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The Colonial Series #3
The Queen's Captain
In October 1863, Ian Steele, having taken on the identity of Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting the Pashtun on the north-west frontier in India. Half a world away, the real Samuel Forbes is a lieutenant in the 3rd New York Volunteers and is facing the Confederates at the Battle of Mission Ridge in Tennessee. Neither is aware their lives will change beyond recognition in the year to come.
In London, Ella, the love of Ian's life, is unhappily married to Count Nikolai Kasatkin. As their relationship sours further, she tries to reclaim the son she and Ian share, but Nikolai makes a move that sees the boy sent far from Ella's reach.
As 1864 dawns, Ian is posted to the battlefields of the Waikato in New Zealand, where he comes face to face with an old nemesis. As the ten-year agreement between Steele and Forbes nears its end, their foe is desperate to catch them out and cruel all their hopes for the future...
In London, Ella, the love of Ian's life, is unhappily married to Count Nikolai Kasatkin. As their relationship sours further, she tries to reclaim the son she and Ian share, but Nikolai makes a move that sees the boy sent far from Ella's reach.
As 1864 dawns, Ian is posted to the battlefields of the Waikato in New Zealand, where he comes face to face with an old nemesis. As the ten-year agreement between Steele and Forbes nears its end, their foe is desperate to catch them out and cruel all their hopes for the future...
- GenresHistorical Fiction
368 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2021
About the author
Peter Watt
61 books126 followersPeter Watt's life experiences have included time as a soldier, articled clerk to a solicitor, prawn trawler deckhand, builder's labourer, pipe layer, real estate salesman, private investigator, police sergeant and adviser to the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. He has lived and worked with Aborigines, Islanders, Vietnamese and Papua New Guineans.
He speaks, reads and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin - and has a reasonable grasp of the English language. He currently lives in Maclean, on the Clarence River in Northern NSW.
Good friends, fine food, fishing and the vast open spaces of outback Queensland are his main interests in life. He also enjoys SCUBA diving, military history, crosswords (but not the cryptic kind) and teaching.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Management, the Australian Institute of Training and Development and the Australian Society of Authors.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (University of Tasmania), Post Graduate Diploma of Training & Development (University of New England) and an Associate Diploma of Justice Administration (Sturt University).
He speaks, reads and writes Vietnamese and Pidgin - and has a reasonable grasp of the English language. He currently lives in Maclean, on the Clarence River in Northern NSW.
Good friends, fine food, fishing and the vast open spaces of outback Queensland are his main interests in life. He also enjoys SCUBA diving, military history, crosswords (but not the cryptic kind) and teaching.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Management, the Australian Institute of Training and Development and the Australian Society of Authors.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (University of Tasmania), Post Graduate Diploma of Training & Development (University of New England) and an Associate Diploma of Justice Administration (Sturt University).
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 12, 2020
Captain Ian Steele, known to his men as Captain Samuel Forbes, and his Sergeant, Conan Curry were fighting the Pushtun in India which had been going on for months. The real Samuel Forbes was fighting his own war in Tennessee with only a selected few aware of the swap of identities and the reason for it. Back home in London, Ella Kasatkin would secretly visit her five-year-old son Josiah whom she’d been told had died at birth. But Ella had discovered Josiah in the care of one of her father’s men, Bert, and his wife, who loved the boy, educating him as he grew. He knew his mother as Aunt Ella. But when Ella’s brutal husband discovered the truth, he shipped Josiah to the colonies of New South Wales in the care of a kind Christian man and his wife.
When Ian and Conan were posted to New Zealand, there was only months left on their commission and both were leaving the army and brutal warfare for civilian life. Ian would live in his past home of New South Wales, catching up with old friends and forging new bonds. Would both men have the future they craved? Was it possible after ten years of killing and brutality to feel safe and secure? They would miss the brotherhood of their men, but peace beckoned.
