His Majesty's Ship

Well, my great,great grandmother was from Sussex... so support easy as well as deserved!

Ah, they live a long time round here - I probably know her...

Emigrated to NZ around 1880!

"the time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things: of shoes-- and ships -- and sealing wax-- of cabbages-- and kings........."

After 11+ years of reading HNF (full time), I'm well overdue reading Alaric's contributions to the genre. Based on the reviews I've read both here on the forum and elsewhere......I'm looking forward to it.

Now I wait for my 'premier' (and IT rep) to put His Majesty's Ship on my Ipad.

I've now read books one and two (or should that be two and one - I read 'Jackass Frigate' first) and thoroughly enjoyed both.

What I particularly like about this series, as others have pointed out, is the broad cross section of the crew that we follow in each book. It's a very welcome contrast from the majority of HNF series' which tend to provide us with the 'point of view' of a single protagonist. I am full of admiration for the assured way in which Mr Bond navigates the plethora of different characters' voices. We are never in any doubt as to which character we are with at any given time, even though point of view can change several times in a chapter. Equally, the introduction of a large number of new characters does not jar.

If anything I enjoyed His Majesty's Ship more than I had The Jackass Frigate. I found the atmosphere beautifully realised and the text was well salted with convincing technical detail, without spoiling the flow of text or story. Another feature of Mr Bond's books that I find appealing is that the less historically significant types of vessel get to take centre stage, such as a smaller frigate and in particular the 64-gun third-rate HMS Vigilant.

If I had a complaint, it's that not all of the books in the series are available on iBooks, although I have downloaded the Kindle app onto my iPad so I can read all of them in one format or another.

Can I add my voice to the calls for a 'dramatis personae' section somewhere in each book? Despite reading His Majesty's Ship only a short time after finishing The Jackass Frigate (one novel and one non-fiction book in between) I had to skim through the latter to remind myself which characters I had already met.

Thank you for your kind words. A character list is certainly something I have considered, and will suggest again (although it took the first three books to finally get a selected glossary!).

Just checking the galley for book five; all else is sorted, so I would hope it to be available within a few weeks.

Alaric Bond wrote:Thank you for your kind words. A character list is certainly something I have considered, and will suggest again (although it took the first three books to finally get a selected glossary!).

Just checking the galley for book five; all else is sorted, so I would hope it to be available within a few weeks.

Excellent, I look forward to it. Are there any details about this book that can be shared yet?

Alaric --

Just finished His Majesty's Ship this morning as I took my time to 'dine' on it rather than 'gulp it down'. This allowed me to enjoy the flavor of the characters and taste the action.

I found 'the battle' to be among the most detailed and complex action that I've read in HNF to date as it gave time to view the character of the characters under the harsh light of deadly combat......an insight not often given in extended detail.

While I consider myself to be reasonably well acquainted with the mysteries of shipboard life, I noticed and appreciated the definitions and descriptions you have woven into the storyline to assist those recently come to the HNF genre.......a benefit I'm sure they appreciate and I found entertaining and in a few instances...edifiing.

Since I've not yet read 'a series' that wasn't 'a continuing series' as I've come to know them.........I'll save my thoughts on that subject till I finish book 5. I do wish that you'd had a few sets of 'hardbacks' made so I could find them a shelf rather than hope they don't get lost 'in the cloud', but I guess that's the price we pay for technology.

While I don't want to get the back of your shirt 'too wet', let me say that His Majesty's Ship fits nicely in the category I call 'new classics'.

It's in my "kindle' library.

This is so good to hear, 80 Winters (can I call you 80?). And at a time when I am desperately trying to polish off book five, has given me tremendous encouragement. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy the subsequent books. The series does change subtly, mainly due to comments from readers such as your's, but I have tried to maintain the general tone that was started in HMS.