Under Enemy Colors
Written by S. Thomas Russell
Narrated by Simon Vance
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Born to an English father and a French mother, lieutenant Charles Saunders Hayden's career is damned by his "mixed" heritage. Assigned to the HMS Themis, an aging frigate under the command of a captain reviled by his crew for both his brutality towards his men and his cowardice in battle, Hayden is torn between honor and duty, as the British navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.
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Reviews for Under Enemy Colors
68 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting new Napoleanic nautical novel. Historically and nautically correct. Characterization is quite compelling with subtle nuances such as French/English British naval officer hero, well read and intelligent midshipman from the nobility, a woman of interest from a well read and liberal education background. Even seamen that read Thomas Paine and a thinking marine lieutenant are members of the frigate crew. The captain is "shy", navy talk for a coward, of noble birth and quite repugnant as is the toady 2nd lt. The plot moves swiftly to a rational but not popular ending. And, the author promises another book in 2009
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I gave this a good 30 pages or so before I stopped. It started out well on the ship but once it moved to land to take up the life of the main character, it slowed quite a bit. The first activites of the main chacter were interesting enough but then it settled into a parlor and his fascination with a particular woman. The dialog did me in. It was a gabby kind of dialog intended to reveal the backstories of the main character and what I assumed would be his love interest. It is in my mind a very weak way to introduce backstory. It also was overdone, went on too long, etc. So I stopped reading. I was looking forward to this work very much as it had been recommended to me and I am interested in nautical novels in this historic timeframe but it wasn't written in a style that I could tolerate.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My first nautical novel since my reading Hornblower novels and Bounty Trilogy of years past. This one engaged my interest all through. The hero, Charles Hayden, of mixed parentage [French mother, English father] is assigned as first lieutenant to the Themis, under the tyrannical and "shy" [read cowardly] Captain Hart. I took Hart as sort of a mixture of Bligh and Queeg, with his own peculiarities. The men are mutinous. Charles must contend with his captain and crew. There's much action between the French and the English; England is trying to keep the revolutionary ideas from spreading to England. As well as the captain's ill treatment of the crew, Tom Paine's "seditious" pamphlets are the sources of discontent onboard ship, although the bad feeling had begun before Hayden had entered the story: with a murder, a miscarriage of justice, and a severe beating.Hayden proves his resourcefulness and mettle in taking a French prize, but back in England along with mutineers of the Themis faces court martial--Hayden for alleged dereliction of duty and disobeying captain's orders. The book was well done and delivered just the right amount of excitement. There was overemphasis on how Hayden's mixed background had hampered him in advancement. I would have liked a glossary of nautical terms, for us landlubbers. This is the first novel in a promising series.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I purchased this book sometime ago, and had not gotten around to reading it. Then I won the 3rd book in the series, and so went searching for this first book.I have done myself a disservice by not reading it earlier. It is a wonderful story, and though I find a few faults, Charles Hayden, our hero, is a taut-hand as other writers talk of their heroes in the Nautical Fiction genre.Hayden in the hands of Russell proves his worth time and again, and even the interlude of being sent into the enemy lands of France, is handled much better than the many who seek to make their characters spies extraordinary for Lord Castlereagh. I did mention faults and the first is the character and how often we visit the heritage of our hero. His mother was French and now in America. That he would be held back because of this is allowable, but Russell dwells on this far too many times. The second is that there is so much action, sometimes there is too much in the way of nautical nomenclature that it gets in the way of the tale. It may give us the feel of the piece, at sea in a Frigate, but there is sometimes so much that your eyes glaze waiting for the next bit of action.Last, the lead up to the climax runs to many pages and often there is repetition that we do not need having seen the events, even should the characters be bringing each other up to speed about the event.Could possibly be a reread and should Russell take the effort to increase the amount he releases, may rival Stockwin and Lambdin for excitement.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An excellent audio book that is well read. Thomas creates a wonderful story about loyalty and honor, courage and cowardice, love and hatred. The characters are rich, the setting well researched, and the writing "authentic." In my humble opinion, an heir to the likes of O'Brian and Cornwell.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5S. Thomas Russell debuts with `Under Enemy Colors' an age of sail novel set in 1793. Lieutenant Charles Hayden finds himself summoned by the First Secretary of the Navy Philip Stephens who offers him a position aboard the Themis as first lieutenant - with an added duty to file secret reports with Stephens. Hayden reluctantly accepts what he feels are Stephens' somewhat dishonorable demands. Arriving for service he finds a ship in utter disarray under the command of the `shy' tyrant Josiah Hart. Hayden's efforts to set the ship aright are frustrated by the captain and the second lieutenant as much as by a fractious crew. That much the reader learns in the first 50 pages. From there Russell takes the reader along on a rollicking good tale with a stealthy night-time ambuscade, espionage on French soil, sea battles with broadsides and boardings, and a mutiny. For all the action Russell also manages to weave in Hayden's back story (his mother is French), a budding romance, a debate society among the middies, and even an inventor's attempted improvement on the ship's guns. Russell's talents shine as he unfolds the courts martial and accompanying naval intrigue. `Under Enemy Colors' inevitably draws comparison to the tales of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Russell relishes the challenge. This reviewer finds himself somewhat surprised, but delighted to report that Russell's Charles Hayden just may be up to the task. Russell at times seems to be in a rush to get his series fully under sail, but perhaps that may be excused by the obvious care and devotion the author gave to writing this book. Russell promises another installment in 2009. Let's hope it fulfills the promise of `Under Enemy Colors', which was just a heck of a lot of fun to read.