The Queen’s Captain is the third and final episode of The Queen’s Trilogy by Aussie author Peter Watt and I enjoyed it very much. I felt there was a little too much focus on the fighting and bloodshed, but the main story surrounding Ella, Ian and Josiah was well done. A fitting conclusion to the trilogy, with my recommendation that they be read in order of publication to fully appreciate the characters as they move through the 1800s. Recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
When Ian and Conan were posted to New Zealand, there was only months left on their commission and both were leaving the army and brutal warfare for civilian life. Ian would live in his past home of New South Wales, catching up with old friends and forging new bonds. Would both men have the future they craved? Was it possible after ten years of killing and brutality to feel safe and secure? They would miss the brotherhood of their men, but peace beckoned.
The Queen’s Captain is the third and final episode of The Queen’s Trilogy by Aussie author Peter Watt and I enjoyed it very much. I felt there was a little too much focus on the fighting and bloodshed, but the main story surrounding Ella, Ian and Josiah was well done. A fitting conclusion to the trilogy, with my recommendation that they be read in order of publication to fully appreciate the characters as they move through the 1800s. Recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
September 7, 2020
I haven't read any of the previous books in the trilogy but the author does enough to fill in the highlights of the previous books. I assume they are all as full as action, good guys, bad guys and heroines as this one.
The action flits between the English in the NW of the then India, the US Civil War, the Maori Wars in NZ and the conniving of the upper classes back in England.
This is not a literary masterpiece but it is an entertaining read that is certainly full of storylines with characters who impersonate each other, are secretly in love, are separated by happenstance, are kidnapped, are plotting revenge or fleeing from their responsibilities. Pleasingly it is also sympathetic to the inhabitants the English are fighting.
The action flits between the English in the NW of the then India, the US Civil War, the Maori Wars in NZ and the conniving of the upper classes back in England.
This is not a literary masterpiece but it is an entertaining read that is certainly full of storylines with characters who impersonate each other, are secretly in love, are separated by happenstance, are kidnapped, are plotting revenge or fleeing from their responsibilities. Pleasingly it is also sympathetic to the inhabitants the English are fighting.
August 31, 2021
The Queen’s Captain, which completes Peter Watt’s Colonial trilogy, is a patchwork of intriguing mystery, selective snippets of history and postcolonial/ethnocentric fable.
Mystery surrounds the pact between Samuel Forbes, son of a wealthy English aristocrat who fights in the American Civil War and the blacksmith Ian Steele impersonating Forbes in India, Australia and New Zealand and their complex personal relationships. Ian is involved with two women. The first (Jane) disappears. The second (Ella) appears out of reach being Jewish with a socially ambitious father. Ella does not tell Ian about their son who she is forced to relinquish before being married to the abusive Count Nikolai. Samuel’s homosexual relationship with James is equally controversial. Readers are kept guessing about the outcomes of the machinations of Samuel’s villainous brother Charles and Nikolai.
The historical elements are patchy in their depth and accuracy.
For example, the Indian rebellions of 1857 are described as a mutiny of Indian sepoys, supposedly called ‘fanatical Hindustanis’ by British administrators. We learn nothing about the reasons for the mutiny or the struggles of other Indians whose realms and livelihoods were decimated by the British. The only Indian who features in some depth is the super-servile ruler oddly referred to as ‘the Khan’ who requires Ian’s assistance to recover lost treasure and his abducted son and wife.
Similarly, the Australian Aboriginal people are dismissed as ‘savage natives’ (p 306) threatening British invaders, with no mention of the devastation wrought on their lives.
‘Colonial notions of egalitarianism’ (p 4) are not evident in the depictions of Indians and Australian Aboriginal peoples. The pontifications by Samuel and James on the evils of slavery also ring hollow (p 40, 85).
Curiously, the Maoris of New Zealand are extolled for their military prowess and there is some recognition of their right to defend themselves.
