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C. S. Forester

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Hornblower and the "Hotspur" (Hornblower Series) Paperback – November 1, 1998

by C.S. Forester (Author)

4.6 3,780 ratings

Book 3 of 10: Hornblower Saga

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Hornblower's reconnaissance mission quickly turns to warfare in this installment of the beloved series of naval adventures by C. S. Forester, "a master of the genre" (New York Times).

April 1803. The Peace of Amiens is breaking down. Napoleon is building ships and amassing an army just across the Channel. Horatio Hornblower -- who, at age twenty-seven, has already distinguished himself as one of the most daring and resourceful officers in the Royal Navy -- commands the three-masted Hotspur on a dangerous reconnaissance mission that evolves, as war breaks out, into a series of spectacular confrontations.

All the while, the introspective young commander struggles to understand his new bride and mother-in-law, his officers and crew, and his own "accursed unhappy temperament" -- matters that trouble him more, perhaps, than any of Bonaparte's cannonballs.

Book 3 of 10

Hornblower Saga
Print length

398 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Back Bay Books
Publication date

November 1, 1998
Dimensions

5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0316290467
ISBN-13

978-0316290463
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This trio offer more of the salty adventures of the title character, who sailed the ocean blue during the Napoleonic Wars.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"No other contemporary writer can equal Forester at this kind of storytelling."―Chicago Tribune

"With meticulous attention to nautical detail, which no committee of old sea dogs has been able to fault, C. S. Forester has shown himself to be a master of the genre."―New York Times Book Review

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (November 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316290467
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316290463
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #215,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #677 in Sea Stories
- #974 in Historical British & Irish Literature
- #4,934 in Classic Literature & Fiction

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4.6 3,780 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

3,780 global ratings

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Strydr

A lifelong companion

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2012

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When I was in elementary school, Idiscovered one of the Hornblower books serialized in a magazine. I believe it was The Saturday Evening Post that became the object of contention between my father and I. Since I usually got home before he did, the latest installment usually fell to me first. It was all moot since I'd usually finished reading it by the time he got home. The local library had copies of the original novel, so I was able to get a large dose of Hornblower at a very early age and have loved the franchise ever since.
The characters are skillfully drawn and well rounded. The plots and subplots mesh well and the action is realistically presented. The dialogue is quaintly flavored but not stilted.
All in all, the series of which this book is a part is the gold standard of "Age of Sail" writing. I've read voraciously in the genre and found others who approach but none that surpass Forester's Hornblower.

2 people found this helpful

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Brad H

The Hornblower Series is Tops

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022

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Forester‘s Hornblower series is simply one of the best naval book series I’ve ever read. I’ve tried others and don’t feel they come close. They are the stories of a British officer and his rise in the Navy during the Napoleonic era.

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mike923

Just finished the third episode of the Horn lower Saga...

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2023

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Another great story by Forester. A really good insight into the British naval blockade of Nepolian's France in the early 1800s. I'll be reading the next in the series.

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Old Math Teacher

The best Hornblower book

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2021

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Forester is my favorite author of naval stories and his novels about Hornblower are the best of them. They are all great reading and 'Hornblower and the Hotspur' is the best book in the series. I got started on the Hornblower books over sixty years ago and was led to other Forester stories. His short stories about World War Ii are interesting to me because my Daddy was in the Navy.

2 people found this helpful

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zorba

Five Stars, Of course

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2015

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One of life's true joys is sitting back and reading a Horatio Hornblower book. This wonderful character -- on one hand a naval genius and on the other, an instrospective, incredibly human leader -- commands a small warship charged with keeping Napoleon's fleet penned-up in the French harbor of Brest, preventing any possibility of a naval attack on England. Forester is amazing in his knowledge of the sailing ships and naval crews of that era. While we marvel at Hornblower's audacity and skill when confronting the enemy, we are reminded that Forester is the one who creates the scenarios and is to be saluted for their originality and execution, if not their genius. And it's not all war at sea: In this book Hornblower gets married and suffers the heartache of separation experienced by most sailors who spend long months at sea, away from their loved ones. I've read nearly all of the Hornblower books and have not been disappointed by any of them.

