Seaflower

I’ve just completed the third novel, Seaflower, in Julian Stockwin‘s Kydd series. This one is set in the Caribbean and involves Kydd leading a band of sailors on a land-based assault through a sugar plantation, spending time working ashore in a dockyard and then taking on gradually more and more responsibility on the cutter Seaflower until being shipwrecked on a remote island. Kydd’s increasingly visible leadership qualities eventually get him the responsibility of taking an important diplomatic figure off the island on long-boat – thereby consolidating his growing reputation and, presumably, leading to further advancement in the next book.

These books are pretty light reading and whilst they attempt to give lots of detail on the seamanship involved, in this respect they are not a patch on Patrick O’Brian’s Captain Aubrey series. That’s not to say that the book wasn’t an enjoyable read – sometimes it’s good just to read a story without too much complication around the edges.