Would've been a good novel but the best part wasn't written.: This novel picks up with Hornblower relinquishing command of the Hotspur and returning to London for a new command. As typical in a Forester novel, nothing ever goes as planned and action follows Hornblower on his way home from a supply ship. There are only about 150 pages of text in this story and what was missing in the story were what Hornblower did that lead to the eventual decisive Battle of Trafalgar. It was nice to see what Forester wrote anyway only because I like the genre and I like Forester's details and descriptions of being in the Service and living during that time. But this book wouldn't be good on its own.

“Hornblower During the Crisis” by C. S. Forester is a bitter sweet chapter in the Horatio Hornblower saga. The novel appears to be the makings of a harrowing adventure for Hornblower on the high seas and then Spain but our hero and author never make it. Mr. Forester passed away before Horatio and the rubicund Count Miranda could use sabotage and subterfuge on the unsuspecting French. Two short adventures follow which display Horatio as both neophyte and seasoned Admiral of the Fleet. Although unfinished, all the stories are excellent and give readers great insight into both the author and his hero. ( )

Brilliant once again, yet sadly too short to rate more than four stars. ( )

This is the shortest Hornblower book in the series, likely due to it being unfinished at the time of Forester's death. It contains the first part of a story in which Hornblower returns to England and helps design a plot to forge French orders to one of their captains so they can bring him out to battle the English fleet. The story ends all too early, with only the briefest of notes outlining the remaining, unwritten story.

Following it are two short stories, mere chapters, in Hornblower's career. The first an incident while he was a young lieutenant, concerning the hanging of a traitorous Irishman and his sea chest. The second story is how Hornblower, in his seventies and an Admiral, receives a young Napoleon Bonaparte at his home and lends him a carriage to get him to the next train station so Bonaparte can return to France. ( )

All in all, this was an enjoyable read, but very disappointing that it was unfinished. I'm sure at the time it was published (1966) his readers must have been devastated by the news of Forester's death.

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2008/07/b... ( )