Audiobook13 hours
King, Ship, and Sword
Written by Dewey Lambdin
Narrated by John Lee
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
December 1801. The Peace of Amiens end the long war with Napoleon Bonaparte's France, but Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is appalled by its consequences. First, he's been in the Navy since 1780 (most unwillingly, most of the time!) and at sea for the better part of nine years, since 1793, so what is a dashing and successful frigate captain to do with himself, if he's ashore on half-pay, and if so, for how long?
Second, and even worse, is where will Lewrie twiddle his thumbs and be bored to death until the war begins again, as he's sure it will? Will he idle in expensive, exciting London, or go home to his rented farm in Anglesgreen in Surrey, and rejoin his wife and in-laws who (mostly) despise him like the Devil hates Holy Water, where he knows as much of agriculture and animal husbandry as his two pet cats do of celestial navigation?
When war breaks out again in May of 1803, Lewrie has fresh orders, a new frigate, and a chance to punish and pursue the French, but it's no longer for Duty or King and Country-now it's personal!
Second, and even worse, is where will Lewrie twiddle his thumbs and be bored to death until the war begins again, as he's sure it will? Will he idle in expensive, exciting London, or go home to his rented farm in Anglesgreen in Surrey, and rejoin his wife and in-laws who (mostly) despise him like the Devil hates Holy Water, where he knows as much of agriculture and animal husbandry as his two pet cats do of celestial navigation?
When war breaks out again in May of 1803, Lewrie has fresh orders, a new frigate, and a chance to punish and pursue the French, but it's no longer for Duty or King and Country-now it's personal!
Author
Dewey Lambdin
Dewey Lambdin is the author of the Alan Lewrie novels. A member of the U.S. Naval Institute and a Friend of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, he spends his free time working and sailing on a rather tatty old sloop. He makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee.
Related to King, Ship, and Sword
Titles in the series (14)
King's Captain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Captain's Vengeance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troubled Waters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A King's Trade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hostile Shores Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invasion Year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reefs and Shoals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baltic Gambit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Ship, and Sword Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King's Marauder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kings and Emperors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Fine Retribution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hard, Cruel Shore Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Onshore Storm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related audiobooks
The Invasion Year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A King's Trade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kings and Emperors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reefs and Shoals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baltic Gambit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hostile Shores Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Fine Retribution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troubled Waters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Hard, Cruel Shore Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King's Captain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Onshore Storm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Captain's Vengeance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much Ado About Lewrie: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kydd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Relentless Pursuit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil to Pay Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dangerous Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blue at the Mizzen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5H.M.S. Surprise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Colonial Post-Captain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wine-Dark Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Truelove Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/521: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Commodore Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nutmeg of Consolation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Thirteen-Gun Salute Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Treason's Harbour Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mauritius Command Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reverse of the Medal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
General Fiction For You
The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Ends with Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/511/22/63: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Frost and Starlight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anansi Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for King, Ship, and Sword
Rating: 4.183333433333334 out of 5 stars
4/5
30 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alan Lewrie is at it again. This really is a bridge book, now showing us what happens every single year seems to be how Lambdin is writing these novels. Here we have reached the Peace of Amiens, and you will recall that during the siege of Toulon, so long ago in this series, we had met Bonaparte, well guess who's coming to dinner.Through a trivial plot device whilst the Peace lasts, somehow we are talked into a journey to the continent and Ram Cat Lewrie through no fault of his own (much like Flashman would) not only meets the many important people, but also finds himself in hot water not of his making. Here the league of the Scarlet Pimpernel, which is an author's device so it is named otherwise, shows up as well. This book is good for all the Regency/Georgian action we see and absorb. However, it leaves off anything remotely to do with the navy to a very small part of the book, almost an afterthought, and that has become prevalent these last few books. 80% not having to do with the Age of Sail despite the covers and suggestion that we are vitally concerned with a Post Captain.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel returns! which is good, but the book reads more like 4 short stories combined.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There is peace between England and France but for how long? Will it last long enough for a quick second honeymoon for Captain Lewrie and his wife Caroline?Captain Lewrie goes to France with more on his mind than rekindling romance with his wife; he decides to combine business with pleasure. He uses his visit to offer up captured French swords in exchange for his own captured sword, held by Napoleon himself. However everywhere Lewrie turns he seems to bump into a person from his past- and they all hold grudges and want him dead! Will Captain Lewrie and his wife make it out of France alive?I got this book not realizing it is part of a series, I was looking for a Royal Navy adventure and was disappointed as 3/4 of this book takes place on land. That being said, I was also unaware of the past experiences of the main character Captain Lewrie however without the background ofthe previous noveld I was still able to follow the storyline. However best bet would be to start at the beginning...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the most land locked naval adventure I have ever read. The characters spend more time in carriages than on board ship. The main character is more Flashman than Hornblower and, in fact, the whole novel is very like the Flashman novels: roguish hero, breezy prose style, famous historical & fictional characters turning up. Alan Lewrie is on half pay because of a (temporary) peace with the French and he and his wife decide on a trip to Paris in the hiatus. They get to meet Napoleon and because of a misunderstanding (and some old enemies) the Lewrie’s are on the run for their lives. My main annoyance with the novel was the fact that Lewrie seemed to keep running into old lovers and enemies (sometimes the same people) every time he turned a corner. But it is still a quite enjoyable brown earth/blue water adventure.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The tale opens with Captain Lewrie still in the Baltic and in a very cold and boring sort of limbo with the total lack of action as the Peace of Amiens comes into effect. And there's only losing his ship which is to be sent into ordinary at the end of it. It has been said before that Lewrie can fall into more dangerous scrapes upon land than at sea, so a period of peace, no matter how brief, is worrying. And yet, an idyllic time spent with his family at his house in Anglesgreen through the winter holidays comes as a lovely change of pace (even while wondering WHEN the other shoe will drop). This is all told with some seriousness and little dash, which had me wondering if Lambdin had taken a somber more literary tone for this book. However, things change when the Lewries take a second honeymoon of sorts in Paris of all places! Old enemies and new just come piling out of the woodwork, as well as the never-all-that-helpful English spy-types. And for those who demand actual Naval Adventure in a series so en(sub)titled, there is that, too, with a new ship and crew and some old friends (no obvious old enemies, but that's only a matter of time!). The sixteenth book in a series is never a perfect place to start, so new readers are directed to the first: THE KING'S COAT, a fantastic read. Readers who have made it this far are either masochists or devoted fans or ??? but should know what to expect by now (or one should think!). I simply adore this series. It's full of lively adventure, great historical details and a main character worthy of following through such an extended series. I can't wait for the next book!