Take, Burn or Destroy

The search for the next Jack Aubrey or Horatio Hornblower continues. I haven't yet read the first two books in this series, so some moments in the book have more back-story than is conveyed in this book. Unfortunately, most of the moments I suspect would be dull as dishwater regardless. Hayden seems to follow O'Brian's formula, interweaving the captain's professional life with his domestic life. As in the Aubrey series, though, those periods spent at home were largely forgettable and an unwelcome break in the action.

Captain Hayden, a Master and Commander of a frigate (a rather large ship for any but a post-captain), is carrying word of Napoleon's gathering invasion force back to England when he is waylaid in fog, his ship captured, and show more then the French ship who captures him itself is wrecked by a subsequent storm. Hayden's crew by and large survives and is rounded up in France. Because of their efforts saving French sailors in the wreck of the French ship, they are released to a ship that repatriates them to England. In spite of losing his ship, Hayden is promoted to post-captain, given a refurb 64-gun ship of the line, and charged with carrying dispatches to Admiral Lord Howe, last seen cruising off Ushant. The story climaxes with the inconclusive battle known as the Glorious First of June.

Meanwhile, Hayden's domestic life falls apart, and is largely abandon the last third of the book. No big loss as those characters were uninteresting, weak characters. I might go back and read the earlier books when I have opportunity; it remains to be seen if Thomas is the real deal or a pretender to the nautical fiction throne. show less

This is my first encounter with this author's books and I am happily impressed. At first I was taken by the nautical sea adventure set in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars. Seen through the experiences of our hero, Captain Hayden RN, it was well done; the atmosphere of the life at sea at that time was well evoked and the cat and mouse game of a sailing ship chased through all weathers was handled with a good measure of suspense. Then the scene changed and we were treated to an almost Jane Austen-like tale of the girl he left behind him. The book proceeded to shift backwards and forwards between the two worlds - our hero in a war at sea and the travails of a young woman in love. I am not sure that this would be to the tastes of show more everyone seeking an adventure story of the high seas, but I found it engaging. At just one point it became jarringly obvious that the author is not English when he placed a thoroughly North American bird in the English countryside. And the story had its moments when I had to consciously suspend my disbelief as to whether the events could have taken place in the real world of the 18th century navy, but in the final analysis this was a good read. show less

It's Horatio Hornblower meets Elizabeth Bennet. It's a great combination, and Russell has somehow managed to do very well with both genres. Excellent crafted scenes at sea in the Age of Sail, matching the best of a C.S. Forester with the with the witty banter found in a Jane Austen back on shore in the English countryside.
I don't understand those who might criticize it for this. Regardless of which you may prefer or be more familiar with, if you open yourself to something new it's the best of both worlds.

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

****

Charles Hayden continues his adventures as master and commander of the HMS Themis, the ship he has been attached to for the previous two books in the series. With the French Revolution well under way, he is tasked with meeting a French spy and obtaining information about a potential invasion force that he must then pass along to the Admiralty. However, on his way back, he is waylaid by French ships, beginning a much longer and more perilous journey home than he had intended. And then there's the matter of his intended, Henrietta, who believes him to have married a Frenchwoman who has spent a good deal of Hayden's credit and blackened his name among his friends.

This was a tense book for a number show more of reasons. Obviously, Hayden is placed in a great deal of peril in this one, surviving shipwrecks and having to escape the clutches of the Jacobins and the Committee of Public Safety. He is especially concerned about being perceived as French because of his mother being French -- she is safe in America, but he could be guillotined for serving in the British royal navy and thus "betraying" France. Meanwhile, we also see more of Henrietta and her family, especially the difficult decision she faces later in the book about whether to take Charles back or to accept the offer another man has made. I hope she sticks with her decision, or if she ends up changing her mind that she doesn't change it for a stupid movie-style reason. It was a tremendously difficult decision for her to make.

With this installment of the series, I felt most keenly that I was not in quite the right mood to fully appreciate it. It was still a fairly quick read but not as quick as other books in the series.

This is recommended if you've been following the series. show less

I have mixed feelings about "Take, Burn or Destroy" by S. Thomas Russell. On the positive side, Mr. Russell clearly knows his sailing and ship handling and his battle scenes are well done. But there were times I thought I was reading a novel by Jane Austin with the Bennet sisters chattering with each other. When I get a book about a Master and Commander, I don't expect 20 page breaks to discuss the Carthew family. I found myself at one point checking that I was on page 136 and we were still on the first running battle of the book. Another negative was that I felt that I didn't know many of the characters because I hadn't read the previous books in the series. I have read O'Brian and Forester extensively and I think they do a better job show more as stand alone books.
Mr. Russell also neglects part of his plot, nothing is said in a court martial about Hayden's failure to report vital information when that is his primary mission.
That said, TBD picks up smartly in the second half and I enjoyed that much better than the first half. I would recommend this book to readers of naval fiction, but just prepared to read quickly through some sections. show less

With 'Take, Burn, or Destroy', Russell masterfully delivers the slow burn and building suspense associated with the sea-chase in the Age of Sail. As a fan of historical naval fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and was sad to find (to the credit of the author) that I will have to find conclusions to many of the plot threads in the next installment of the series.

Although the language is at times more colorful than that in similar works, and Russell can be a trifle didactic in spots when trying to introduce the reader to certain sailing concepts, overall the book is a great fun to read. The only consolation I have in waiting for the next book, is that I was unaware this is a part of a series - and I can go read the previous books show more while waiting.

I disagree with the reviewers who disliked the chapters populated by the Carthew family - I felt this aspect of the book contributed to making Hayden a three-dimensional character and were consistent with the mores of the period.

Recommended! show less

Russell has dropped the ball, and I don't know if he is going to recover it. This series started strong with a lot of action. But since then it has become encumbered with long passages that take for ever to resolve. It often seems like we are watching water boil, waiting for the period Russell is guiding us through to move on.

Here we have two sequences, a battle, well handled at the end of the book, but before that, in the early part, a storm. And this interminable. Russell has had this trouble before and perhaps he is just not aware that we can only keep engaged for so long until we want to pull our hair out.

As readers we know a few things. When we get to the end of the book, our hero will be alive. So often life and death sequences show more are charged, but we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. With the way Russell handles 80 page long chapters, the tunnel extends so long that we stop caring.

Further, there are a few asides that we really don't care about, and by investing us in them, takes away from what we do want to know. He has his female lead on stage as a POV character, and her cousin/confidante as well. This is all good if the time we invest in them has something for us, that they will emerge as leads as well, but they aren't. They are supporting and their ultimate actions end up not supporting our hero. We could have had all we needed from them in third person without long sequences of what was happening in their lives.

This series needs an injection of action and planning if it is to continue. I hope that Russell can pull things around and make our hero and his companions achieve something better in the fourth book. show less