It's Horatio Hornblower meets Elizabeth Bennet. It's a great combination, and Russell has somehow managed to do very well with both genres. Excellent crafted scenes at sea in the Age of Sail, matching the best of a C.S. Forester with the with the witty banter found in a Jane Austen back on shore in the English countryside.
I don't understand those who might criticize it for this. Regardless of which you may prefer or be more familiar with, if you open yourself to something new it's the best of both worlds. ( )

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

****

Charles Hayden continues his adventures as master and commander of the HMS Themis, the ship he has been attached to for the previous two books in the series. With the French Revolution well under way, he is tasked with meeting a French spy and obtaining information about a potential invasion force that he must then pass along to the Admiralty. However, on his way back, he is waylaid by French ships, beginning a much longer and more perilous journey home than he had intended. And then there's the matter of his intended, Henrietta, who believes him to have married a Frenchwoman who has spent a good deal of Hayden's credit and blackened his name among his friends.

This was a tense book for a number of reasons. Obviously, Hayden is placed in a great deal of peril in this one, surviving shipwrecks and having to escape the clutches of the Jacobins and the Committee of Public Safety. He is especially concerned about being perceived as French because of his mother being French -- she is safe in America, but he could be guillotined for serving in the British royal navy and thus "betraying" France. Meanwhile, we also see more of Henrietta and her family, especially the difficult decision she faces later in the book about whether to take Charles back or to accept the offer another man has made. I hope she sticks with her decision, or if she ends up changing her mind that she doesn't change it for a stupid movie-style reason. It was a tremendously difficult decision for her to make.

With this installment of the series, I felt most keenly that I was not in quite the right mood to fully appreciate it. It was still a fairly quick read but not as quick as other books in the series.

This is recommended if you've been following the series. ( )

A Ship of War is a stunning new maritime adventure from Top Ten bestselling author Sean Thomas Russell, following the great success of A Battle Won and Under Enemy Colours. For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brian, A Ship of War is the third instalment in the electrifying historical series of Charles Hayden and the Themis.

'Hayden kept his eye fixed upon the chasing ship...The screech of an iron ball passed narrowly by. There was no room now for error'

1794. As the terror rages in France, Captain Charles Hayden leaves Plymouth with orders to gather intelligence from a spy off the Le Havre coast. But the enemy lies in wait. In the foulest of weather, Hayden's seamanship is tested to the limit and a terrifying cat and mouse chase begins.

Faced with a powerful French squadron Hayden knows he must elude capture at any cost. In his possession are details of an imminent attack on British soil which must be delivered before all is lost.Ahead lie shipwrecks, storms, battles and dramatic escapes - and at the centre of it all, the courage and heroism of a lone captain . . .

A Ship of War is the brilliant third tale in the epic maritime adventures of Charles Hayden. A masterpiece already rivalling the stories of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brian.

A Ship of War is a stunning new maritime adventure from Top Ten bestselling author Sean Thomas Russell, following the great success of A Battle Won and Under Enemy Colours. For fans of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brian, A Ship of War is the third instalment in the electrifying historical series of Charles Hayden and the Themis.

'Hayden kept his eye fixed upon the chasing ship...The screech of an iron ball passed narrowly by. There was no room now for error'

1794. As the terror rages in France, Captain Charles Hayden leaves Plymouth with orders to gather intelligence from a spy off the Le Havre coast. But the enemy lies in wait. In the foulest of weather, Hayden's seamanship is tested to the limit and a terrifying cat and mouse chase begins.

Faced with a powerful French squadron Hayden knows he must elude capture at any cost. In his possession are details of an imminent attack on British soil which must be delivered before all is lost.Ahead lie shipwrecks, storms, battles and dramatic escapes - and at the centre of it all, the courage and heroism of a lone captain . . .

A Ship of War is the brilliant third tale in the epic maritime adventures of Charles Hayden. A masterpiece already rivalling the stories of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brian.

This is the first book that I've read in the series and I found that the book lacked action and that the sections related to the captain's home life/finance back in England were a little lack luster. ( )