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Alan Lewrie #19
Hostile Shores
"Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times
In 1805, with news of Admiral Nelson's death fresh on his mind, Captain Lewrie's HMS Reliant joins up in the voyage that will culminate in the Battle of Cape Town, in which the British wrested control of South Africa from the Dutch. In the wake of that victory, Lewrie heads west to South America, where Britain's attacks on Buenos Aires and other Spanish colonies have not been faring as well. But the worst is yet to come, and soon Lewrie will be facing a battle at sea that will put his naval career and life at risk.
Dewey Lambdin has been roundly praised as one of the best living novelists writing in the vein of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester. In Hostile Shores he returns with an exciting, battle-heavy tale of life in the King's Navy, starring the rough-edged hero Captain Alan Lewrie.
In 1805, with news of Admiral Nelson's death fresh on his mind, Captain Lewrie's HMS Reliant joins up in the voyage that will culminate in the Battle of Cape Town, in which the British wrested control of South Africa from the Dutch. In the wake of that victory, Lewrie heads west to South America, where Britain's attacks on Buenos Aires and other Spanish colonies have not been faring as well. But the worst is yet to come, and soon Lewrie will be facing a battle at sea that will put his naval career and life at risk.
Dewey Lambdin has been roundly praised as one of the best living novelists writing in the vein of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester. In Hostile Shores he returns with an exciting, battle-heavy tale of life in the King's Navy, starring the rough-edged hero Captain Alan Lewrie.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published February 19, 2013
99 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Dewey Lambdin
70 books278 followersDewey Lambdin (1945-2021 ) was an American nautical historical novelist. He was best known for his Alan Lewrie naval adventure series, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Besides the Alan Lewrie series, he was also the author of What Lies Buried: a novel of Old Cape Fear.
A self-proclaimed "Navy Brat," Lambdin spent a good deal of his early days on both coasts of the U.S.A., and overseas duty stations, with his father. His father enlisted as a Seaman Recruit in 1930, was "mustanged" from the lower deck (from Yeoman chief Petty Officer) at Notre Dame in '42, and was career Navy until May of 1954, when he was killed at sea aboard the USS Bennington CVA-20 (see below), on which he served as Administrative Officer, 5th in line-of-command (posthumous Lieutenant Commander).
Lambdin himself attended Castle Heights Military Academy, graduated in 1962, and was destined to be the family's first "ring-knocker" from the U.S. Naval Academy, "... until he realised that physics, calculus, and counting higher than ten were bigger than he was."[1] He studied at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in Liberal arts and Theatre, where he was published in The Theme Vault in 1963, also reprinted in a national textbook, which whetted his appetite for writing. However, he failed his degree. He finally graduated with a degree in Film & TV Production from Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1969. This was considered at the time to be the McHale's Navy of the academic set, so the nautical influence was still at work. He has worked for a network affiliate TV station as a producer/director for twelve years, an independent station as production manager and senior director/writer/ producer for three years, all in Memphis, and as a writer/producer with a Nashville advertising/production facility, or in free-lance camera, lighting and writing.
He has been a sailor since 1976 and spends his free time working and sailing on his beloved sloop Wind Dancer, with a special taste for cruising the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Lambdin has thus far resisted the temptation to trade his beloved typewriter for a computer. He lived in Nashville, Tennessee.
He was a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, a Friend of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; Cousteau Society; the former American Film Institute; and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
-Wikipedia
Mr Lambdin passed away on July 26, 2021 at the age of 76.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/deweyl...
A self-proclaimed "Navy Brat," Lambdin spent a good deal of his early days on both coasts of the U.S.A., and overseas duty stations, with his father. His father enlisted as a Seaman Recruit in 1930, was "mustanged" from the lower deck (from Yeoman chief Petty Officer) at Notre Dame in '42, and was career Navy until May of 1954, when he was killed at sea aboard the USS Bennington CVA-20 (see below), on which he served as Administrative Officer, 5th in line-of-command (posthumous Lieutenant Commander).
Lambdin himself attended Castle Heights Military Academy, graduated in 1962, and was destined to be the family's first "ring-knocker" from the U.S. Naval Academy, "... until he realised that physics, calculus, and counting higher than ten were bigger than he was."[1] He studied at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in Liberal arts and Theatre, where he was published in The Theme Vault in 1963, also reprinted in a national textbook, which whetted his appetite for writing. However, he failed his degree. He finally graduated with a degree in Film & TV Production from Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1969. This was considered at the time to be the McHale's Navy of the academic set, so the nautical influence was still at work. He has worked for a network affiliate TV station as a producer/director for twelve years, an independent station as production manager and senior director/writer/ producer for three years, all in Memphis, and as a writer/producer with a Nashville advertising/production facility, or in free-lance camera, lighting and writing.
