Ship of the Line by CS Forester
Seventh (or second) of the Hornblower books. After reading seven of these, I’m still amazed at how fresh and new they can be. I do need a break, though, so this will be the last one for a bit while I turn to other things.
In this one, Hornblower is given his first ship fo the line, the 74-gun Sutherland. He also meets up again with Lady Barbara who has married his boss, Admiral Leighton. Enter the self-doubt on overtime. This, the second as written, has already moved into the three-or-four-short-stories-in-a-book format that seems to follow through the rest. It also takes quite a while to get going. He doesn’t get to sea until chapter 5.
This one is also different in that he’s not entirely successful. An aborted shore attack fails because of Spanish [treachery|laziness] and an [incompetant|inexperience] Leighton. And the final battle, while exciting, is against overwhelming 4:1 odds. Exactly what happens is left in a cliffhanger.
