Jackass Frigate (The Fighting Sail Series Book 2)

Mr. Bond certainly can tell a good story. The premise of the story was well found in that the events seemed plausible. Mr. Bond captures that monotony at sea fairly well (I was in the Navy for 30 years). He also uses daily life at sea to develop the characters so that we gain understanding and insight into most of them. There were parts of this story that didn't seem to really have a place in that they didn't really advance it but simply were apparently there for color I suppose. One thing I seem to have a harder time with in these books is keeping track of the characters. I had to print out the guide list of characters to keep up in book one but that option wasn't possible in book two. There aren't a lot of characters, it's just that some are fleshed out better than others and those are the easier ones to place as they resurface throughout the text. Most of the time I don't get the impression that there is an accurate picture of how wind affects sailing. I'm not a square rigged sailor but I have a very clear and detailed understanding of wind at sea and I just can't make it do some of the things Mr. Bond does. Those are my only gripes. I love a good sea story and I'll keep reading The Fighting Sail Series. I won't say the stories are spectacular but they are certainly entertaining and worth my investment. I recommend the series so far through book 2 and suggest you start on book 1 and keep reading if this is the first book you're considering.

This is the second volume of a Napoleonic War naval saga, and most of the characters from the initial volume have duly reappeared. In this book, they are on board a light frigate (28 guns) during the time of the naval mutinies of 1798 and in operations off the Dutch Coast, culminating in the Battle of Camperdown. The author knows his history and this volume is noticeably longer than his first. This has resulted in a longer story line, as well as more about the individual characters. There is also a romantic interest, albeit an improbable one - but these are pc times. On the down side, the author's treatment of Admiral Duncan verges on worship, one of the inciters of the Naval Mutiny delivers what sounded very much like a Marxist rant well ahead of Marx's birth, and some of the internal monologues are less than convincing. That said, the book reads very well and i am looking forward to buying the next volume.

This is the second book in Alaric Bond's "Fighting Sail" series. I previously reviewed the first book in the series, His Majesty's Ship, on this blog.Like His Majesty's Ship, Mr. Bond does a fine job with this tale of the voyage of Pandora (the jackass frigate herself). What is a jackass frigate, you ask? I will encourage you to read the book to find out.There are many series of novels in the sub-genre of Age of Sail fiction. However, I have found only a few whose first book encouraged me to read further in the series. Mr. Bond's first effort, however, did so entice me to travel onward. The Jackass Frigate did not disappoint, and I look forward to the rest of the series.What attracts me the most to the "Fighting Sail" series is Bond's attention to the men of the lower deck. So much of this genre is populated by characters who are officers in the Royal Navy, so Bond's approach is refreshing. While he does not neglect the upper ranks, the common jack tar gets equal billing.Like the first book, The Jackass Frigate has multiple viewpoint characters, sometimes changing within individual scenes, but Bond has the ability to keep the reader's focus clear. His relatively short scenes and forward flow of narrative makes the book an easy read.One of the sub-plots I enjoyed was the "ghost" who appeared here and there throughout most of the story, though I admit I almost wished that thread had run a bit longer. However, I can see why Bond revealed the truth behind the "ghost" because shortly thereafter is when the book crescendos to its climactic scene-a fleet action with the Spanish, during which the Pandora serves as signal ship for the British line-of-battle ships.I'm not someone who reads historical fiction to "meet" real-life people as characters, but I did enjoy Bond including the famous Lord Nelson in the final battle. This was the first time I had seen an author rise to that challenge, and Bond does a seamless treatment of the fabled naval hero.