He has been a sailor since 1976 and spends his free time working and sailing on his beloved sloop Wind Dancer, with a special taste for cruising the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Lambdin has thus far resisted the temptation to trade his beloved typewriter for a computer. He lived in Nashville, Tennessee.
He was a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, a Friend of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; Cousteau Society; the former American Film Institute; and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
-Wikipedia
Mr Lambdin passed away on July 26, 2021 at the age of 76.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/deweyl...
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 10, 2013
I feel a little guilty rating this book only three stars - technically three and a half, rounded down to three.
I've read every book in Alan Lewrie series. I've followed the man's life from his humble beginnings as a teenage ne'er-do-well who is basically press ganged into the Royal Navy during the American Revolution. I've grown to genuinely like the man, which is a huge compliment to the author. I was eager to read the next chapter in Lewrie's life. So why only three stars?
The book feels transitional to me. Lewrie and the HMS Reliant begin the story in the Caribbean, return to London, jaunt down to Cape Town, and then wind up in Argentina. In each place Lewrie spends a little time, has some mild adventures, but nothing really critical happens to him in any given place. The highest drama takes place at the end - a naval battle with a Spanish Frigate off the coast of South America where he gets injured. But even that didn't really feel critical to the story. At the end of the story I felt like this book was a device for transitioning Alan from one place and move him back to Europe. I think the book needed a villain for Lewrie to struggle against. For example, his nemesis, Choundas, from the earlier stories. Choundas is dead now, but maybe Alan needs a new foe?
Bottom line, if you've read the earlier books, you will enjoy this one. I did. But in terms of a stand alone story, Hostile Shores was weaker than some of the other Lewrie stories.
I've read every book in Alan Lewrie series. I've followed the man's life from his humble beginnings as a teenage ne'er-do-well who is basically press ganged into the Royal Navy during the American Revolution. I've grown to genuinely like the man, which is a huge compliment to the author. I was eager to read the next chapter in Lewrie's life. So why only three stars?
The book feels transitional to me. Lewrie and the HMS Reliant begin the story in the Caribbean, return to London, jaunt down to Cape Town, and then wind up in Argentina. In each place Lewrie spends a little time, has some mild adventures, but nothing really critical happens to him in any given place. The highest drama takes place at the end - a naval battle with a Spanish Frigate off the coast of South America where he gets injured. But even that didn't really feel critical to the story. At the end of the story I felt like this book was a device for transitioning Alan from one place and move him back to Europe. I think the book needed a villain for Lewrie to struggle against. For example, his nemesis, Choundas, from the earlier stories. Choundas is dead now, but maybe Alan needs a new foe?
Bottom line, if you've read the earlier books, you will enjoy this one. I did. But in terms of a stand alone story, Hostile Shores was weaker than some of the other Lewrie stories.
April 17, 2021
Good ol' reliable Dewey and his alter-ego Alan! A "rollicking good read" as they like to say. Alan is definitely maturing; his ram-catting is more notional, now, than before; it's his First Mate who does the dirty every chance he gets. Spoiler: We lose a beloved cat in this book. The author's regard for, and understanding of, felines, is notable, and, to this reader, endearing.
I very much appreciate history-telling in this manner, populated with "acquaintances" but absolutely plotted around real events and, to a good extent, actual historical figures. This makes the history much more memorable to me. In this book we have bits of South American history I don't think I ever heard: the Brits trying to acquire their own colony, and failing.
I very much appreciate history-telling in this manner, populated with "acquaintances" but absolutely plotted around real events and, to a good extent, actual historical figures. This makes the history much more memorable to me. In this book we have bits of South American history I don't think I ever heard: the Brits trying to acquire their own colony, and failing.
February 22, 2020
From success to failure!
In this further tale of Alan Lewrie's we find him invoked in the successful retaking of the Cape and the father more unsuccessful taking of part of Argentina. The tale has some romance and lots more blood and thunder, with Lewrie's at some odds with his Commodore, Home Popham, who is definitely a glory Hunter and at the end our hero is left with a serious perhaps career ending wound. A very good tale and we'll worth five stars
In this further tale of Alan Lewrie's we find him invoked in the successful retaking of the Cape and the father more unsuccessful taking of part of Argentina. The tale has some romance and lots more blood and thunder, with Lewrie's at some odds with his Commodore, Home Popham, who is definitely a glory Hunter and at the end our hero is left with a serious perhaps career ending wound. A very good tale and we'll worth five stars
November 18, 2013
I agree Lambdin is coasting and won't allow Captain Lewrie true success. It was a good book and a good read. I look forward to next years effort, hoping we don't spend the whole next book "on the hard" in England.
