Hornblower and the Atropos

Ripping good yarn alert!!!

My favorite of the series so far. Capital A Adventure with a lot of great historical detail. There’s a funeral at sea, midnight attacks, buried treasure, and a daring escape. Plus, Forester explores Hornblower’s marriage and fatherhood more than he has yet in the series.

If you only like Hornblower for sea battles this one is comparatively light on those, but this is a great adventure that takes the reader into the past.

This is the fifth book in the Horatio Hornblower series.

Hornblower has been promoted to Captain and must make his way to London to take command of his new ship, the Atropos. After the difficult journey, he faces the thankless task of organizing the funeral procession for Lord Nelson. Due to a mishap by one of his midshipmen, he faces an awkward situation when all eyes are upon him. To add to Hornblower's difficulties, his wife is in labor with their second child.

After the funeral, Hornblower foils a French plot and is sent to the Mediterranean Fleet to recover treasure in Turkish waters without provoking an international incident.

This is the most likable Hornblower yet. With the rigors of his new command Hornblower is actually show more irritable and testy at times. Nor does he begrudge himself occasional luxuries or even the occasional mistake. Hornblower's handling of his crew and delegation of authority help balance out his morose nature. He simply cannot take everything upon himself as he has tried to in the former books. His strategic moves are, as always, fascinating (though the bits with Maria still drive me crazy).

This was my favorite installment yet. Hornblower mellows well with age. show less

This volume in the series consists of several entertaining episodes, each allowing Hornblower to show his mettle in different ways, but as much as I always enjoy that—and I really do—they don't come together to form a cohesive narrative or build to a compelling denouement.

This volume also suffers from a lack of interesting secondary characters. I've become accustomed to Hornblower's encounters with other captains or shrewd foes or incompetent superiors or reliable lieutenants...and while some of these flitted on the page from time to time, none of them connected with Hornblower in any meaningful way, leaving our clever captain more than typically alone in his anxiety-ridden mind, unremarked by and unremarkable to any but his show more reader.

It's not as satisfying to watch Hornblower triumph against the odds when not one of his contemporaries is given the opportunity to share in my delight at his wily, resilient intellect. show less

I enjoyed this, but for the first time, I felt as though I was reading "just another" outing in the Hornblower saga. The high points are definitely the beginning, with the canal trip and Nelson's funeral, and the end, with the escape from the Turks, the capturing of Castilla, and the coming of pox to Hornblower's family. (The last line is a killer.) Not to say that the middle is bad, in fact it's frequently good, what with a German prince and his short-tempered doctor serving aboard Atropos, a diving expedition to recover lost treasure, and a man who gets shot in a duel but grits his teeth and carries on for several days anyway. It's good overall, but it just lacks a certain overall something that made it the weakest of the Hornblower show more novels I've read thus far.

added May 2019:
On my publication order reread, where it's the eighth book (as opposed to my review from a chronological read above, where it was the fifth), I would rank this as the weakest with the exception of Commodore Hornblower. There's no strong throughline; it comes across as a series of random incidents at a random point in Hornblower's career. But it's not so disconnected that one can read it as a series of interesting short stories, like Mr. Midshipman Hornblower or Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. Probably what doesn't help is that Hornblower is a little too competent; like in Commodore, one doesn't feel his struggles, so it just seems like he gets in trouble, gets out of it, rinse, repeat. Great scenes here and there (though I was apparently less taken by Nelson's funeral this time), but not a great novel. Which is a shame, because Hornblower's first command* seems like an opportunity: how did he adjust to the increased responsibilities? But he doesn't adjust; he just is suddenly great. Shame the tv show never got this far, as I reckon they could have taken these raw materials and made something great out of them.

Back in Beat to Quarters, part of the reason for Hornblower's closed nature was that on his first command he had a first lieutenant he overshared with, undermining his captainly authority. We kind of get to see that here. Hornblower's first lieutenant is always trying to find things out, but Hornblower doesn't tell him much, and it doesn't seem to undermine his authority at all. Another missed opportunity.

* A later published novel would make it clear that this is not his first command, but if you read in publication order, it seems pretty clear that this book was meant to link up with the end of Lieutenant Hornblower. show less

A short Hornblower novel, but as usual entertaining. We start with Hornblower happily on his way back to sea, and his first command. First, though we get a thrilling canal boat ride, the downhill skiing of its day. This is followed by the funeral of Horatio Nelson, with a tense moment. Atropos is only a twenty two gun Sloop, but being Hornblower's it comes with baggage. There is a German princeling, complete with a one man court, and more importantly, a section of Ceylonese divers, with a covert mission. before the trip is over we have had a course in free diving, some nineteenth century surgery, and a gunfight. It is one of the better Hornblower novels in my opinion. My copy is one of the first English edition.

4

Summary: Another fun adventure with Captain Hornblower. Adventure, excitement and nautical fun.

Things I liked: The character of Hornblower continues to amuse. I also liked the fact that Hornblower's 1st lieutenant is a bit of an try hard under-performer it makes a very refreshing change from the typical everyone of the goodies is an absolute hero who's good at just about everything.

Things I thought could be improved: The book ends on a bit of cliff hanger that isn't resolved in the subsequent book. I'd like to have seen more of Hornblower at home with his family and his relationship with his son and daughter.

Highlight: Hornblower getting fooled by the local chief when he thought he was doing the fooling. Then being faced by the show more impossible challenge of two armed forts and a battleship. The synthesis of what for me makes Hornblower a great read about an amazing character show less