Rating: 
Summary: Great adventure
Review: Sloop of War was the first of Alexander Kent's books I read, starting when I was 14. I enjoyed this book enough to move back to what I thought was the beginning (Stand Into Danger). Now that I have gone online, I realize that there are six Kent books I haven't even read yet (pretty tough to get ahold of some of them now). Nevertheless, I am making it my goal to own the entire series in hardcover (first edition if possible). I enjoy following the life of Richard Bolitho, and think that Kent has masterfully developed his character.
Rating:
Summary: First Kent book I read, made me buy all the others.
Review: Sloop of War was the first of Alexander Kent's books I read, starting when I was 14. I enjoyed this book enough to move back to what I thought was the beginning (Stand Into Danger). Now that I have gone online, I realize that there are six Kent books I haven't even read yet (pretty tough to get ahold of some of them now). Nevertheless, I am making it my goal to own the entire series in hardcover (first edition if possible). I enjoy following the life of Richard Bolitho, and think that Kent has masterfully developed his character.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent introduction to the series
Review: Sloop of War, by far, is the best book to begin with if you are a new reader to the Alexander Kent series about Richard Bolitho. The book covers his first true appointed command as Commander of the Sloop of War Sophie during the time period of the American Revolution.The book is packed with action and intrigue from many different angles. Characters are introduced that make appearances again in later books. The writing is superb and often glues you to the pages as you keep reading just to find out how the characters are going to fare. Alexander Kent weaves Bolitho into a true complete picture, a hero who isn't perfect, a man who isn't perfect. But he makes you care so much about him that as I read the novel, I feel like Bolitho has been a lifelong friend. Your emotions rise and fall with each turn of his life. I highly recommend the entire series, but this book in particular is a great place to start if you aren't sure you'll like this kind of fiction. In the world of nautical fiction Alexander Kent #1, C.S. Forester #2, Dudley Pope #3.
Rating:
Summary: The Burden of Command
Review: With this book my opinion of Alexander Kent soars. This is a terrifically well written novel of small ship coastal actions during the American rebellion. Bolitho has risen to command his own ship and is engaged in many forms of convoy duty under some commanders of indifferent talent or active malevolence. It is a tale of astounding betrayals, and unexpectedly resolute loyalty. The book is two stories in one (as also was the first volume, Midshipman Bolitho), set in 1778 off the East Coast and then in 1781 in the Bahamas, the beginning and end of his time in command of the Sparrow sloop. This is a masterful story in young command. It presents a remarkable interior look at the development of command, not only in the outward heroism of Bolitho and the contrasting incompetence of arrogant superiors, but of their inner states of mind, and occasionally that of their subordinates in the gut-wrenching heat of battle. We see the minutiae for which a captain is responsible, but especially the burden of command when people will die from the decisions he must make. Also, Bolitho falls resoundingly in love again, this time with an insouciant and manipulative aristocrat, of whom he had best beware! (This minx would make a great continuing character, a beguiling nemesis in the wings.) This is an altogether better and deeper story than its predecessors. It is as full of exciting episodes of bloody action as ever, but contains multiple plot lines and carries an emotional depth that is new.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Privateers Interdicted for young Bolitho
Review: Wow! Sloop of War was written at a time when Alexander Kent could deliver top notch naval action. The novel contains more broadsides, swordplay and general action per page than any of his contemporaries could deliver. I read Sloop of War after completing O'Brian's HMS Surprise. Since the two novels were published within a year or so of each other and are set in roughly the same period, one would expect some similarities. There are few similarities. While O'Brian's forte is his use of language, themes and detail, Kent's strength is action, pure and simple. Sloop of War is set during the American Revolution and follows a format that Kent used as Reeman in HMS Saracen i.e. there are two separate and almost stand-alone parts to the novel. In Sloop of War the separation in time between the two halves is much briefer. The novel features the young Richard Bolitho with his first command as the captain of a sloop fighting the corruption of the Royal Navy and the English powers that be as much as the dastardly American revolutionaries and their French allies. Only on the open seas are things simple or are they? Treachery on land or at sea is to be expected. I suspect that Kent probably knew that he might alienate American readers by having his hero fighting against the American Revolution. However, he deftly avoids having major conflicts between American forces and his own. Furthermore, he has an American first officer accentuating the sense of internal conflict caused by the revolution. The causes for the war are not discussed and one senses that Bolitho has some sympathy for the colonists although he is bound by duty to fight against them. Wisely Kent does not have Bolitho slaughtering large numbers of American sailors in sea battles. Kent writes well of the sea and its changeable weather. He is very strong on the action. There are also some serious themes. For instance, the men in Bolitho's ship may be fighting for King and country but ultimately they are fighting for each other. Bonds formed in war are much stronger than bonds based on idealism. The men one fights with can be relied on more than the women one is attracted to. I did have one bone to pick with Kent's historical accuracy involving Canadian scouts. Kent describes the Canadians in the way that I think of voyageurs or courier de bois. In fact, Canadians in 1778 would have been French. The few English speaking Canadians of that day would not have been the woodsmen that Kent describes. However, it's a minor nit-pick in a thoroughly entertaining story. Reeman/Kent was at his peak in writing stirring yet grim and realistic action novels when Sloop of War was published. It is not great literature by any means but it's a damn entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Privateers Interdicted for young Bolitho
Review: Wow! Sloop of War was written at a time when Alexander Kent could deliver top notch naval action. The novel contains more broadsides, swordplay and general action per page than any of his contemporaries could deliver. I read Sloop of War after completing O'Brian's HMS Surprise. Since the two novels were published within a year or so of each other and are set in roughly the same period, one would expect some similarities. There are few similarities. While O'Brian's forte is his use of language, themes and detail, Kent's strength is action, pure and simple. Sloop of War is set during the American Revolution and follows a format that Kent used as Reeman in HMS Saracen i.e. there are two separate and almost stand-alone parts to the novel. In Sloop of War the separation in time between the two halves is much briefer. The novel features the young Richard Bolitho with his first command as the captain of a sloop fighting the corruption of the Royal Navy and the English powers that be as much as the dastardly American revolutionaries and their French allies. Only on the open seas are things simple or are they? Treachery on land or at sea is to be expected. I suspect that Kent probably knew that he might alienate American readers by having his hero fighting against the American Revolution. However, he deftly avoids having major conflicts between American forces and his own. Furthermore, he has an American first officer accentuating the sense of internal conflict caused by the revolution. The causes for the war are not discussed and one senses that Bolitho has some sympathy for the colonists although he is bound by duty to fight against them. Wisely Kent does not have Bolitho slaughtering large numbers of American sailors in sea battles. Kent writes well of the sea and its changeable weather. He is very strong on the action. There are also some serious themes. For instance, the men in Bolitho's ship may be fighting for King and country but ultimately they are fighting for each other. Bonds formed in war are much stronger than bonds based on idealism. The men one fights with can be relied on more than the women one is attracted to. I did have one bone to pick with Kent's historical accuracy involving Canadian scouts. Kent describes the Canadians in the way that I think of voyageurs or courier de bois. In fact, Canadians in 1778 would have been French. The few English speaking Canadians of that day would not have been the woodsmen that Kent describes. However, it's a minor nit-pick in a thoroughly entertaining story. Reeman/Kent was at his peak in writing stirring yet grim and realistic action novels when Sloop of War was published. It is not great literature by any means but it's a damn entertaining read.
| 