3 people found this helpful

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N Scott

Horatio Hornblower as a Commander

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021

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Herein we find Horatio Hornblower beginning to stretch out and grow beyond his time as a Lieutenant and know the perils and pleasures of command. As the blockade stretches through time the ships crew become drilled as a well oiled machine. Remaining at sea keeps the British fleet prepared to meet the French when ever they venture out.

We obtain a deeper glimpse into Hornblower’s psyche, his personal rating system which tends toward personal denigration. Yet, we also see the joys of flying across the sea with all sails set heading toward a new adventure all within the constraints of Orders, the Admiralty, and his ingenious nature.

2 people found this helpful

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the gunner

I recommend this to ex-Marines who can read. Book 3 in the Hornblower Saga

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2014

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Hornblower and the Hotspur
This is the third book in the Hornblower Saga following Lieutenant Hornblower This book opens with Hornblower getting married to Maria. Hornblower may be able to face canon fire without fear, but he is just incapable of facing a crying woman who wants to marry him.
An irony here is that while the British are being "pressed" into service as seamen, Hornblower is being "pressed" into marriage.
Hornblower is given command of the sloop Hotspur
He is tasked with the mission of reconning (going on a reconnaissance mission) France's primary naval station in Brest. Brest is still an important naval base for France even today according to my information.
Hornblower shows a remarkable talent for ferreting out information from the French without his sources even knowing that they have been used by a master spy or Hornblower's men figuring out how he learned certain information.
Hornblower distinguishes himself in action once again but runs into trouble with the god, Neptune. The winter weather turns ugly.
I highly recommend this book and the entire series to fans of David Weber's Honor Harrington series the first of which is On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington) , naval adventure fans and ex-Navy people (a Marine who can read, might, also enjoy it.

Gunner March, 2014

P.S. Hey, I'm ex-army. We love to harass the jar-heads! During Viet Nam we were reluctant to let them play with the claymore mines, A claymore mine is a directional mine that has TOWARDS ENEMY in raised letters on one side. That doesn't work if you can't read English!
Later

The next book is Hornblower During the Crisis (Hornblower Saga)

6 people found this helpful

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Christopher Borton

Not just for history buffs!

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2013

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A sweeping history of the Napoleonic wars mingled with the inner struggle of an individual who personalises the times and the detail of the British Royal Navy when Britannia did indeed rule the waves and hence the world. The Hornblower series is excellent in its scope as history brought to life, but especially in its penetrating view of the minute detail of the detail of life in the navy and the inner life of an individual under the enormous pressure of war. Compulsively readable and brilliantly entertaining, this book smells of salt and gunpowder and humanity. There have been many imitators of Forester, but none have approached the heights that he has scaled. Read one Hornblower and be inevitably drawn into the series and feel the loss of a friend as you finish the last book in this bewitching saga.

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画伯

KINNDLの利用の便利さをかんじた。

Reviewed in Japan on July 29, 2020

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新型コロナ禍で時間が十分あるので、洋書を原文で読みだした。
紙の本にするよりも値段も安く、場所も取らない。辞書機能もついているので容易に読み進められる。
パソコンとスマホに入れたのでどこでも好きな時に読み進められる。