The ugly side of colonial policies is only occasionally revealed through the graphic depictions of the killing of even the lightly wounded Pashtoons fighting a ‘jihad’ to protect their country and Ian’s cynical comment about the British bringing ‘civilisation to the ignorant heathens’.
It is not clear if the differing attitudes are only of the protagonists or the author’s as well, given the only historical sources Watt acknowledges relate to the Pashtoon and Maori sections.
Works like these highlight the importance of increasing debate about the need for writers of fiction to embed their creations in sound factual research and ethical storytelling and for the pool of reviewers and readers to become more diverse.
Mystery surrounds the pact between Samuel Forbes, son of a wealthy English aristocrat who fights in the American Civil War and the blacksmith Ian Steele impersonating Forbes in India, Australia and New Zealand and their complex personal relationships. Ian is involved with two women. The first (Jane) disappears. The second (Ella) appears out of reach being Jewish with a socially ambitious father. Ella does not tell Ian about their son who she is forced to relinquish before being married to the abusive Count Nikolai. Samuel’s homosexual relationship with James is equally controversial. Readers are kept guessing about the outcomes of the machinations of Samuel’s villainous brother Charles and Nikolai.
The historical elements are patchy in their depth and accuracy.
For example, the Indian rebellions of 1857 are described as a mutiny of Indian sepoys, supposedly called ‘fanatical Hindustanis’ by British administrators. We learn nothing about the reasons for the mutiny or the struggles of other Indians whose realms and livelihoods were decimated by the British. The only Indian who features in some depth is the super-servile ruler oddly referred to as ‘the Khan’ who requires Ian’s assistance to recover lost treasure and his abducted son and wife.
Similarly, the Australian Aboriginal people are dismissed as ‘savage natives’ (p 306) threatening British invaders, with no mention of the devastation wrought on their lives.
‘Colonial notions of egalitarianism’ (p 4) are not evident in the depictions of Indians and Australian Aboriginal peoples. The pontifications by Samuel and James on the evils of slavery also ring hollow (p 40, 85).
Curiously, the Maoris of New Zealand are extolled for their military prowess and there is some recognition of their right to defend themselves.
The ugly side of colonial policies is only occasionally revealed through the graphic depictions of the killing of even the lightly wounded Pashtoons fighting a ‘jihad’ to protect their country and Ian’s cynical comment about the British bringing ‘civilisation to the ignorant heathens’.
It is not clear if the differing attitudes are only of the protagonists or the author’s as well, given the only historical sources Watt acknowledges relate to the Pashtoon and Maori sections.
Works like these highlight the importance of increasing debate about the need for writers of fiction to embed their creations in sound factual research and ethical storytelling and for the pool of reviewers and readers to become more diverse.
November 3, 2020
The Queen’s Captain is the third book following the wartime experiences of two men from very different backgrounds, during the reign of Queen Victoria. It is possible to read this book as a stand alone because the reader is provided with some of the background. But I will give you a synopsis.
In the first book, The Queen’s Colonial, we meet the hero, Ian Steele. He is a blacksmith in 1845, in a village outside of Sydney. He dreams of joining the British military and the opportunity is presented to him when he meets Second Lieutenant Samuel Forbes, from a wealthy aristocratic English family. Samuel hates fighting and the two men, who look very much alike, strike a bargain. Ian agrees to become Samuel and fight in his regiment for a period of ten years. He then can claim Samuel’s inheritance which the two men agree to share.
After fighting bravely in the Crimean war, Ian Steele, as Captain Samuel Forbes, goes on to fight in Persia and then India, where the second book, The Queen’s Tiger,is set. Ian returns to London where he has two different romances with two beautiful women. Jane is the mistress of his loathsome Forbes cousin and after she is murdered, he meets and falls for Elsa, the daughter of a very rich Jewish gangster. But because of his commitment to the 10 years of fighting as Captain Forbes, he is forced to love her and leave her.
Which brings us to the third and final book, The Queen’s Captain. Here things get rather murky. Ian Steele is fighting bravely in the Indian wars and at the same time the real Samuel Forbes has become a Lieutenant in the Third New York Volunteers and is fighting in the USA also as Samuel Forbes, against the soldiers of the Confederacy to free the slaves. Even tho he loathes war he joins to support the lofty ideals of his lover.
Elsa is now unhappily married to a Russian Count, who steals from her father, beats her and spends his money on prostitutes. She has given birth to Ian’s son who is sent away by the Count to exile in Australia.
Ian meanwhile, with his trusty sergeant watching his back, is sent to report on how her Majesty’s forces are doing as they attempt to steal the fertile lands away from the New Zealand Maoris.
Here he discovers that he is sick and tired of all the killing and yearns to find his love and their son and live happily ever after.
There is a lot of brutality and it is not for the squeamish. A lot of nasty people get killed which is very satisfying and nice people wind up with lots of nice money. So all in all a very satisfying ending to an historical tale.
!
In the first book, The Queen’s Colonial, we meet the hero, Ian Steele. He is a blacksmith in 1845, in a village outside of Sydney. He dreams of joining the British military and the opportunity is presented to him when he meets Second Lieutenant Samuel Forbes, from a wealthy aristocratic English family. Samuel hates fighting and the two men, who look very much alike, strike a bargain. Ian agrees to become Samuel and fight in his regiment for a period of ten years. He then can claim Samuel’s inheritance which the two men agree to share.
After fighting bravely in the Crimean war, Ian Steele, as Captain Samuel Forbes, goes on to fight in Persia and then India, where the second book, The Queen’s Tiger,is set. Ian returns to London where he has two different romances with two beautiful women. Jane is the mistress of his loathsome Forbes cousin and after she is murdered, he meets and falls for Elsa, the daughter of a very rich Jewish gangster. But because of his commitment to the 10 years of fighting as Captain Forbes, he is forced to love her and leave her.
Which brings us to the third and final book, The Queen’s Captain. Here things get rather murky. Ian Steele is fighting bravely in the Indian wars and at the same time the real Samuel Forbes has become a Lieutenant in the Third New York Volunteers and is fighting in the USA also as Samuel Forbes, against the soldiers of the Confederacy to free the slaves. Even tho he loathes war he joins to support the lofty ideals of his lover.
Elsa is now unhappily married to a Russian Count, who steals from her father, beats her and spends his money on prostitutes. She has given birth to Ian’s son who is sent away by the Count to exile in Australia.
Ian meanwhile, with his trusty sergeant watching his back, is sent to report on how her Majesty’s forces are doing as they attempt to steal the fertile lands away from the New Zealand Maoris.
Here he discovers that he is sick and tired of all the killing and yearns to find his love and their son and live happily ever after.
There is a lot of brutality and it is not for the squeamish. A lot of nasty people get killed which is very satisfying and nice people wind up with lots of nice money. So all in all a very satisfying ending to an historical tale.
!
January 25, 2021
This has been a really interesting and fun trilogy. I enjoyed the various situations the characters found themselves in. Pleasing that most of the bad guys got their comeuppance! Only complaints were the ending came very quickly and lots of things were wrapped up quite abruptly; and that clearly Ian was always going to survive whatever was thrown at him, just a bit too cute! Maybe there is room for more of the lives of these characters, would love to know how Ella, Conan and Ian got on in the net stage of their lives.
October 8, 2022
THE QUEEN’S CAPTAIN
Came across this ‘boy’s own’ novel just when I wanted an escape from the complex books I had been reading. It is full of political incorrectness and Watts has each character wondering if they did/said the right thing. I found this amusing as if he was apologising for writing it.
The story races along at a fast pace, keeping the reader’s attention. Sometimes too quickly and I forget which country I am in and who is the enemy. However, it’s a good read for passing a few hours with a minimum of fuss.
Came across this ‘boy’s own’ novel just when I wanted an escape from the complex books I had been reading. It is full of political incorrectness and Watts has each character wondering if they did/said the right thing. I found this amusing as if he was apologising for writing it.
The story races along at a fast pace, keeping the reader’s attention. Sometimes too quickly and I forget which country I am in and who is the enemy. However, it’s a good read for passing a few hours with a minimum of fuss.
May 15, 2026
Novels set in remote Australia, overseas during battle in war, and in the UK. Intertwined family drama that follows a couple of families for many generations from around 1800 to mid-1900s. Historical information regarding the war & so on is correct & interesting, and there is lots of fictional drama & family relationships added in. Very good reading. Some is a bit gruesome about assault & incest during old times (definitely for adults only, and it was a bit gruesome for me). A really good series. RD
November 16, 2020
A disappointing end to the trilogy. Nowhere near the equal of the first two books. Rather uninspiring at times. It honestly felt like the last part where some of the characters end up in New Zealand fighting the Maori was just thrown in to add another campaign to the list of those in which many of the characters have fought. The stories that surrounded those battles could have happened anywhere, and not a whole lot was seen of the Maori warriors.
September 7, 2021
Felt the writing lacked sophistication. I started to feel almost uninterested toward the end as I felt it was so incredibly obvious how the story was going to unfold as all the moving places fell into place.
I would say that I enjoyed this book the least of the three because it was so predictable and I felt the New Zealand part of the story was almost a filler as opposed to really contributing much to the story.
I would say that I enjoyed this book the least of the three because it was so predictable and I felt the New Zealand part of the story was almost a filler as opposed to really contributing much to the story.
December 25, 2020
Awesome end to a fantastic series. I also really liked the way this book ties into the Duffy series as well as the Silent Frontier it's really well done and brings back reminders of the other books and fills in a few gaps.
January 8, 2021
Did the Army or those in high position win
A great read hence the 5 stars. Who made it through to the end those with money or those fighting the battles. You will have to read the book to find out but it will be worth it.
A great read hence the 5 stars. Who made it through to the end those with money or those fighting the battles. You will have to read the book to find out but it will be worth it.
February 28, 2021
I haven’t read the previous books in this series which had such great reviews. As a stand alone story I liked the format and writing which is good and brings alive the historical aspect with romance and comradeship. However, it did border on being tired as an ending to a series.
March 11, 2023
Loved it - well it together and a great finish to the trilogy. BUT, I do think that there could be a very credible book to cover what happens after. We have such great characters and I think that one more book is needed…please consider this Peter Watt!
January 7, 2025
First timer to Peter Watt and I really enjoyed the book. Didnt need to read books 1 & 2 first as he explains the earlier happenings during the book - tho it took me a while to catch up fully.
Yep I'll read some more of his thanks!!
Yep I'll read some more of his thanks!!
Read
November 19, 2020Last of the Trilogy. Very well written from Australian author.
Lots of war episodes blended with familial drama and crime.
Lots of war episodes blended with familial drama and crime.
November 19, 2021
An engaging series. Peter Watt pins a fine tale with interesting characters and a story line including some actual historical events.
December 25, 2021
The third in the series following the same characters. All of the loose ends are tied up in a reasonably satisfying way.
November 5, 2022
Rattling good conclusion to the triligy where everything gets tied up in the end. Unlikely sequence of events at times.... But enjoyable.
December 6, 2022
What a brilliant read and I was enthralled from page 1
An excellent series that had me hooked throughout.
An excellent series that had me hooked throughout.
March 25, 2023
Another beaut book from Peter Watt 😊😊
March 10, 2024
Another incredible, fantastic, page turning read Peter Watt has provided for his fans. I don’t know why I didn’t get to see this book earlier. Thanks for the thrilling history and entertainment Pete.
January 24, 2025
Ian Steele is continuing to be known as Captain Samuel Forbes, however, wars in India, then being sent to New Zealand to help with the Maori fighting against the British army.
December 4, 2020
I received a copy of The Queen's Captain from Pan Macmillan to review.
Rating of 4.5.
One of Australia’s top historical fiction authors, Peter Watt, wraps up his ultra-exciting Colonial series with the third and final novel, The Queen’s Captain.
In October 1863, Ian Steele is still fighting for the British crown as Captain Samuel Forbes, known to his men as the Queen’s Colonial. After helping to put down the Indian Mutiny, Samuel and his comrades, including his long-time friend Sergeant Major Conan Curry, are fighting the Pashtun in the treacherous mountain passes on the north-western frontier of India. With only a few months left until the 10-year deal with the real Samuel Forbes concludes, Ian is determined to survive so he can claim his reward and finally settle down. However, with his typical bad luck, he finds himself drawn into several high-profile missions, including a dangerous operation to eliminate a murderous rebel army camped in the jungle.
As Ian fights for Queen and country, his friends are engaged in their own adventures. In America, the real Samuel Forbes has followed the man he loves into battle, become a lieutenant in the Union army to fight the Confederates. Back in London, Ella, the women Ian loves, has entered into an unhappy marriage to Russian Count Nikolai Kasatkin. Determined to have one piece of happiness, Ella attempts to reclaim the son she had with Ian, but the jealous Nikolai will do the unthinkable to spite her. At the same time, Samuel’s ruthless older brother, Charles Forbes, continues his relentless bid for power and money, while still determined to prove that the Samuel serving in the British army is an imposter.
All of this will come to a head down in the colonies in 1864. As Ian is transferred to New Zealand to provide advice to the soldiers fighting against the determined Maori, he will come face to face with an old enemy, and the final chapters of his story will be told. Friends will die, people will be changed in unexpected ways and the Queen’s Colonial will fight his last battle. How will the story end?
To see the full review, click the link below:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2020/11/18/...
An abridged version of this review ran in the Canberra Weekly on 3 December 2020:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2020/12/04/...
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
Rating of 4.5.
One of Australia’s top historical fiction authors, Peter Watt, wraps up his ultra-exciting Colonial series with the third and final novel, The Queen’s Captain.
In October 1863, Ian Steele is still fighting for the British crown as Captain Samuel Forbes, known to his men as the Queen’s Colonial. After helping to put down the Indian Mutiny, Samuel and his comrades, including his long-time friend Sergeant Major Conan Curry, are fighting the Pashtun in the treacherous mountain passes on the north-western frontier of India. With only a few months left until the 10-year deal with the real Samuel Forbes concludes, Ian is determined to survive so he can claim his reward and finally settle down. However, with his typical bad luck, he finds himself drawn into several high-profile missions, including a dangerous operation to eliminate a murderous rebel army camped in the jungle.
As Ian fights for Queen and country, his friends are engaged in their own adventures. In America, the real Samuel Forbes has followed the man he loves into battle, become a lieutenant in the Union army to fight the Confederates. Back in London, Ella, the women Ian loves, has entered into an unhappy marriage to Russian Count Nikolai Kasatkin. Determined to have one piece of happiness, Ella attempts to reclaim the son she had with Ian, but the jealous Nikolai will do the unthinkable to spite her. At the same time, Samuel’s ruthless older brother, Charles Forbes, continues his relentless bid for power and money, while still determined to prove that the Samuel serving in the British army is an imposter.
All of this will come to a head down in the colonies in 1864. As Ian is transferred to New Zealand to provide advice to the soldiers fighting against the determined Maori, he will come face to face with an old enemy, and the final chapters of his story will be told. Friends will die, people will be changed in unexpected ways and the Queen’s Colonial will fight his last battle. How will the story end?
To see the full review, click the link below:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2020/11/18/...
An abridged version of this review ran in the Canberra Weekly on 3 December 2020:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2020/12/04/...
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews