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Kestrel on the Horizon
Nathaniel Collins, captain of the Golden Horizon, seems to have everything a man could want, freedom to ride the seas, articles from His Majesty on hand, a new slave, and a great ship.
He has one thorn in his side, though, pirate captain Thomas Harrison of the Kestrel. Harrison is Collins’ former captain and they parted on less than amicable terms.
This version is out of print. If you want the new edition, 10% longer, and more historically accurate, go to Privateer's Treasure.
He has one thorn in his side, though, pirate captain Thomas Harrison of the Kestrel. Harrison is Collins’ former captain and they parted on less than amicable terms.
This version is out of print. If you want the new edition, 10% longer, and more historically accurate, go to Privateer's Treasure.
166 pages, ebook
First published February 27, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 19, 2023
2.25 stars
April 8, 2011
When I read this book’s blurb I thought: this is going to be great, from the sounds of it it’s going to be a cross between Laura Baumbach’s Details of the hunt and Fae Sutherland's Lotus in the Wild. Both of which are books I loved. I can't believe how wrong I was.
It started out well and I was really enjoying it. Nathaniel was a very kind man and I loved that he had bought Adlai because he saw such sorrow in his eyes that he wished to see him happy, to be the one to make him happy. Nathaniel was capitan of the Golden Horizon, a ship he had acquired when it was given to him by his ex-mentor, lover and captain of The Kestrel, who had expected them to join forces and become a fleet. However, looking to finally be free of him he ran with the ship and he and Thomas had been enemies ever since.
Nathaniel's interactions with Adlai showed him to be a considerate and gentle man, he would only take to his bed those who were willing, so even though he wanted Adlai very badly he never came close to forcing him. I liked Adlai also, the bastard mixed race son of the plantation owner who died with heavy debt, he had never been able to be acknowledged by his father and as such had painfully grown up as a slave instead of the heir he should have been.
I found Thomas and his lover Sadim to be very interesting characters in their own right. They were vicious and evil and I was looking forward to finally reading of a villain who measured up to the plot. Thomas, scorned by his lover and still in love with him had always had the intention of making him his again and as such always pursued him. At times his intention seemed to be to want to torture him and at others he seemed to want to make him his lover again.
My first problem with the book was the passages Harrison and Sadim dominated. I hadn't realised they would have such big parts in the story to the point where practically half of the book was theirs. Yet what we saw about them was basically them talking about their plans to torture Nathaniel and Ardlai followed by them having sex. Over and over and over again. (To be fair, once they did talk about going shopping before the sex began).
My main problem however was the love triangle? Square? Hexagon? that formed half way throughout the book and I had no way of expecting. Thomas had never made a secret of his desire for Nathaniel and him and Sadim planned to make him suffer. They chose to do so by kidnapping his slave. In the midst of one of the battles they had at sea they did so aided by a traitor on Nathaniel's ship. This turned into weeks of rape and desperation for Adlai which he bore by making Thomas believe he had become his willing captive and would turn into his spy on Nathaniel's ship. And what does Thomas demand as payment for Adlai's return? To have sex with Nathaniel. Which he went through with and actually enjoyed. It all basically turned into a mass orgy at this point (just a wee bit of an exageration) and by the end of the book most everybody had had sex with everybody else (not an exageration).
There was absolutely no consistency character wise. We find out half way through the book that Nathaniel after all of Thomas' cruelty actually still misses him (Excuse me? Didn't you hate him a second ago? Didn't you just profess your love for Adlai? Wasn't your lover just raped by your ex?) and at one point he even wishes they could find a way to start a truce, so they could keep on having sex (weren't you just hating him for raping your lover and having him beaten by Thomas' own?). Nathaniel wanted to get back together with the man who had once hung him from a rafter and had sex with him, the man who had beat him to a bloody pulp when he asked to top? I am to believe that Nathaniel still wanted Thomas after being so cruel and after saying to Adlai himself
By this stage I disliked all of the characters and by the end of the book I didn't wish for any of them to get a HEA, it had turned into a shakesperean tragedy and it deserved to end as one. I ended up disbelieving Nathaniel actually loved Adlai and in no way was I rooting for their relationship.
It started out well and I was really enjoying it. Nathaniel was a very kind man and I loved that he had bought Adlai because he saw such sorrow in his eyes that he wished to see him happy, to be the one to make him happy. Nathaniel was capitan of the Golden Horizon, a ship he had acquired when it was given to him by his ex-mentor, lover and captain of The Kestrel, who had expected them to join forces and become a fleet. However, looking to finally be free of him he ran with the ship and he and Thomas had been enemies ever since.
