles and a significant number of people are killed, The scenes are mildly graphic, There is a threatened hanging and some fist fights, While violence is one of the themes, the violence is mild by more modern standards, I believe it appropriate for a Young Adult reader,

Posted to sitelink The Literary Lawyer Es un tipo de lectura bastante encasillada, pero muy apta para el que le gusten las aventuras navales Great adventure for any sea saga under sail fan! Bolitho's first assignment as lieutenant finds him on a frigate under the driven, energetic, and cunning Captain Dumaresq at, one of the youngest in the fleet.
Outwardly tasked to chase down and recover an infamous privateer turned pirate and the absconded booty from a vanished Spanish galleon, And the underlying retribution for the demise of Dumaresq's father that was indirectly caused by those actions of the pirate and his cohorts,

Meanwhile, Bolitho has his first true love and the inevitable heartbreak of love denied, i, e. two ships passing in the night esque,

.Stars would have been a full four save for the unnecessary Bolitho family sadness emphasised in the epilogue, The love story was pretty difficult to buy into, I think it would have been better if we had some glimpse into the woman's thoughts for some more solid reasoning for her actions, but I suppose it's more of a point of character development for Bolitho than anything else.
Action is good with some memorable characters like Dumaresq, It's not Hornblower, but it's nearly Hornblower, so I'll take it, This says it's book, but actually bookis the only available form of books, so there's that, It's not the most interesting story but does set the series up very well, Basically another coming of age story of the young lieutenant and the captain and all, B: Swashbuckling brain candy a four day bookif I didnt have toe work, Pirates, the girl dies, and the hero, Richard Bolitho moves up as others die, Una prosa sin igual, difícil pero a la vez increíble, Un relato de un capitán de barco de que en su toma de decisión su junventidud no será un impedimento para las misma Another summer reread that is as satisfying as the first time.


I first read the Bolitho novels aboutyears ago, and rereading them now brings me back to my childhood reading the Horatio Hornblower series.
The Bolitho novels would be a great addition to any library that has the Hornblower books, Stand into Action is the second Alexander Kent novel about Richard Bolitho I have read the first being the earlier Midshipman Bolitho, As with the first, I finished with a feeling of vague disappointment, I am a huge fan of the Horatio Hornblower series by C, S. Forester, another series about a man who rises through the chain of command in the British Navy in the Napoleanic era, This is a double edged sword as it makes me both eager to read more about the timeperiod but holds everything that I do read to a near impossibly high standard Patrick OBriens Captain AubreyMaturin runs into the same Hornblower induced problem.


It takes more then a certain timeperiod to be interesting you need characters and plot, Kent is certainly knowledgeable and true to the yearbut he focuses on the wrong things, He is interested in the mundanity of the working of the ship, which is hardly a bad thing see Melville!, but anacronizes the relationships between the men, particularly as he constantly bridges the insurmountable gulf between officer and enlisted sailor.
He, to often, ignores those historical details that would give the characters more life while bringing to the forefront those which do nothing but service the plot.


Unfortunately, Richard Bolitho is just not that interesting a person he is just a little too perfect, though it is sometimes difficult to see why.
Too often we are told by other characters that they admire him rather than being shown why we should, Kent often falls back on the device of having Bolitho watch and describe the action rather than tell a story though his character and trust the readers to fill in the rest.


Plot is a minor problem with this novel, I assume because Kent plans to have Bolitho be a man in the prime of his life during the war with Napoleon, this novel is set in, while England is at peace and peace is just not an interesting time on a ship of war.
Therefore, a rather manufactured plot is invented that involves treasure and pirates I wont bother to spoil it, It is at times engrossing but rings a closer to James Bond than Admiral Nelson,

This has ended up being a negative review but it is a fine book, It passes the time and I would not be surprised if I read more in the series, However, it will not be soon it was five years between my first Kent book and my second, I would guess that is a good indicator as to when I will read my third, .