Review: Hornblower and the Atropos by C. S. Forester

Trade paperback, 342 pages
Published 1999 (originally 1953)
Acquired January 2008
Previously read March 2008
Reread March 2019

Hornblower and the Atropos by C. S. Forester

1805-06
On my original chronological readthrough of the series, where this is the fifth book, I found it the most disappointing so far:

I enjoyed this, but for the first time, I felt as though I was reading "just another" outing in the Hornblower saga. The high points are definitely the beginning, with the canal trip and Nelson's funeral, and the end, with the escape from the Turks, the capturing of Castilla, and the coming of pox to Hornblower's family. (The last line is a killer.) Not to say that the middle is bad, in fact it's frequently good, what with a German prince and his short-tempered doctor serving aboard Atropos, a diving expedition to recover lost treasure, and a man who gets shot in a duel but grits his teeth and carries on for several days anyway. It's good overall, but it just lacks a certain overall something that made it the weakest of the Hornblower novels I've read thus far.

On this publication order reread, where it's the eighth book, I would rank it as the weakest with the exception of Commodore Hornblower. There's no strong throughline; it comes across as a series of random incidents at a random point in Hornblower's career. But it's not so disconnected that one can read it as a series of interesting short stories, like Mr. Midshipman Hornblower or Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. Probably what doesn't help is that Hornblower is a little too competent; like in Commodore, one doesn't feel his struggles, so it just seems like he gets in trouble, gets out of it, rinse, repeat. Great scenes here and there (though I was apparently less taken by Nelson's funeral this time), but not a great novel. Which is a shame, because Hornblower's first command* seems like an opportunity: how did he adjust to the increased responsibilities? But he doesn't adjust; he just is suddenly great. Shame the tv show never got this far, as I reckon they could have taken these raw materials and made something great out of them.

Back in Beat to Quarters, part of the reason for Hornblower's closed nature was that on his first command he had a first lieutenant he overshared with, undermining his captainly authority. We kind of get to see that here. Hornblower's first lieutenant is always trying to find things out, but Hornblower doesn't tell him much, and it doesn't seem to undermine his authority at all. Another missed opportunity.

* A later published novel would make it clear that this is not his first command, but if you read in publication order, it seems pretty clear that this book was meant to link up with the end of Lieutenant Hornblower.