Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "aboukir-bay"

The Second Gate by Brian Wyvill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Crossing a secluded area at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Sarah Malette notices a man following her. He is the spitting image from a childhood nightmare. The experience rattles her, but she chalks it up to his being homeless and hurries on her way. Instead of finding Professor Duncan in his office, she encounters his teaching assistant. (Annette is like a sister, since she and Sarah grew up together after Annette’s mother disappeared.) Together they marvel at the nautical artifacts decorating Duncan’s office. They all date from the late eighteenth century, which makes sense because of his fascination with the Napoleonic wars; what is odd is that they look brand new, even though it’s 2015. They also discover a door, hidden behind a coat rack, leading to an empty room.

Annette, who is French Canadian, also has a keen interest in the same time period. Her focus and thesis are on the year 1798, particularly on a single event: the Battle of the Nile. She believes that had Admiral Brueys won the engagement, rather than Admiral Nelson, all of Canada might be French, rather than just Quebec. When Sarah mentions the homeless man, Annette is also troubled. Could this be the same man who terrorized her and her mother when she was younger? Is he looking for her?

Ken DiPalo, a friend and fellow classmate of Sarah’s, is infatuated with Annette, who thinks he’s more of a class clown, who’s always shirking his schoolwork. To demonstrate otherwise, he shares charts and maps stored his smart phone with Annette and Sarah, who are also working on the same 1798 project. He also mentions that one 1720 resource discusses a man named Masthead Duncan – the same name as their professor. Sarah reveals that she has also come across a Royal Navy lieutenant with the same name in 1757. Another source places Duncan in 1798 on Malta. The unusual first name puzzles them because they can’t possibly be the same man given the activities mentioned and the ages of each man. It’s a coincidence they might query their professor about, but no one has seen or heard from him since he turned up at a local hospital with a knife wound.

Further discussion reveals several other oddities, one of which involves the hidden room in Duncan’s office. Ken comes up with a theory based on the evidence, which seems almost impossible to believe – time travel. The answer may be in the professor’s office and Ken just happens to have a key. Sarah is reluctant to break into the office, but Annette believes this may be her only chance to find her mother and perhaps provide Admiral Brueys with the necessary information to change the outcome of the battle. After acquiring the key and Ken’s smart phone containing the maps, she eludes the others to locate the gateway that will take her to Malta in 1798. Having a duplicate key, Ken and Sarah attempt to stop her, but she’s vanished by the time they get to the office. The only thing they can do now is follow her through the gateway to find Masthead Duncan and stop Annette from changing history.

Going back in time may sound like fun, but it’s fraught with danger. Aside from stability issues with the gateway, their adventures include encounters with Barbary pirates, mutineers, kidnappers, galley slaves, and a sheik seeking a new bride. Rock climbing, safeguarding treasure, trekking across the desert, and participating in sea battles add further excitement to entice and engage readers. The love scene between two of the characters lacks the smooth flow that is present throughout the rest of the story. There are a few places that may puzzle readers – the delay between the time the French officers find the phone and confront Annette, for example – but Wyvill crafts a believable and compelling time travel that provides startling answers to the questions of what if France had won the battle at Aboukir Bay and how does a single misstep in the past affect the future. The Second Gate is the first book in a new series and promises some intriguing future adventures for the characters we meet within this volume.




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Tenacious by Julian Stockwin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the year since the mutiny at the Nore, Thomas Kydd has gone from seaman to lieutenant and is now accepted as an equal among his fellow officers. His ship, the 64-gun Tenacious, is recalled from Halifax to support Admiral the Earl St. Vincent off the coast of Spain. As they sail across the Atlantic, Thomas sets his sights on a new goal of commanding his own ship, but the problem is how to achieve it. His friend Nicholas Renzi wrestles with a different dilemma, whether to continue in the navy or return to the life from which he exiled himself five years earlier.

General Buonaparte has his own plans of action. Barges large enough to land troops are being built in northern French ports and soldiers are massing on the coast. It seems he intends to put to sea, but for where? Whispers of Constantinople, of Egypt, of England are all possibilities, but where exactly is Napoleon once he successfully evades the British blockade?

This sixth entry in the Kydd Sea Adventure series incorporates a sequence of key incidents during the waning years of the French Revolution: the royals’ flight from Naples with the aid of the Royal Navy; the devastating fleet action at Aboukir Bay; a secret mission to capture Minorca; and the siege of Acre. Kydd emulates Nelson in hopes of getting noticed with a daring suggestion that evens the odds during the Minorcan expedition, and leading a contingent of seamen in a desperate bid to prevent Napoleon from reaching Constantinople. Along the way, he discovers what type of leader he wants to be and comes to terms with the consequences of betrayal.

Steadfast, stubborn, and resolute are synonyms of “tenacious,” a word that applies both to a warship and the men who serve on her. Stockwin allows his readers to stand side by side with the characters as they endure this riveting and harrowing account of a world at war.

(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Stockwin.h...)



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