Captain's Surrender [Paperback]

Ok, I only had a few hours sleep last night, because I couldn't put this book away until I had finished it, and now that I'm at work I can't concentrate properly, because Josh and Peter constantly pop up in my head. So why should I say something nice about this book?

Just kidding. This is a great book. After just a few pages I was set back to a time when boarding a ship to the Caribbean had nothing to do with a journey on a luxury cruise ship, but with one on which you could very well die. I'm no expert on sea stories but in my opinion Alex Beecroft did a great job with her description of the life on a brig or frigat. The atmosphere is so dense that you can nearly touch the wood or smell the gunpowder.

Especially in the first chapters this also made me squirm a bit, because the book starts off with an execution, which is the reason the two main characters meet, and a lot of punishments like floggings follow. Alex Beecroft proves her love for details also in these scenes. But these descriptions doesn't seem to be exaggerated, but a detailed image of the atmosphere of brutality and terror on some of the naval ships in these times and thus are an integral part of the overall mood in which the main characters get to know each other.

The relationship between the main characters Josh and Peter starts off slowly. It's first a friendship which deepens on their journey to Bermuda and then becomes a love relationship. The struggle of both characters with their love for each other in a time in which it was forbidden and punishable is perfectly carved out. Josh is mostly concerned about Peter, of hurting him, of denying him the possibility to marry and lead a "normal" life. Peter is mostly concerned about himself, of not doing what is expected of him from his superiors, from society, from God.

Altogether this is a beautiful romance set in the Age of Sail and definitely a must read. By the way, here's a tip for anyone who isn't satisfied with the erotic factor of the book, even though the love scenes in the book were in my opinion very romantic and beautiful. Alex Beecroft wrote a free story with Josh and Peter called "Insubordination". You can find a download link here on her blog or on her homepage. I'll just say: Hot! ;-)

This is a very well-written tale of adventure and romantic drama on the high seas. The sections focusing on the shipboard routines and battles are particularly well conveyed - and I speak as one who isn't a great fan of naval fiction. They certainly managed to grip me!

I absolutely loved Peter Kenyon as a character and longed for the whole book to be from his point of view, as I think that would have really upped the tension that extra notch - as I do admit I wasn't much taken with Josh, though I did understand where he was coming from. Emily is also great as an essential part of the "chorus".

In fact, the male romance elements were, for me, a secondary part of this novel - and I did find myself wondering how it would have been if Beecroft had been allowed to focus more on the sea-going/adventure aspects. I envisioned this as a Hornblower-type book - Peter's ascent to the captaincy and his ongoing story were for me the most important aspects. That said, the romance is well-conveyed, but I'd expect nothing less from a writer of this quality.

However, I do have to say that the cover is absolutely frightful - far, far too drippy for the novel's content, it gives totally the wrong impression and neither of the two male leads looked like that. I was actually embarrassed to be seen in public with something with that cover! Please, please, for the second edition someone have the mercy to change it! I'm also wondering if the title should be different - I'd have preferred "Kenyon's Choice". It's stronger and conveys more of who Peter is, but that's just my feeling.

In any case, I will certainly be looking out for this author's next offering.

There are things to be loved in this book, but far more numerous are those to be blamed. Some other reviewers have pointed them out, infact.

The plot is the same old, but this does not irk me: it is 1779 in the Caribes (and the east coast of the soon to be United States). The setting is the usual British ship where noble gay men struggle with the requirements of a harsh life in a homophobic milieu.
One reviewer has mentioned the fact that the naval details are inaccurate but I am unable to confirm or deny this charge (which would be quite serious, were it true).

First, while I am sure life onboard at the time was very hard, I suspect there might have been far more tolerance towards homosexual behaviours among members of the crew. Of course this would have detracted from the angst and I understand that Ms. Beecroft chose to ignore this possibility.

The general plotting is sound and there are scenes of cleverly built and highly emotional pathos.

Problem is this generally good plotting is not enriched and fleshed out but stands there like a mechanical skeleton of a narration that takes place only occasionally (the already mentioned emotional scenes) and for the rest of the time remains there, hurried, unfinished.

Characterization does not help.

To begin with, while it is always very good (and welcome) to have strong side characters, here they enjoy nearly as many pages as the main ones. It looks as if whole chapters with more storyline for the two main ones were completely missing. Moreover the side character of Emily (who is the most important one) nearly never confronts the two main ones as if she lead a narrative life totally indipendent from them. The only link between her and -only one of- the mains was that her father wished her to marry him.

Josh, one of the two lovers, is brave, clever and disciplined. He is also unbelievably torn by guilt because he thinks he is an abomination, deserving all the punishment and contempt God and people are willing to bestow on him. Usually I dislike this kind of character but I have met too many self hating gay men in real life to dismiss him. After an emotional journey which is supposed to take place in the book and of which we are not allowed to catch a single glimpse, Josh lands in the hands of a loving native american couple (man and woman) who wish for him to become a member of their family, as in their culture gay men are not only acceptable but also cherished. This encounter is an epiphany for Josh who finally realises that there is nothing wrong in being who he is and that his existence belongs to God's plan.

Peter is the other lover. At first he is the aloof, detached, aristocratic second (or third) son of a nobleman, pursuing his own path in the navy. He not only accepts Josh for what he is with equanimity but, for reasons only hinted at, is curious about sex with another man and takes Josh as a lover (and of course the two are neatly split into active and passive roles, according to the most respected sexual tradition among lady authors). This detachment could have nicely cracked along the way to show the real essence of the man inside, but Ms. Beecroft apparently did not like this possibility. On the contrary Peter not only remains aloof and detached and uncomprehending of his lover's needs, he also acquires the same self loathing that Josh feels. This definitely kills any interest I might have had for this character. One thing is for a man who has always considered himself straight to debate the opportunity of renouncing the reassuring life of a married and esteemed navy officer, another is to become an homophobe when he never was.
At the end of the novel, confronted by his newly self accepting lover, he has his own epiphany (alone at night in a church), finally understanding how selfish, uncomprehending and ungenerous he has been. This epiphany is quite thorough and leads to the required happy ending, but it left me cold.

In the end I found myself remembering a couple of intense pages, mostly at the beginning of the book, and utterly indifferent to the rest of the story, to the characters, to their happily ever after.
Other reviewers have suggested that this is an early work and that there might be better ones by the same author. I am not so sure I am willing to give them a try.