March 16, 2013
Ok though the story was weak
lots of filler not as sharp as earlier books
lots of filler not as sharp as earlier books
December 22, 2021
In Hostile Shores we find Captain Sir Alan Lewrie, Baronet and his seasoned crew off on a mission to take Cape Town and then onto Argentina in an attempt to invade Buenas Aires. These are actually a couple of vaguely interesting historical sequences tied together by the vanity of the Commodore Popham who thought he could become the next Lord Nelson in the eyes of the British pulpit by helping to bring both Africa and South America under British control. Lewrie’s involvement in both actions is peripheral and all a bit dull though well-written as always. To spice this book up a bit the book concludes with a ship to ship battle with a Spanish frigate off the coast of S. America ending with a bullet in Lewrie’s leg and the Spanish ship in flames. Hopefully, Book 20 The King’s Marauder, with be more exciting from a plot standpoint. That said, Mr. Lambdin makes this all about as interesting as he could. As usual the dialogue is masterful and totally believable. And since I’m doing audio books here I am enjoying how John Lee is making Lewrie sound older as he moves into middle age. I’m presuming the research on life aboard ship is sound because it’s interesting to learn how the captain on a capital ship in the Royal Navy lived. Lewrie has three personal servants. One is like a body man, a valet who tends to all of Capt. Lewrie’s needs, manages his clothing, dresses him, maintains his weapons and cares for the cats. (Pettis, currently his steward is the second character in this role since we started the series. The first, Aspinal, left with Lewrie’s permission and with his prize money and has become a successful writer of naval themed books). There is also a cabin boy, a waif of twelve or thirteen years, an orphan who they took on board. (There were many kids on board ship serving different roles like powder monkey.) Jessup, the cabin boy, does all the scut work for Pettis but no doubt it’s the best job on the ship for a young lad not a midshipman. Lewrie also has a person cook as Lewrie is wealthy enough because of his success with prizes to maintain personal stores of high quality. Lewrie’s favorite day time drink is a cool, sugary tea. During the Revolutionary War he developed a taste for American whiskey and often has his purser in search of it when making shopping trips to major ports. Finally, the captain has a coxswain whose primary duty is to run the Captain’s gig. The coxswain supervises the Captain’s boat crew, a prestige position on the ship. It was customary for the coxswain to travel with his Captain from assignment to assignment even if turned out to be a half pay shore assignment. But on to the next book. The binge continues unabated so one can only conclude that I find these stories compelling and excellent entertainment.
November 4, 2022
-4.2- Well it was bound to happen, this was my least favorite Lewrie novel. As much as I love the author Dewey Lambdin (may he rest in peace) the book started out with far too much shit related to his cat Toulon who passed away in the book. I understand Lambdin was a huge cat "lady" yes that is a shot, but as the reader the cats are far better suited to background action than taking up the first 100 pages of the book. Yes a tad harsh but my ass is paying for it so don't subject me to it. Next we have the Battle of Trafalgar take place while Lewrie is on this expedition to retake the Cape Colony from the Dutch (a Napoleonic ally at the time) in South Africa. Now I ask you dear reader would you prefer Lewrie kicking frog ass at Trafalgar or playing second fiddle to a jack-ass Commodore on an excursion to South Africa?! Yeah my sentiments exactly. What in the holy *uck was Lambdin thinking here. As a door prize we discover that Lewrie's son Hugh was at the battle. Whoopee, isn't that just grand. Well the expedition continues to on-go and at the Cape the army and Lewrie take the colony from the Dutch very little of excitement happens and it is surprisingly dull for a Lewrie book. The jack-ass Commodore decides; hey lets go attack Buenos Aires and try and take that as well, far exceeding his orders from the Admiralty. Needless to say that turns into a right shit show and the book climaxes with Lewrie engaged in a tense fight with a Spanish frigate. The book is lengthy at 360 pages and as much as I loved the last 25 pages it did not make up for the earlier failings and thus my unusual four star review. Fans of Lewrie will enjoy this book I just felt it was not up to his usual standard and leave the cats for lonely spinsters. Lewrie is an ass kicker not a beta who works remotely at home.
March 20, 2022
Another in the series of Napoleonic era British navy books featuring Alan Lewrie. This time it's 1803 and Lewrie is sent home from the Bahamas then on to Cape Town to retake it from the Dutch. This book starts very slowly, but at about the halfway point the action picks up. Lewrie heads up a contingent of his sailors and marines to engage the Dutch army defending Cape Colony since there doesn't seem to be any seagoing enemy around. After that matter is settled, Commodore Popham, commander of the British forces that were victorious in South Africa decides Buenos Aires would be easy pickings, so Lewrie head to South America in tow. The action gets hotter the farther the story goes, not omitting a fine sea battle.
December 21, 2021
This installment seemed to be written in a slightly different style, almost more refined with several time shifts when the story looks back to catch up. I liked it but at tines it felt a bit slower.
The expedition by Popham to Cape Hope goes well but then the ill-advised adventure to the Argentine isn't quite so successful. Luckily Lewrie escapes out if it - how scathed is yet to be seen!
The expedition by Popham to Cape Hope goes well but then the ill-advised adventure to the Argentine isn't quite so successful. Luckily Lewrie escapes out if it - how scathed is yet to be seen!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2018
Masculine sensitivity
I won't spill the beans, but there occurs a moment of well written sensitivity in the midst of all the wonderfully masculine bravado of these works. The writing style remains true, and brings a quickly-wiped tear to the eye. Good show old Chap!
I won't spill the beans, but there occurs a moment of well written sensitivity in the midst of all the wonderfully masculine bravado of these works. The writing style remains true, and brings a quickly-wiped tear to the eye. Good show old Chap!
March 21, 2019
Very captivating
Loved Toulon from the minute Lewrie found him. So touching Dewey L. I had tears too. Love Lydia, where is the movie?
Loved Toulon from the minute Lewrie found him. So touching Dewey L. I had tears too. Love Lydia, where is the movie?
May 14, 2019
It got on main well but parts of it were fretfully boring.
April 27, 2020
I’ve read very similar tales by two different authors previously, and this rates 3rd of the three. It’s OK, just never really gets going.
March 28, 2022
Some days you should just stay in bed.
September 3, 2023
All action, from beginning to end. Excellent!
August 6, 2025
Another great read!
Great balance of fact and fiction- Lewrie is an entertaining character and I look forward to the next challenges he will face!
Great balance of fact and fiction- Lewrie is an entertaining character and I look forward to the next challenges he will face!
June 19, 2015
The Lewrie series continues and yet here, once more, in a year when we could have had one more close encounter at Trafalgar for a naval hero, we miss that battle. We hear about it, as one might have during the times, but we are nor there. Instead we are aiding to transport cavalry to the invasion of the Cape of Good Hope.
Something that Julian Stockwin showed us with Kydd around the time that this book was published. I am not sure who came first.
Lambdin does show us the first encounter against the Dutch and that was well done. He then takes us to Buenos Aires, as Stockwin did as well. But then Popham did order his squadron to attack and take that Spanish Possession. We don't get all the shore experience there as Stockwin gave us. We do get finally, a sea battle for about 30 pages, less than a tenth of the book. So that is why we are let down. A series that thrived on combat turns ever more to very little action at sea. And we (SPOILER) see far too much sentimentality attached to an event in the book for several pages that aids in rounding out the humanity of our hero, but should have been handled shorter. We did not pay to see that our brave captain needed ten pages to be brought to tears.
Something that Julian Stockwin showed us with Kydd around the time that this book was published. I am not sure who came first.
Lambdin does show us the first encounter against the Dutch and that was well done. He then takes us to Buenos Aires, as Stockwin did as well. But then Popham did order his squadron to attack and take that Spanish Possession. We don't get all the shore experience there as Stockwin gave us. We do get finally, a sea battle for about 30 pages, less than a tenth of the book. So that is why we are let down. A series that thrived on combat turns ever more to very little action at sea. And we (SPOILER) see far too much sentimentality attached to an event in the book for several pages that aids in rounding out the humanity of our hero, but should have been handled shorter. We did not pay to see that our brave captain needed ten pages to be brought to tears.
July 29, 2014
The author Lambdin is coasting here. While all the familiar characters that we love are still there, the writing is not inspired. It's just another day at the office for Alan Lewrie in Hostile Shores. The author writes as if he is tired of the story.
However, I note there are a lot of 5-star reviews here, many of which were made months before the book was even released. Is someone gaming the ratings system?
Peter Joseph has a 5-star rating for this book that he made months before the book's release.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
I looked at Peter Joseph's other books-read (an author with one book on Goodreads). I see he has read 208 books and every single one received a 5-star rating! Wow! Funny thing - I checked many of the books on his books-read list and none of them had been released yet or the 5-star rating was given before the book was released!
Do you think authors are gaming the ratings system? You rate my book five stars and I'll rate yours five stars and we'll laugh all the way to the bank. Why does Goodreads allow this? The ratings of all lesser read books are now suspect until Goodreads fixes this.
Fap!!
.
However, I note there are a lot of 5-star reviews here, many of which were made months before the book was even released. Is someone gaming the ratings system?
Peter Joseph has a 5-star rating for this book that he made months before the book's release.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
I looked at Peter Joseph's other books-read (an author with one book on Goodreads). I see he has read 208 books and every single one received a 5-star rating! Wow! Funny thing - I checked many of the books on his books-read list and none of them had been released yet or the 5-star rating was given before the book was released!
Do you think authors are gaming the ratings system? You rate my book five stars and I'll rate yours five stars and we'll laugh all the way to the bank. Why does Goodreads allow this? The ratings of all lesser read books are now suspect until Goodreads fixes this.
Fap!!
.
March 4, 2013
Once again Dewey Lambdin proves to me why he is my favorite author. Alan Lewrie is a great character with all his faults, and trust me they are many.
I began with Lambdin;s first books back in 1989, The King's Coat and never looked back.
Any fan of the late George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series will feel at home here. You don't have to read this series in order, but I'd say it would good to see the progress of Lewrie as a young man sent to the Royal Navy as a spoiled brat to become a Captain. One couldn't do any better in the Age of Sail than this series. I will continue to read this series and will drop anything else I'm currently reading for the next one.
I began with Lambdin;s first books back in 1989, The King's Coat and never looked back.
Any fan of the late George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series will feel at home here. You don't have to read this series in order, but I'd say it would good to see the progress of Lewrie as a young man sent to the Royal Navy as a spoiled brat to become a Captain. One couldn't do any better in the Age of Sail than this series. I will continue to read this series and will drop anything else I'm currently reading for the next one.
May 21, 2013
Dewey Lambdin provides an entertaining stroy with plenty of adventure, military and naval rivalry, and politics of England's privledged classes and rommance of English "Ladies". I read other reviews of this book and found the authors of those reviews a bit harsh. Lambdin is a "story teller" he provides us with adventures of friends we have met over the past18 books and animales we have come to love and care for as much as Sir Alen Lewrie. I anxouisly await the next instalment of Capt. sir Alen Lewrie and his adventures in the early 19th century.
July 29, 2013
This is # 19 in this series. Decent Naval Historical Fiction.
Lambkin writes good books, but there are times when the pace just lags. He does not do a great job with the action on land in the UK. ANd I could care less about Lewrie's cats.
But the naval action is good. Not up to standards of C. S. Forester's Hornblower novels, which really set the standards for naval fiction. Nor for that matter not up to Bernard Cornwell's non naval novels.
This is the second one of these that I have read and I will read the others, probably in order.
Lambkin writes good books, but there are times when the pace just lags. He does not do a great job with the action on land in the UK. ANd I could care less about Lewrie's cats.
But the naval action is good. Not up to standards of C. S. Forester's Hornblower novels, which really set the standards for naval fiction. Nor for that matter not up to Bernard Cornwell's non naval novels.
This is the second one of these that I have read and I will read the others, probably in order.
July 14, 2013
Another good naval yarn by Dewey Lambdin involving our Captain hero Alan Lewrie, this time with more adventures in the Caribbean. As usual, he runs into trouble with higher ranking officers, and part of the fun of this series is to see how he extricates himself from trouble, or immerses himself in even more trouble.
Dandy reading; buy the whole series!
Dandy reading; buy the whole series!
March 26, 2020
This series just gets better and better
I have read the whole series and this book is an excellent follow on. The author has grown into his writing as you would expect after so many books and has produced a book that is a good read, has plenty of action sequences and leaves you feeling part of Captain Lewrie's inner circle.
I have read the whole series and this book is an excellent follow on. The author has grown into his writing as you would expect after so many books and has produced a book that is a good read, has plenty of action sequences and leaves you feeling part of Captain Lewrie's inner circle.
Read
July 11, 2013Great as always. Lots of fun on the high seas with Captain Lewrie and company! Highly accurate descriptions of a ship to ship battle off the Argentine coats. Worth you time to settle down with any Captain Lewrie adventure, for sure.
June 6, 2013
Have read all the Dewey Lamdins. Think I might have been a sailor during Napoleonic Wars in a past life.
April 22, 2013
Reading Dewey Lambdin's books is like putting on your favorite jeans and T-shirt. I thoroughly enjoy his books.
November 22, 2014
Slow, and pretty minor, but I'm probably reading too many of these in a row to catch up for the spring book release.
Read
April 25, 2016Like
May 27, 2013
Not a very interesting part of the Napoleonic sea-wars.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews