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| Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies (Hornblower Saga) | 
 enlarge | Author: C.s. Forester
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $3.94
You Save: $10.05 (72%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $3.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  (21 reviews)
Sales Rank: 12337
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0316289418
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780316289412
ASIN: 0316289418
Publication Date: November 2, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"The eleventh tale of naval adventure in C.S. Forester's Hornblower series finds Horatio Hornblower an admiral struggling to impose order in the chaotic aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. As commander-in-chief of His Majesty's ships and vessels in the West Indies, he must take on pirates, revolutionaries, and a blistering hurricane. The war is over, but peaceful it is not."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
Five Desperate Adventures in the Twilight of Hornblower's Career February 11, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This, the last in C. S. Forester's Hornblower series, is very unlike the novels which proceeded it. This book is segmented into five stand-alone short stories, the first four of which could be read in any order. The fifth story needs to be last as it relates Admiral Hornblower's retirement from active duty and return to Britain with his wife, Barbara, whom we first met in "Ship of the Line." The Napoleonic wars are over, Bonaparte is in prison for the second time, in St. Helena, and our aging (46) hero is in the twilight of his career. He is effectively waging a police action defending British interests in the Caribbean and fighting stateless piracy (the terrorism of that age). In the first story Hornblower discovers through stealth that a French ship in New Orleans has taken on six hundred muskets and bales of French uniforms. When he learns the the captain plans on racing to St. Helena, freeing Bonaparte, and restoring the French Empire, we are off to the last naval engagement of the Napoleonic wars. In the second story Hornblower engages a large topsail schooner, the Estrella del Sur, in a desperate race to prevent her cargo of slaves from reaching it's destination, Havana. Flying Spanish colors, she takes refuge in San Juan. Hornblower's plans to capture this much faster ship pits his daring and ingenuity against his opponent's two knots superiority in speed. The third story takes place entirely on land, on the island of Jamaica. Hornblower and his secretary, Mr. Spendlove, are captured and held for ransom by pirates. The pirates' impregnable lair is on a ledge on the face of a high cliff. The conclusion involves a weapon we see here for the first time, a ship mortar, which fires bombs with a timed fuse. The fourth story has a more historical setting, Bolivar's defeat of royalist forces in Venezuela's fight for independence from Spain. Readers familiar with Lord Cochrane's campaigns in Chile and Peru will see his persona recreated in Mr. Charles Ramsbottom. He is the wealthy son of a Bradford wool merchant, and arrives in Kingston harbor in his private yacht, a decommissioned brig. Eventually we discover that he is what was then called a "Liberal," come to the assistance of the revolutionary, Bolivar.
C. S. Forester hasn't lost his knack for a tale: "There was something just over the horizon of his mind, some stirring of an idea. And within a second the idea was up over the horizon, vague at present, like a hazy landfall, but as certain and as reassuring as any landfall. He could not help glancing over at the Estrella, sizing up the tactical situation, seeking further inspiration there, testing what he already had in mind."
 A Wonderful Friendship September 9, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the next Hornblower chronologically, it was not the next one written. Now that the series is completed it makes sense to read it as Hornblower's career progresses in the Royal Navy.
The whole series is a pleasure to read full of action and adventure; with enough time for a little romance.
Get acquainted with one of the most popular characters in modern literature.
After reading this you will be back for more. And that is a wonderful thing.
A collection of short adventures August 7, 2006
Napoleon is securely in exile, and Admiral Hornblower is in charge of the Royal Navy in the Caribbean. It is the end of the pirate age and in the midst of the rebellions of the Spanish colonies. It's a series of short stories without a larger theme, but they're well-written and worth reading.
 Dissappointing End to an Otherwise Brilliant Series August 22, 2005
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I found this book to be excrable. It was inconsistent, badly designed, and really a let down, after the other 10 books which were (mostly) surperb.
Spoilers ahead: One of Hornblowers firmly established character traits was his beating himself up over those he perceived as having "failed," his dead wife Maria, his dead lover Marie, his dead best friend Bush. And his sad remembrances of his two dead children. He thought of all those "ghosts" often.
In this book, he's facing death in a hurricane. Through the days of this storm, he gives not a single thought to any of these people, or even to his one living son, who will in all likelihood, be left an orphan.
All he can think about is how jealous he is that his wife was once married. HELLO? HE (Hornblower) WAS ALSO MARRIED, and had children, no less. But, his biggest thought is how happy he is when she callously says she never loved her (dead) husband.
This overjoys HH who now feels "healed." Very disturbing. Very lame.
While I never enjoyed HH's exploits and infidelities, I did relate to his love of those people he'd lost. This last book he was so self-absorbed, even the cool pirate battle couldn't redeem it for me.
Honestly, I'm sorry I read it and in the future, will stop with Book 10. Trust me on this.
C.S. Forrester makes a clever joke December 2, 2004
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This final book of Hornblower's advertures is structured into 5 relatively self-contained episodes concerning his final posting before retirement at half-pay. The final story contains a really good joke, too. A young marine bandmember faces court martial for refusal to play exactly as the music is written. Hornblower and Lady Barbara take an active interest in his case. The joke here is that the musician who bucks the system in order to maintain his sense of dignity plays the cornet. He literally is a HORN BLOWER!
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