Nathaniel's interactions with Adlai showed him to be a considerate and gentle man, he would only take to his bed those who were willing, so even though he wanted Adlai very badly he never came close to forcing him. I liked Adlai also, the bastard mixed race son of the plantation owner who died with heavy debt, he had never been able to be acknowledged by his father and as such had painfully grown up as a slave instead of the heir he should have been.
I found Thomas and his lover Sadim to be very interesting characters in their own right. They were vicious and evil and I was looking forward to finally reading of a villain who measured up to the plot. Thomas, scorned by his lover and still in love with him had always had the intention of making him his again and as such always pursued him. At times his intention seemed to be to want to torture him and at others he seemed to want to make him his lover again.
My first problem with the book was the passages Harrison and Sadim dominated. I hadn't realised they would have such big parts in the story to the point where practically half of the book was theirs. Yet what we saw about them was basically them talking about their plans to torture Nathaniel and Ardlai followed by them having sex. Over and over and over again. (To be fair, once they did talk about going shopping before the sex began).
My main problem however was the love triangle? Square? Hexagon? that formed half way throughout the book and I had no way of expecting. Thomas had never made a secret of his desire for Nathaniel and him and Sadim planned to make him suffer. They chose to do so by kidnapping his slave. In the midst of one of the battles they had at sea they did so aided by a traitor on Nathaniel's ship. This turned into weeks of rape and desperation for Adlai which he bore by making Thomas believe he had become his willing captive and would turn into his spy on Nathaniel's ship. And what does Thomas demand as payment for Adlai's return? To have sex with Nathaniel. Which he went through with and actually enjoyed. It all basically turned into a mass orgy at this point (just a wee bit of an exageration) and by the end of the book most everybody had had sex with everybody else (not an exageration).
There was absolutely no consistency character wise. We find out half way through the book that Nathaniel after all of Thomas' cruelty actually still misses him (Excuse me? Didn't you hate him a second ago? Didn't you just profess your love for Adlai? Wasn't your lover just raped by your ex?) and at one point he even wishes they could find a way to start a truce, so they could keep on having sex (weren't you just hating him for raping your lover and having him beaten by Thomas' own?). Nathaniel wanted to get back together with the man who had once hung him from a rafter and had sex with him, the man who had beat him to a bloody pulp when he asked to top? I am to believe that Nathaniel still wanted Thomas after being so cruel and after saying to Adlai himself
Someday, I'm going to kill him. Then I'm going to mark his body with every scar he put on me. Then ill cut out his black and rotted heart for the sharks...
By this stage I disliked all of the characters and by the end of the book I didn't wish for any of them to get a HEA, it had turned into a shakesperean tragedy and it deserved to end as one. I ended up disbelieving Nathaniel actually loved Adlai and in no way was I rooting for their relationship.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 21, 2009Here a book where I like both the hero and the villain...
Harrison and Collins are legal pirates, both sailing under English flag and mostly trading but also attacking French or Spanish vessels. Collins was the second in command of Harrison and also his lover. Harrison was the first man for Collins and he has taught him everything, as a Captain and a lover. But Harrison is not a man who can accept an equal lover in bed and when Collins stopped to be a boy and grew in a man, he has chosen a separate path. A path that Harrison has not accepted well and he takes every chance he has to meet and clash with his ex lover. Harrison in the end is still in love with Collins, even if now he has a new lover, a Moroccan boy named Samir.
And also Collins is falling in love for a boy, Adlai, a half-blood slave, son of a wealthy man, dead without freed him. And so Adlai was sold as a slave and Collins bought him, enthralled by the blue eyes of the boy and by the sadness he read in them. Adlai is used to be hurt and when Collins is gentle with him he doesn't know how react. Step by step, with tender and caring, Collins will conquer the boy, but Adlai makes a big mistake, believing that Collins is not a pirate like Harrison: Collins indeed is very much like his former lover and this is the reason why the two of them, even if in love with each other, can't live together. Love between Collins and Adlai is tender and sweet, is something that could last forever and warm them while aging. Love between Collins and Harrison is rough and passionate and could only led to destruction.