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Buch.Technik.Freund

bin schon seit Jugendzeit Hornblower-Fan wegen seiner

Reviewed in Germany on April 27, 2013

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sehr feinfühligen, detaillierten Erzählweise. Sehr ausführliche und dann gut plastisch nachvollziehbare Beschreibung der Segelgründe, der Technik der Holzschiffe, ihrer Mühen und Qualen, der Schwierigkeiten beim Navigieren mit den 3-Mastern des 19 Jhd. Dann vor allem die sehr farbig und deutlich gezeichneten Charaktere, differenziert, mit Stärken/Schwächen, mit Ängsten, Sorgen, Nöten, Stimmungen. Ich bin in Hornblowers Welt immer eingetaucht und konnte mich darin versenken.
Im Buch "Hotspur" ist Hornblower überraschend dann doch kurz vor Beginn einer neuen Runde engl/franz Krieges noch in den aktiven Dienst zurückgeholt und muss eine "Aufklärungsmission" mit dem leichten und beweglichen Schiff vor der Hafenmünsung von Brest erfüllen. Im Lauf seiner Mission erlebt er verschiedenen sehr spannende Abenteuer, muss sich aber auch mit den Widrigkeiten der Atlantikstürme vor Brest herumschlagen. In den Hornblowerbüchern sind die Abenteuer oft in Kapitel gegliedert und locker aneinandergereiht. Vermutlich sind die Bücher aber typische "Männerbücher", und dann noch besonders für technikaffine (Segeln, Navigieren, ...), mit Begeisterung an Sport und Wettkampf, und einem neutral/gruseligen Interesse an Waffentechnik - von den Schiffsgeschützen bis zu den Handfeuerwaffen.
Das ganze ist in die Situation der Napoleonischen Kriege eingebettet, Grossbritannien verteidigt gegen den vermeintlich bösen Napoleon. Die politische Sichtweise ist durch den Autor (C.S: Forester, anglo-amerikanischer Standpunkt, ....) gefärbt und wird nur oberflächlich reflektiert. Sind die zum Dienst gepressten (heute wäre das Freiheitsberaubung, Entführung, Sklaverei) und dem Kriegsrecht unterworfenen Matrosen wirklich viel freier als Kontinentaleuropäer, die unter Napoleon vielleicht erstmalig in den Genuss eines rudimentären Bürgerrechts kamen (Codex Napoleon?). Und manchmal haben die Bücher der Hornblower-Reihe auch erzählerische Längen.
Die englische Ausgabe habe ich nachgekauft und im Kindle nachgelesen, weil ich es interessant fand herauszufinden, wie es sich englisch liest - ich habe allerdings zu Beginn öfters das auf meinem Kindle standardmäßig installierte Oxford-Dictionnary zu Rate ziehen, mit der Zeit hat man die 100-200 Fachwörter, die sich regelmäßig wiederholen, dann im passiven Gedächtnis. An der engl. Ausgabe ist auch noch das Vorwort, das die Entstehung der Bücher aus Sicht des Verlags und der Lektoren beschreibt, sehr informativ.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

refreshed memories

Reviewed in Australia on October 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

A great joy to revisit and remember the days when I was a lad! Consistently evocative of places, people and incidents.

J. Cooper

Mr Hornblower enters unchartered waters!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2009

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Fans of the series will see a different side to Hornblower in this third instalment of the epic Napoleonic naval saga.

The book opens with Hornblower's wedding to Maria and readers will experience his ever-gradual mellowing, as distance separates a reluctant husband from his devoted bride. The news of two pregnancies enables readers to share and witness Hornblower's more `human' side.

Such romanticism and patriarchal duty does not detract from what the reader expects of a typical Hornblower novel. There is plenty of action involving two separate naval set pieces. The first involves a desperate flight from a superior foe and the second sees the Hotspur tackling a higher classed vessel.

A truly exciting read, you shall certainly be enthralled with the two set pieces mentioned above; but you will also anticipate Hornblower's relatively frequent encounters with his admiral.

If you have read and enjoyed the opening books, you will certainly not be disappointed with this one.

sue

Sue

Reviewed in Australia on October 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

The third book in the series continues at the same level as the other two. Looking forward to the next books in series

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Hornblower and the "Hotspur" (Hornblower Series) Paperback – November 1, 1998

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