What would you like the next book to cover?

Personally I would like a book that covers the period preceeding 'The Flag Captain' when he first gets command of Eurylus. 'The Flag Captain' indicates that during this period he was in Irish waters, an area not covered in the other novels, and effectively running things with a sick Admiral. More detail would be interesting.

I think an adventure prior to In Gallant Company, detailing his first voyage in the Trojan would be cool. A bit more filling out of the lieutenant role and the start of the revolution in America

I am just starting with the "Darkening Sea". I enjoyed more of the shipboard life and interaction of crew of earlier books. The American War was a more interesting that Flag and above with all the personal love stories. Sea action reads better than bedroom action.

Hear, hear!

Want to know what I would really like to see? A complete departure. Let's take the Hyperion, my favorite of all fictional vessels (okay, so my daughter reminded me that I'm forgetting NCC - 1701...maybe) and follow her career before Bolitho. Make the ship the continuing character as opposed to her commander.

So how did Hyperion earn that distinction?

I've been reading in this genre for more than 40 years, and in all of that time the one ship that has felt the most solid to me is the "old Hyperion." I can't really even say why, especially given the historic inconsistencies inherent in Kent's writing, but she simply feels real to me. That goes a long way toward explaining why Enemy in Sight ranks as my favorite novel in the genre. I've often thought that, should I strike oil in the back forty or patent a better mousetrap, she is the ship I would build.... Okay; I would actually build a 74 based on the design of the Bellona, but I would name her Hyperion!

I guess I have to throw that one into my to-read pile - my memory's a little hazy. That runs the risk of needing to read the whole series again, but I'll take that chance.

I pretty much have to agree with what's already been stated about the series as a whole. By the time Bolitho hoisted his flag the series was losing the wind. When he reached Vice Admiral and took up with Kate it was dead calm, and I don't think it's ever recovered.

By the time he was promoted Captain, Adam was an unlikable b******, with all of his father's bad traits and none of his uncle's good ones. As a result of that, I pretty much stopped reading the series after Sword of Honour.

That said, I would really like to read about Bolitho's second cruise aboard Undine, or first aboard Tempest. Another period to explore is the two years between the two halves of Sloop-of-War, and, as many have noted, his Irish Sea patrol as Sir Charles Thelwall's flag captain on Euryalus. Any of these would be far more interesting to me than any of the books about Adam.

I would like to see when Richard went to sea for the first time in the Manxman. He served four years (1768-1772) on it before Richard Bolitho, Midshipman.

burtbarnard wrote:I would like to see when Richard went to sea for the first time in the Manxman. He served four years (1768-1772) on it before Richard Bolitho, Midshipman.

Good thought. That would be interesting.

Can't really comment on it, as I am only 7 or 8 books into the series (can't recall off hand which was the last book I read).

For some reason, while I do enjoy reading it, this series is not gripping me the way others have in the past.

It would be nice to have a map of the travels and action of each book, so as to be able to put a place in the world, to what was happening when and where.

I would like to see more of his adventures during the American war, when he was in command of the sloop.

malchya wrote:I've been reading in this genre for more than 40 years, and in all of that time the one ship that has felt the most solid to me is the "old Hyperion."  I can't really even say why, especially given the historic inconsistencies inherent in Kent's writing, but she simply feels real to me.  That goes a long way toward explaining why Enemy in Sight ranks as my favorite novel in the genre.  I've often thought that, should I strike oil in the back forty or patent a better mousetrap, she is the ship I would build....   Okay; I would actually build a 74 based on the design of the  Bellona, but I would name her Hyperion!

Hyperion was where Bolitho met Cheney. She was his match-intelligent, headstrong, she knew her own mind, she was impulsive. Not many women of her era, set to marry an admiral, would give that up for a captain, plus face the scandal her change of heart would cause in society. She was proabably already causing some scandal, by accompanying Pomfret to the Mediterrean, which, treaty or no, was likely to blow up into war again, at any time. Even Bolitho thought she was Pomfret's mistress at first, until his personal snoop, Allday, tells him, no, everything between Cheney and Sir Edmund is above board. There's no hanky panky going on.
Had Cheney lived, I think she and Bolitho may have had some tough times-what marriage doesn't go through a few rough patches-but they'd have patched things up. Two such similar personalities would have clashed from time to time. I don't think Bolitho would have returned to sea, with the two of them angry with each other. He'd have finally apologized for whatever he'd said or done. Hey, its always the man's fault!
When Hyperion sinks, it just about breaks Bolitho's heart, but in a way, it sets him free from Cheney's ghost.

I'd have loved to have read how JAmes Bolitho met his wife. I beleive her name was Harriet, and she was a Scot. So, how did a naval captain from Cornwall meet a woman from the northern part of the island?
Was it during the Jacobite Rebellion, when Bonnie PRince Charlie was trying to take the throne of England? Was Harriet's family involved? Was her father a soldier for the Prince? Did she have brothers fighting for the Prince also?
She seems a very intelligent, capable woman, running the Bolitho estate in her husband's absence. I doubt she magically gained this skill, to run a farm that I suppose was connected to the estate, so she had to buy seed, and decide what to plant when and in what field. She had to know about the modern methods of farming, as well as traditional ways that had always provided big yields. She had to hire and fire servants and farm hands. She had to know about animal husbandry, to know when to invest in a new bull who sired cows who gave more, and richer milk, that made better cheese. She had to know how to make wine and ales and ciders. She had to know what to invest in, locally (mining), or wider afield. Perhaps she chanced ordering a lot of some spices from India, as well as pottery that had come from China, that would sell in the West Country and make a handsome profit.
So, was Harriet raised to know that one day, she'd be the mistress of an estate? The wife of a wealthy man, whose time was spent hunting? Did she grow up expecting to have a large country estate-or two or three, as well as a great house in Edinburgh, or even London? Was she the niece of a Scottish duke or laird? Did she have brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents who had titles and money? Was she from the Highlands, or Lowlands of Scotland?
JAmes Bolitho's father had been an admiral. Did James' sons enter the navy, knowing they had a grandfather who had attained flag rank, as well as relations in Scotland, who had titles? Those Scottish titles saved a lot of Jacobites from charges of treason, so long as they swore fealty to the English king, once Bonnie PRince Charlie revealed himself as a military know nothing, who refused to listen to the military men around him, and was more likely to be found looking for more wine, rather than maps of where
his armies were, and the English armies were.
So, how exactly did Harriet the Scot meet James Bolitho? As a Cornishman who saw himself as not really English, did James secretly harbor a wish to see Charles Stuart end up as at least a Scottish king? Was Harriet's family trying to escape to Italy in another ship than the one thier would be king was on, did James' ship intercept it?
I'd have really have loved to read that book!