The novel is almost a classic on piracy, with four wonderful characters: I like also very much Samir, and can understand him and his greediness; a boy who had nothing and that finally finds happiness in the arms of Harrison. But still he is like a child, born in harsh condition, and that clinges to everything he can reach, both things than a man. Obviously the positive characters of this story are Collins and Adlai, but it's difficult not to feel also for Harrison and Samir.
The details seem to me pretty accurate and there are also some "sexual" words I have never heard and maybe cause they are "old" and so it's interesting to read a sex scene decipts with "appropriate" words for the period.
I think this is a book that could appeal very much to who loves the classical tales about piracy, to who loves a bit of adventure in his romance, and to who has a kink for pretty boys ravished by "cruel" pirates...
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/25...
Harrison and Collins are legal pirates, both sailing under English flag and mostly trading but also attacking French or Spanish vessels. Collins was the second in command of Harrison and also his lover. Harrison was the first man for Collins and he has taught him everything, as a Captain and a lover. But Harrison is not a man who can accept an equal lover in bed and when Collins stopped to be a boy and grew in a man, he has chosen a separate path. A path that Harrison has not accepted well and he takes every chance he has to meet and clash with his ex lover. Harrison in the end is still in love with Collins, even if now he has a new lover, a Moroccan boy named Samir.
And also Collins is falling in love for a boy, Adlai, a half-blood slave, son of a wealthy man, dead without freed him. And so Adlai was sold as a slave and Collins bought him, enthralled by the blue eyes of the boy and by the sadness he read in them. Adlai is used to be hurt and when Collins is gentle with him he doesn't know how react. Step by step, with tender and caring, Collins will conquer the boy, but Adlai makes a big mistake, believing that Collins is not a pirate like Harrison: Collins indeed is very much like his former lover and this is the reason why the two of them, even if in love with each other, can't live together. Love between Collins and Adlai is tender and sweet, is something that could last forever and warm them while aging. Love between Collins and Harrison is rough and passionate and could only led to destruction.
The novel is almost a classic on piracy, with four wonderful characters: I like also very much Samir, and can understand him and his greediness; a boy who had nothing and that finally finds happiness in the arms of Harrison. But still he is like a child, born in harsh condition, and that clinges to everything he can reach, both things than a man. Obviously the positive characters of this story are Collins and Adlai, but it's difficult not to feel also for Harrison and Samir.
The details seem to me pretty accurate and there are also some "sexual" words I have never heard and maybe cause they are "old" and so it's interesting to read a sex scene decipts with "appropriate" words for the period.
I think this is a book that could appeal very much to who loves the classical tales about piracy, to who loves a bit of adventure in his romance, and to who has a kink for pretty boys ravished by "cruel" pirates...
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/25...
December 1, 2014
I am one of those quirky readers who must finish a book no matter how intolerable I find it; nor can I start another new book. I thought this might be my first DNF, but instead I ended up not reading any new books for 3 months. I reread old favorites while reading small sections of this story as I could. I have not gone that long since 2007 without reading something new.
I found this story disturbing on so many levels. I just plain felt icky after I was done. The authors tried ending the story with the idea of a brighter future, but I did not feel any hope for it. Nothing in how the two main captains were betrayed makes me believe their obsessions or hunting are over. The back & forth of "loved" or "not loved" (because just a possession) was confusing especially for the two antagonists. Nathaniel's cruelty seemed out of the blue & unnecessary, though an attempt was made to explain. The thinking to turn the slave into a spy was never acted upon or mentioned after his return. We were made to believe he'd fooled them. Gritty it definitely accomplished which I don't typically mind. I don't like to be all negative, so I'm not going to keep on with all my other issues etc... On a positive note, I liked Nathaniel's patience in the beginning & how the relationship developed at first. I think I will leave it at that.
I found this story disturbing on so many levels. I just plain felt icky after I was done. The authors tried ending the story with the idea of a brighter future, but I did not feel any hope for it. Nothing in how the two main captains were betrayed makes me believe their obsessions or hunting are over. The back & forth of "loved" or "not loved" (because just a possession) was confusing especially for the two antagonists. Nathaniel's cruelty seemed out of the blue & unnecessary, though an attempt was made to explain. The thinking to turn the slave into a spy was never acted upon or mentioned after his return. We were made to believe he'd fooled them. Gritty it definitely accomplished which I don't typically mind. I don't like to be all negative, so I'm not going to keep on with all my other issues etc... On a positive note, I liked Nathaniel's patience in the beginning & how the relationship developed at first. I think I will leave it at that.
May 31, 2017
out of print and staying that way.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews