Book Reviews

"Alaric Bond, in his latest novel, Turn A Blind Eye, vividly captures the complex and often contradictory world of a seaside village caught between loyalty, prosperity, treachery and murder. It is 1801, on the coast of Sussex. England is at war with the French and its own countrymen. Commander Griffin, new to the customs service has much to learn. He commands the light but agile revenue cutter Bee in action against the often more heavily gunned French and their local smuggler allies. The even greater danger, however, may be ashore. At least at sea, he has a reasonable idea who is his enemy. Ashore, who can be trusted and who cannot, is not quite so clear.

The local fishermen can earn far more smuggling than they can catching fish. Nevertheless, for the fishing village, it may be a devil's bargain as the ruthless criminal gang behind the smuggling operation may demand a higher price than the village is willing to pay. For how long with they be able to simply "turn a blind eye?"

More that just nautical adventure, Turn A Blind Eye is a richly nuanced portrait of a fishing village trapped between criminals and the Crown. The novel blends vivid action at sea with gripping intrigue ashore as the young commander battles a ruthless gang of smugglers, while never quite knowing who is friend and who is foe. Turn A Blind Eye is a fascinating tale told by a master storyteller. Highly recommended."

Originally published on The Old Salt Blog

"The Jackass Frigate (a name sometimes used for small ‘sixth-rate’ frigates) is the second book in Alaric Bond’s Fighting Sails series. I was very favorably impressed with the first book and was looking forward to this one.

The book begins with a scene that sets the tone for most of the book: Two old friends meet on a new ship, the jackass frigate HMS Pandora. They are Mr. King and Mr. Lewis, both characters we became acquainted within the first book. They are both young – Mr. King is a Midshipman, Mr. Lewis is a young seaman who has been promoted from the ranks to a master’s mate. Now they are to serve together again on a new ship. Mr. Lewis has been on the ship a short while already, and King is eager to see it:

«Might you show me the ship?» King asks.
«Aye. Now’s a safe time, Mr. Pigot’ll be asleep, more’n like.»

Mr. Pigot, it very soon turns out, is the tyrannical First Lieutenant – a Janus-faced, evil man.

The book grabbed hold of me after just some very few pages, which doesn’t happen all that often. C.S. Forester most often would grab me pretty early in his Hornblower novels – most often because I would feel sorry for poor Horatio who would often be much too hard on himself. Patrick O’Brian and Dudley Pope too knew a thing or two about grabbing a firm hold of their readers early on. And somehow – even though the style is very different and there really aren’t any heroes in the Fighting Sails series, as far as I can see, two books into it – Alaric Bond is quite deft at doing the same. And in this book, he grabbed me and held on to the last page.

The tale is tall and interesting: the intriguing and very well done story of the tyrant, the tale of an event-filled journey to Gibraltar to meet up with the English Fleet under Sir John Jarvis. There is an intensely suspenseful naval battle in the fog, as well as, but not to be easily forgotten: the fall of the tyrant. And then we arrive at the final leg of the thrilling journey of the small jackass frigate: where she joins the fleet and takes part in the historical Battle of Cape St. Vincents – one of the largest British naval battles, and one where the many of the huge naval heroes were present, including Sir John Jarvis and Sir Horatio Nelson. And what a magnificent tale Alaric Bond spins – it is one of the best descriptions I have read of this battle (I have read far too many)!

In The Jackass Frigate Alaric Bond again tells his story by alternating views among a group of characters that all play parts in the tale. We follow some of the same characters as in the previous book and also new ones – high and low in rank, young and old. This is a demanding technique, but Bond pulls it off elegantly: he does it by creating for us a dramatic tale, lots of action, and characters that feel very alive. We get to learn about the characters, understand them, and engage in them -it is very well done.

Alaric Bond may not be quite up to the standards of O’Brian and Forester as far as historical research is concerned, but he is quite good. His descriptions of life at sea—ship handling, seamanship, daily life among officers and crew, and so on—are excellent. Indeed, as a writer, he is in my opinion right up there with the big names in the genre. If you like nautical fiction, and you haven’t read him, I urge you to do so. The Jackass Frigate is a very good historical fiction, first-rate entertainment, and a great read.

Originally published on Navy Fiction

"Well, he's done it again! The eagerly anticipated fifth instalment of Alaric Bond's 'Fighting Sail' series is with us at last and it is another corker! Set at the conclusion of the Irish uprising of 1798, with Britain's army brutally putting down the rebellion on land, The Patriot's Fate follows Wolf Tone's attempt to bring a French invasion force to bear while Royal Navy elements desperately seek to prevent them from landing. It is a story of cat-and-mouse on the high seas culminating in a dramatic climax.

As before in this series, the story is told from the viewpoint of several characters rather than just a single hero: most of these are already familiar from earlier books, but we also follow the exploits of a contingent of Irish 'rebels' in equal measure. Bond's skill is to shift perspective between this relatively large cast without in the least disrupting the flow or disorientating the reader, effortlessly weaving these multiple elements into a slow-boiling narrative that informs and entertains in equal measure as tension builds.

Bond's mastery of story-building and characterization is matched by his authoritative handling of the complexities of shipboard life, a problem faced by all who write about sailing ships. Technical terms cannot be avoided, but Bond deftly steers a path through them, and should anyone be unsure, a useful glossary is appended to explain most of them.

The Patriot's Fate is an un-put-downable 'page turner' that should establish Alaric Bond as one of the best historic naval fiction writers currently active. It doesn't get much better than this! Highly recommended."

Originally published on Historical Novel Society, written by Justin M. Lindsay

"The year is 1795. England is at war with the revolutionary French Republic. The French fleet is under blockade in several French harbors, prevented from running to sea by the might of the Royal Navy.

His Majesty’s Ship – the one the title of this book refers to— the powerful but relatively small 64 gun ship-of-the-line HMS Vigilant. Her mission is convoy duty; boring, perhaps, but still an essential role– protection of the mercantile navy is vitally important to the British. When the story begins, HMS Vigilant is preparing to leave Spithead as a senior convoy escort.

However, as it turns out, this time the convoy duty will not be boring and trivial: a small but powerful group of French ships has managed to avoid the blockade and slip to sea. Now they have their sights set on the British convoy.

His Majesty’s Ship is the first book I’ve read by Alaric Bond, and the first navy fiction novel by Mr. Bond as. It’s the first installment in Bond’s Fighting Sail series.

In this book, Alaric Bond describes life on board HMS Vigilant from the points of view of several of the ship’s crew members – a nice cross-section all the way from the Captain down to the most recently joined of the ship’s young boys. Daily routines, events occurring, conflicts, and friction among the people aboard, as well as naval battle, are all reported in this manner. It is all here: young smart lieutenants and wizened petty officers, desertion, flogging, attempted murder, along with the good stuff: loyalty, teamwork, courage, valor, and wit.

Using this style is quite demanding – it could easily result in the telling of the main tale getting too fragmented and the reader losing interest. But Alaric Bond is an excellent storyteller, and he not only manages to pull it off, he really excels using this style.

I love reading salty tales from the Age of Sail when they are filled with characters that seem to be real, intelligent, thinking people, when the descriptions are rich enough to make me almost hear the sounds of the sea and the rigging, and when the action is interesting. Along all these dimensions, and more, His Majesty’s Ship is an excellent historical fiction novel.

The tough story of seamanship, teamwork, and bravery in His Majesty’s Ship is very well told, the descriptions of life below decks as engaging and intriguing as the ones from above decks. It is a creatively composed, evocative, swiftly flowing tale that is engaging to read, and that had me finish the book in four sittings – almost a page-turner. And, of course, highly recommended! An excellent job by Alaric Bond. I wonder why I didn’t read this one a long time ago. Oh well – I will move my sights forward toward the next one in the series instead."

Originally published on Navy Fiction

"Alaric Bond's The Patriot's Fate, the fifth in his Fighting Sail series, is an exciting nautical adventure that is also a rich and fascinating voyage through the history, politics and complex divided loyalties of Britain at the end of the eighteenth century.

Many novels in the genre follow the model used by C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and so many others, where the focus is the career of a single Royal Navy officer. The Patriot's Fate, like the other books in Bond's Fighting Sail series, is told through multiple perspectives, ranging from the ship's captain, to the junior officers and warrants, to Jack Tars and the ship's boys. The approach gives a much broader sense of what is going on aboard ship. It works particularly well in The Patriot's Fate because it allows parallel and overlapping story lines that keep the novel moving along briskly.

In The Patriot's Fate, Bond has been careful in choosing his history. The climax of the book is the Battle of Tory Island in October of 1798. Just over two months before an admiral named Nelson ruined Napoleon's plans in Egypt at Aboukir Bay. The famous Battle of the Nile, as it has become known, is completely and refreshingly absent from The Patriot's Fate. The story of that battle is wonderful but it has been retold so often, in so many other novels, that as a reader I felt grateful to be taken elsewhere. While the Battle of Tory Island was far smaller than the Battle of the Nile, it was no less consequential, leading directly to the Treaty of Union between England and Ireland.

In 1798 the Society of United Irishmen, lead by the charismatic Wolfe Tone, is ready to rise again against the British. The French are again assisting the Irish by sending ships and troops. As a French fleet of troopships and men-of-war bears down on the coast of Ireland, a single British frigate must delay them until help arrives to stop the invasion. By the vagaries of chance and heritage, friends and shipmates find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. The sense of conflicting loyalty to friends, country and cause is especially gripping as the guns begin to fire.

Bond is especially good at creating believable and engaging characters. Readers of his past books will be pleased to be reunited with Captain Sir Richard Banks, Lieutenant Tom King, the Mannings and the unfortunate Irishman, Micheal Crowley, among others. New readers will be pleased to make their acquaintance. New characters like Betsey, the surgeon's wife, clever and capable, if just a touch lacking in virtue, are also great fun.

The Patriot's Fate is a gripping tale that is extremely difficult to put down. It left me sorry that it had ended and hungry for more. Highly recommended."

Originally published on The Old Salt Blog

"Well, he's done it again! The eagerly anticipated fifth instalment of Alaric Bond's 'Fighting Sail' series is with us at last and it is another corker! Set at the conclusion of the Irish uprising of 1798, with Britain's army brutally putting down the rebellion on land, The Patriot's Fate follows Wolf Tone's attempt to bring a French invasion force to bear while Royal Navy elements desperately seek to prevent them from landing. It is a story of cat-and-mouse on the high seas culminating in a dramatic climax.

As before in this series, the story is told from the viewpoint of several characters rather than just a single hero: most of these are already familiar from earlier books, but we also follow the exploits of a contingent of Irish 'rebels' in equal measure. Bond's skill is to shift perspective between this relatively large cast without in the least disrupting the flow or disorientating the reader, effortlessly weaving these multiple elements into a slow-boiling narrative that informs and entertains in equal measure as tension builds.

Bond's mastery of story-building and characterization is matched by his authoritative handling of the complexities of shipboard life, a problem faced by all who write about sailing ships. Technical terms cannot be avoided, but Bond deftly steers a path through them, and should anyone be unsure, a useful glossary is appended to explain most of them.

The Patriot's Fate is an un-put-downable 'page turner' that should establish Alaric Bond as one of the best historic naval fiction writers currently active. It doesn't get much better than this! Highly recommended."

Originally published on Historic Naval Fiction