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Thomas Kydd #1-3
The Kydd Collection 1:
The Thomas Kydd novels are the story of one man's journey from pressed man to Admiral during the Great Age of Fighting Sail. Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized by the press gang, to be a part of the crew of the 98-gun line-of-battle ship Royal William. The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Now a true Jack Tar, Kydd sails into Portsmouth Harbour and a hero's welcome after a ferocious battle against the French. However his jubilation is cut short when a family matter threatens to take him from the life he has grown to love. It is two years since Thomas Kydd was spirited away in the night to serve his country aboard the old line-of-battle ship Duke William. Now, he and and the other members of the ill-fated Artemis are shipwrecked sailors, back in London waiting to be summoned as court martial witnesses.'Paints a vivid picture of life aboard the mighty ship-of-the-line' - Daily Express'In Stockwin's hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world' - Guardian
879 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2014
19 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Julian Stockwin
52 books339 followersJulian Stockwin was sent at the age of fourteen to Indefatigable, a tough sea-training school. He joined the Royal Navy at fifteen. He now lives in Devon with his wife Kathy. Julian has written 24 books to date in the Kydd series of historical adventure fiction, the story of one man's journey from pressed man to admiral in the age of fighting sail, and a non-fiction book, 'Stockwin's Maritime Miscellany.' His latest Kydd series title is THUNDERER. And, he's also published two historical standalone novels, THE SILK TREE, set in the time of Emperor Justinian and THE POWDER OF DEATH, about the quest for the secret of gunpowder.
Series:
* Thomas Kydd
Series:
* Thomas Kydd
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 18, 2020
Did I like this omnibus? Yes, but not for the reason I thought.
It is very apparent that Stockwin has a passion for naval history and the sea, this comes across and you are right there in an18th Century man of war.
I can only speak for myself, but I found that Thomas Kydd is not the protagonist in these stories, the Sea is. I found that after 3 novels I still don't really "know" Kydd, but I have learnt a lot about what is takes to crew and sail and fight a man of war in the late 18th Century.
Another thing I found is that unlike 90% of character driven stories these books don't really have a plot - wait, wait. Before I get shouted at hear me out - we've all read books, we know there's an Exciting Incident that launches our protagonist onto the book's plot, there's a start, a middle, and an end etc. These are missing from these books. There is never an overreaching plot here, nothing that needs to be done, or conquered, only rarely is Kydd even in conflict with something, but rather these are the stories of what it's like to be a seaman in the Royal Navy: sail here, a storm hits, sail there, put in for repairs, sail there, change tack, launch boat hear, go ashore there, find a ship on fire, move on, transfer to another ship here, etc. etc.
The author does presume a knowledge of naval language and terms on the reader, which is fair I guess, I was looking up a lot of terms though. Now, I didn't say these books were bad, they are very good indeed. I really enjoyed reading them, I just had to learn and adjust my understanding that Kydd is the vehicle to explore this time, he's not the book's focus, the ship is.
It is very apparent that Stockwin has a passion for naval history and the sea, this comes across and you are right there in an18th Century man of war.
I can only speak for myself, but I found that Thomas Kydd is not the protagonist in these stories, the Sea is. I found that after 3 novels I still don't really "know" Kydd, but I have learnt a lot about what is takes to crew and sail and fight a man of war in the late 18th Century.
Another thing I found is that unlike 90% of character driven stories these books don't really have a plot - wait, wait. Before I get shouted at hear me out - we've all read books, we know there's an Exciting Incident that launches our protagonist onto the book's plot, there's a start, a middle, and an end etc. These are missing from these books. There is never an overreaching plot here, nothing that needs to be done, or conquered, only rarely is Kydd even in conflict with something, but rather these are the stories of what it's like to be a seaman in the Royal Navy: sail here, a storm hits, sail there, put in for repairs, sail there, change tack, launch boat hear, go ashore there, find a ship on fire, move on, transfer to another ship here, etc. etc.
The author does presume a knowledge of naval language and terms on the reader, which is fair I guess, I was looking up a lot of terms though. Now, I didn't say these books were bad, they are very good indeed. I really enjoyed reading them, I just had to learn and adjust my understanding that Kydd is the vehicle to explore this time, he's not the book's focus, the ship is.
January 4, 2023
Enjoyable but not Hornblower.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews