Under Enemy Colors

This is the first in a series featuring Lt. Charles Hayden of the Royal Navy. With a French mother and an English father, Hayden sometimes finds himself feeling conflicted when he is forced to consider the French as his enemy. But this is the late 1700s, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and there's no room for sitting on the fence. Hayden is sent to be a first lieutenant on a ship commanded by Captain Josiah Hart, known as "Faint Hart" for his cowardice and manoeuvring to avoid actual conflict on the seas. The crew is on the brink of mutiny. What will happen on their voyage?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is a thick book but goes by relatively quickly for its size. It's stuffed with sailing terms that I probably only half show more understood, but that did not hamper my enjoyment of the story. Toward the end of the book, I couldn't put it down as I had to find out (and couldn't guess) what would happen when the crew of Hart's ship finally returned and the tales of their voyage reached the ears of the Admiralty. Would they finally kick him out of the service, or would the accounts of the crew be disregarded and the captain covered in glory? With this aspect of the story, I strangely found it applicable in a modern sense to anyone who's ever worked in a toxic workplace, where the manager doesn't inspire loyalty in the employees, and the employees are disheartened and resentful and just go through the motions while trying to find some way to quit.

One glaring error I noticed was when Hayden was using his French and gave the order "A tribord!" The footnote translated this as "to larboard", which is actually PORT. "Tribord" is STARBOARD. I'm not sure where the error lies, but if the footnote is supposed to be correct, the French should be "bâbord". And this sort of mistake is probably part of what led the Royal Navy to change the term "larboard" to "port". That was the only really obvious thing that jumped out at me. It did, however, rattle me sufficiently to wonder whether I should drop the rating from a 4 to a 3.5. But the highly suspenseful conclusion to the book (which also felt fair and realistic) persuaded me to stick with the original rating. show less

S. 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 show more 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. show less

My 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 show more 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. show less

First Chapter Thoughts

I found this recommended to me by an algorithm when I checked out Master and Commander from the library, so I ordered it as well. Calling to mind the ‘classics’ of Aubrey and Hornblower makes me think this will be more of the same, not a bad thing, but in reading the first two chapters I got a more modern style sense and also the touch of a mystery. The blurb discusses warning factions and a cruel captain, but there’s no deeper explanation of this in the first few pages.

I will admit that I was slightly disappointed when I saw that this dealt with a man held back by his ‘mixed’ heritage. I misread the previous sentence and thought Hayden was perhaps half-black or of African heritage. Ah, well. Someday. show more I’d be interested in reading about that.

In the meantime, I’m gonna read this after I finish Master and Commander, because that seems to be such a powerful influence, and it is very good still.

Ha! I just noticed something. This book is clearly written by an american, because the title is ‘colors’ when those of the commonwealth spell it ‘colours’. The only other idiosyncrasy I’ve noticed is the reference of the surgeon as ‘doctor’ in the first chapter, which may not be so odd once I meet more characters, but Master and Commander did go into depth about that... Ah well. It seems good anyway.

I must mention that the author is apparently an "avid sailor" so this should be fun! show less

As an O'Brian fan I could hardly resist the first effort of another author dipping his toe into the water around the British Navy in its wars against Napoleon. I guess that historical accuracy is a relatively easy target and Sean Russell seems to hit it without much effort, although I was less convinced by the Court-martial than the naval engagements. He says in his afterword that his descriptions of handling sails are very seaworthy - he sounds very convincing. He also tries to pre-empt criticism by reminding us that O'Brian was unfavourably compared to Forrester when he started out on Jack Aubrey's career. It remains to be seen whether Charles Hayden will eventually stand beside Captain Jack, but I doubt it.

This story has the show more (expected) martinet - and shy - captain whose main aim in life, after saving his own skin, is to do our hero down, as well as a familiar cast of officers, midshipmen and foremast hands. The plot is pretty well worked although it starts with a rather Agatha Christie-ish severed finger in a jar.

This book is as good as C S Forrester and Alexander Kent and, for those that like this sort of thing, is a worthwhile read. The next volume is expected in 2009. Maybe by 2019 we will know if O'Brian really has competition. show less

Interesting new Napoleonic 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

I 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 show more 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. show less