Free Download | Colours Aloft! (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 16) | Alexander Kent

I had not heard of Alexander Kent until I complained at a book store that they had no copies of Patrick O'Brian's books. The owner said, "Have you read any of Alexander Kent?" I had not, and that began a wonderful new adventure. Kent writes naval stories about the same historical time period as O'Brian, but Kent often has more action scenes, which I thoroughly enjoy. If you like O'Brian, you will love Kent.

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Free Download | Passage to Mutiny (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 7) | Alexander Kent

A sequel to Command a King's Ship, Bolitho sails his Tempest farther east into the contested fringes of the British, Spanish and French empires. Capt. Bolitho is among the the islands in the Great South Sea, which is not so Pacific as it echoes to thunderous broadsides and murderous intrigue. Mutiny is in the air again. The state-sponsored (merchantile) economy of peacetime England is rotten, royalist France is in turmoil before its revolution, and the amazing Bligh has survived the mutiny on the Bounty. We see Polynesia in a more exciting time, when traders and free booters were only just entering islands of lovely but deadly natives amid the clash of unsettled national interests and claims. Bolitho has finally met his match in the form of an utterly ruthless and clever pirate who outwits Bolitho time and again, despite the desperate courage of his lieutenants.

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Free Download | For My Country's Freedom (The Bolitho Novels) | Alexander Kent

On the not so good side, there are many inconsistencies and problems with the plotting. The Adam/Zenoria issue aside, why is it that Bolitho recognizes that there will be war with the United States, manages to cripple two of their super-frigates, and immediately returns to Britain? How come that is possible when we were earlier told that the Admiral who served with Nelson at Trafalgar spent 10 straight years in the mediterranean without setting foot ashore? It seems that when it is convenient, Bolitho returns to England to carry on his love affair. Or, is that his orders were simply to destroy Nathan Beer?

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Free Download | Sword of Honour (The Bolitho Novels) | Alexander Kent

Well, it's not. There is still plenty of action in this story. While Dick Bolitho is sent back to England, it is only for a few weeks and then he is off again to command a squadron of frigates in the Mediteranan sea - chasing after pirates. This series has had to deal with many contortions lately to keep things goins and this book is no different - For instance, while Dick Bolitho (as a full Admiral no less!) is given command of a few frigates in Malta, a newly-hatched Commodore takes over Adam Bolitho's frigate squadron the active war zone of Halifax. Then, it is also hard to explain how come Read Admiral Keen is recalled from Halifax, and given the port admiral duties in Portsmouth AND promoted to a Vice Admiral without setting foot on a fighting ship again. And on, and on, and on.

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Free Download | Form Line of Battle! (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 9) | Alexander Kent

Kent also stretches credulity at times, and makes a number of historical errors. This book shows Bolitho in command of a 74 gun ship of the line, supposedly armed with 18 and 24 lbs cannon. The two deckers of the late 18th Century, however, usually carried 18 and 32 pounders as their primary armament, a fact that Kent is well aware of because he says so in his own newsletters. It is reminicent of a similar blunder in "Sloop of War," where Kent mounts 32lbs cannon as chasers on an 18 gun sloop, HMS Sparrow. I doubt very much that any sloop ever commissioned ever carried armament even remotely as heavy as the Sparrow. In this novel, the connectionless Herrick is promoted from lieutenant to full captain, skipping commander entirely. While not outright impossible, given that Herrick is utterly lacking in political influence such a promotion streches credulity to the breaking point. Kent's clumsy historical blunders wound the well-informed and alert among his readers.

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Free Download | A Tradition of Victory (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 14) | Alexander Kent

There are already several good synopses so I'll skip that. I like Alexander Kent's historical nauticals. A Tradition of Victory (The Bolitho series) is no exception. If you've made it this far in the series you already that. If you are about to purchase this one but wondering if Kent is still managing to spin a good yarn you won't be disappointed. I love nautical fiction and Kent's writing has matured noticably with each book in the series. The only annoying aspect of his series is the necessity to recap all that's come before in little snippets here and there to educate the reader who starts reading the series in the middle somewhere or to remind the reader who's paused for a while. Patrick O'Brian did the same thing. I usuallly skip over those parts.

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Free Donwload | Signal-Close Action! (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 12) | Alexander Kent

Bolitho assumes command of a squadron that is surprisingly populated by most all of the characters that have survived the previous eleven novels. The Captains of the 74 gun ship of the line are Thomas Herrick (Bolitho's closes friend), Charles Farquhar (who was a Lieutenant under Bolitho), Charles Probyn (served as a Lieutenant senior to Bolitho), Inch (was a midshipman in one of Bolitho's ships), etc. In addition, Adam Pascoe, Bolitho's nephew is on the flagship serving as a Lieutenant. I suppose the British navy of that time was quite closely knit, and perhaps it was not surprising to have all the senior officers having served with one another in the past, but it seemed too convenient and pat to me.

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Free Download | Command a King's Ship (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 6) | Alexander Kent

Well, the American Revolution is over the French Revolutionary Wars have not begun yet, so, what to do with our hero? Well, send him off to the East Indies to protect the interests of the Honourable Company. Bolitho is in command of a ship on a 'secret' mission. On the way to the Indies, he has to stop off in Africa for water, where he naturally has it out with some natives. After a short stop in India, it's off to the Indies, where he battles the French and pirates. It's all a lot of fun. Great adventure and action. One problem, though; as another reviewer wrote "I had trouble visualizing the ship maneuvres relative to land. Action proceeds and suddenly there's land or a channel where I didn't expect it, or on the opposite side from where I imagined it." I had exactly the same problem. It was really hard to imagine the lay-out of the land. I had this problem no matter where Bolitho was--Africa or the Indies. So, it made following the story a bit difficult.

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Free Download | Relentless Pursuit (The Bolitho Novels) | Alexander Kent

Douglas Reeman under the pen name Alexander Kent has been writing Bolitho novels since the 1970s. I remember reading Sloop of War and liking the speed of the sloop plus its 16 18 pounders and two forward 24 pounders making it an 18 gun ship. There is a Science fiction story where a human encounters a Computer civilization and the Computer demands millions of books to read and then the Human promises to fill the order and runs away. I have been trying to fill that order ever since by encouraging good writers like Alexander Kent.

Adam Bolitho used to be called Adam Pascoe in the series at one time and was the Favorite relative of Richard Bolitho, described as being like a son to Richard. It is difficult to believe that the Admiral Richard Bolitho was written out of the series. Tackling the African slave trade difficulties as Captain of a Frigate makes the Captain Adam Bolitho character worth checking out in this Suspenseful novel

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Free Download | Honour This Day (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 17) | Alexander Kent

Unwilling to take a desk job at the Admiraltry in london,Vice Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho asks for sea duty,always a frigate captain at heart. He asks for the Hyperion, the first ship of line he had ever commanded. He is still having trouble with his eyes;he is partially blind in his left eye,blinded by sand from a bucket an enemy ball had blown apart. He has difficulty adjusting to staying aloof of the day-to-day running of his ship' He is estranged from his wife,Belinda.

Arriving in Antigua in 1804 his orders are to capture a Spanish treasure ship. In Antigua he meets again Catherine Pareja,his love of seven years ago,now married to Viscount Somervell,Inspector General. They find their love has not diminished despite the years of separation.

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Free Download | Success to the Brave (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 15) | Alexander Kent

It would surely have been over-optimistic of Richard Bolitho to have expected that the brief period of the Peace of Amiens might have afforded him a degree of rest and recreation - and, sure enough, he finds himself embroiled in treachery, dilemmas and fights to the death in the West Indies and the North Atlantic. There is action aplenty in this story - almost too much of it - and compared with many of the earlier works in the saga the plot seems a little contrived.

Though not the best of the series it is however always entertaining and the usual cast of characters make their appearance and act and develop credibly. Affecionados of Bolitho cannot afford to miss it and will look forward to further defeats of Bonaparte's global ambitions as renewed hostilities gather pace.

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Free Download | In Gallant Company (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 3) | Alexander Kent

As the American Revolution rages on the mainland, the British Navy prepares for action at sea. Against a growing fleet of Americans and French privateers, the navy must maintain its blockade of Washington's vital military supplies. Caught up in the turmoil, junior officer Richard Bolitho finds himself having to make momentous decisions in the heat of battle-decisions that could affect the lives of many men and, perhaps, even the fate of nations.

Lovers of fine nautical fiction, such as fans of Patrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester, and Capt. Frederick Marryat, will be delighted to meet a valiant new hero-Richard Bolitho-and follow his exciting (and historically authentic) adventures.

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Free Download | Stand Into Danger (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 2) | Alexander Kent

Mr. Kent uses his fairly extensive knowledge of nautical terms and 18th century british naval life to weave a tale of ever devolving complexity in which every plot twist can be anticipated with a yawn or a scratch of the head. The 18 year old main character is a junior officer who seemingly succeeds at everything from defeating the captain of rival ships (in single combat) to winning the fair lady despite there being more experienced, successful and senior officers at hand. The cookie-cutter-stereotype cast of characters exist only to make 3rd Lt.

Bolitho have someone to interact with when he's not saving the ship. They seem to have no existence beyond this. Bolitho faces certain death on several occasions only to be inexplicably rescued by a sailor he befriended, time and time again. The plot makes no sense literally or historically and reads more like some mission of 007, ignoring both nautical tradition and british naval hierachy.

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Free Download | The Flag Captain (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 11) | Alexander Kent

As is usual in these books, Bolitho is immediately embroiled in hair raising personal adventures. In this case, the famous mutinies that swept through portions of the British Navy affect a frigate that is supposed to be a part of the squadron and the mutineers turn to Bolitho for help.

Once that issue is dealt with, we are introduced to the new Admiral and away goes the squadron to the Mediterranean to pursue some hare brained scheme that a mysterious civilian with lots of important connections has hatched. This civilian knows much about Bolitho's family situation including his brother's and nephew's names and positions which make for very creepy situations.

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