Alaric Bond is one of the "bright spots" in current "Age of Sails" historical fiction, being informative and entertaining without sacrificing accuracy. His research of the ships, sea customs and sailing skills of the period is excellant.
To be quite honest, he frightened me severly at the start of the book by setting the story in a crank "John Company" ship, with an evil captain, about to depart on a two-plus year cruise to India and China. As the author doesn't set the exact date (Was he looking for a little "sea room" here?), I approximate the starting date to be between Nov. 1797 and Feb. 1798, as Camperdown was Oct. 1797. This would have meant that our heros would have been… Read more
Hammond has struck that good balance between historical information, action, and a look into the manners and thinking of the period. Having read several historical fiction novels on this period, everything I could get my hands on, in fact, I am often disappointed with the rehashing of a somewhat limited subject matter, as compared to the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, for example. Not so with Hammond's work which continues to give a fresh perspective and interesting new tidbits, mixed with good pace and action.
Be careful. This is a German language book, which is not mentioned until the Product details section. It is the first time I have ever ordered a book and had this happen. Normally, German Language Edition etc. is stated with the heading. I was just too trusting and clicked One-Click buying. Nowhere on the cover does it state it is a German language edition. This is not nice.
