The First Nathaniel Drinkwater Omnibus: An Eye of the Fleet, A King's Cutter, A Brig of War

Nathaniel Drinkwater #1-3

by Richard Woodman

Comprising AN EYE OF THE FLEET, A KING'S CUTTER and BRIG OF WAR, this omnibus edition contains the first three Nathaniel Drinkwater chronicles.
AN EYE OF THE FLEET - sees Nathaniel Drinkwater engaged in dramatic action off the coast of Spain in Admiral Rodney's famous Moonlight Battle and the capture of the Santa Teresa. But his adventures also bring rebellion on board and a perilous expedition into the Carolina swamps.
A KING'S CUTTER - Clandestine operations off the coast of France aboard the twelve-gun cutter Kestrel involves Drinkwater in the French Revolution; rescuing refugees from Madame Guillotine and helping British agents infiltrate France.
A BRIG OF WAR - at the request of Nelson himself, Drinkwater is despatched to the Red Sea on an urgent mission. Soon he is on a thrilling naval operation on the flank of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.

Genres: Historical Fiction

Paperback

First published January 20, 2000

About the author

Captain Richard Martin Woodman was an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37-year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full-time.

Reviews

[Reni]

I cannot bring myself to finish this. I simply cannot.

I really want to get into this series because you hear nothing but praise for the amount of research that went into this series. I have frequently heard that in terms of reasearch Woodman is as good as it can get in this genre. Also, supposedly the later volumes are better written. Which is why I'm skipping ahead a couple of books, and maybe (maybe!) if I like them better, I will be giving the other two stories in this volume another chance.

I really did not enjoy this one.

There are good ideas in this book. It even explores themes I have never before seen touched as openly in the genre (like the systematic sexual abuse in the service that is here even directed at the hero, but rarely ever actually gets hinted at in other, more famous series. Yet in this book the topic is addressed in its own sideplot that spans the whole first book, and might be said to tie the other, more episodic adventures of our hero together), I only wish they could have been addressed in a more competently written novel.

The writing is all over the place, by which I mean both that the actual prose is terrible as well as that the basic rules of good story telling are being ignored (especially show -- don't tell!. Example: There is a particular annoying scene in which the narration informs us, in the exact words, that this is the moment the main character stopped being a boy and became a man -- you know, instead of letting us readers notice that change for ourselves after seeing him actually develope, instead of showing us that his way of looking at the world as changed. It's frustrating beyond words). There is nothing wrong with the actual plot and ideas found in this book, its just the execution that at no point does justice to its subject matter.

There are too many nonsensical narrative perspecitves of random characters inserted that add nothing either to suspense or plot advancement (e.g. we get about half a page told from the perspective from a French officer literally 5 minutes before he dies).

The characters (perhaps with exception of the main character) feel lifeless. Characters do things all the time but they don't have motifs. And even when we do get a few sentences detailing why a character acts like they do (e.g. the villainous midshipman) these motifs remain rather hazy, metaphysical and therefore read rather superficial and clichéd. The dialogue feels pretty lifeless as well, despite the frequent use of accents which are, in fact, either annoying and/or at times even offensive.


The book simply makes me angry because it could have been a great read as it highlights some aspects of the period previously ignored by the classics of the genre. Yet, it was a real struggle for me to get even through the first novel collected in this volume.

However, I am not rating this book yet in case I really do come back and finish it sometime soon.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Need a greater knowledge of sailing to appreciate it more.

[Catherine O'toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story gives a fascinating insight into life as a sailor aboard ships of the British naval fleet, from the American civil war to the rise of Napolean Bonaparte. The battles between ships are fiercely exciting, though I found the politics quite dry. I found the third book much more enjoyable as the wider politics gave way to the characters personal vendettas.
I would advise anyone reading this book to look up the nautical terms as you come across them, as every second sentence is full of them. Do you know what a mizen mast is? The difference between starboard and larboard? What the fo'c's'les, the spanker, the topgallent and the binnicle is? What it is to be raked? By the end of the book you'll still be wondering if you don't look them up. If you do, you stand to learn a lot and make book come to life for you.