Jay WorrallCritiques

The mission is strange and there are lots to do as Charles moves on to command another frigate. British policies and neglect towards the ship's crew are compounded by the commitment to the lash by the previous tyrannical captain to create an ugly command environment. Not much action but hard work and lots of often thwarted promises get them to the Red Sea as a competent but not happy ship.
Edgemont's Admiralty orders give him, much to the dismay of the local admiral, the latitude to undertake his mission the prevent Napoleon from invading India. The rousing battle scenes conclude this series about a very overlooked part of the British Empire quite nicely½

Excellent second effort in, hopefully, a long series. Edgemont is married and off to sea; seeking Nelson, seeking the French. We meet the Hamiltons prior to Nelson's amorous connection with Emma. And Penny, Charles' Quaker wife arrives on the scene with Molly, her fallen woman rescue as her companion. Her intention is to fulfill her conjugal commitment and to get his approval for her business plan for his estate. He enjoys the former but has serious reservations about her involvement in the "manly" aspects of business. The counterplay between his conventional and her enlightened views of female capabilities are unusual for this age but add a touch of modernity.

Edgemont's good insights into training and managing his crew are similarly unique for that era but enables his little frigate to do prodigious nautical feats while turning a "Nelsonian blind eye" to unwanted commands from senior officers. Technical nautical terms abound but do not inhibit a good story seasoned by enough facts to stretch but not break the story line.

Good entry into, hopefully, a continuing series about the Napoleonic Wars. Good main characters, a thoughtful Quaker counterpoint which foretends an unconventional marriage. Lively action which aptly demonstrates that good luck is a very useful battle attribute. Putting his ship often in harm's way does require frequent visits to repair yards. An enlightened, probably unlikely, sequestering preserves his crew in an era where impressed men, convicts and rejects were far more likely sources. Solid nautical nomenclature and rational navigational orientation are demonstrated suitably by the naval persons½

Complete with adventure on the high-seas, likeable and well-developed characters, and easy to understand nautical dialogue, Sails on the Horizon is an immensely enjoyable read.

I love reading historical fiction, so I jumped all over this one, when I was offered the chance to review.

And I’m very happy for the opportunity to read it.
There’s lots of action and sub-plots at the beginning and the writing is great.
There are parts with lots of action, like the battle scenes, but there are also long stretches at sea, which could be tedious to read, but surprisingly aren’t. I thought it was very interesting to catch this glimpse of what life on board a ship at that time would have been like. The characters are all well developed with very distinctive personalities.

overall a book that could have been bad, but isn’t. A story that could have been boring but it riveting.

I love reading historical fiction, so I jumped all over this one, when I was offered the chance to review.

And I’m very happy for the opportunity to read it.
There’s lots of action and sub-plots at the beginning and the writing is great.
There are parts with lots of action, like the battle scenes, but there are also long stretches at sea, which could be tedious to read, but surprisingly aren’t. I thought it was very interesting to catch this glimpse of what life on board a ship at that time would have been like. The characters are all well developed with very distinctive personalities.

overall a book that could have been bad, but isn’t. A story that could have been boring but it riveting.

I love reading historical fiction, so I jumped all over this one, when I was offered the chance to review.

And I’m very happy for the opportunity to read it.
There’s lots of action and sub-plots at the beginning and the writing is great.
There are parts with lots of action, like the battle scenes, but there are also long stretches at sea, which could be tedious to read, but surprisingly aren’t. I thought it was very interesting to catch this glimpse of what life on board a ship at that time would have been like. The characters are all well developed with very distinctive personalities.

overall a book that could have been bad, but isn’t. A story that could have been boring but it riveting.

With plenty of battle action on the high seas, this novel is set during the Napoleonic wars. The main character is a young ship's commander who tests his courage to reassure himself that he is no coward. He falls in love with a Quaker woman who does not believe in war. The characters do not seem complex, and the reader loses credibility when, within three days of meeting each other, they have fallen in love.

Captain Charles Edgemont is off again in pursuit of the French in this sequel to Sails on the Horizon. The story begins with his ship being separated from Admiral Nelson's fleet and continues through many adventures as he searches for Nelson. The story culminates with Edgemont, having found Nelson, participating in the Battle of the Nile.

As with his previous book, Worrall did a fine job overall and showed improvement in his writing over the previous novel. The characters are believable. The plot moves at a nice pace. The story includes some twists and turns that are unusual and interesting. The tension created with British navel captain married to a Quakeress was a major theme of the book. Again, he kept the sailing terms to a minimum in most section, although several times, he did include a lot of details concerning setting of sails, almost as if he was told to add more technical sail terms. The dialog was improved and seemed more interesting.

While I enjoyed the book, I did have a few problems with it. First, the story had a few unbelievable events. For example, Edgemont disobeyed direct orders, knew he was disobeying direct orders, but since things turned out fine, no one cared. Second, the book focused more on non-naval things (such as Penny's views) than on general naval matters. While it is evident from his writing that Worrall is more interested in the human conflict posed by Charles and Penny, he missed a great opportunity to explore the conflict between Captain Edgemont, his First Lieutenant, and his friend the Second Lieutenant. Third, the ending, at the Battle of the Nile, felt like it was written almost as an after-thought. The main plot line (Charles/Penny) had been resolved, but there were still some loose ends to tie up -- namely Nelson and the French fleet. The action was not particularly gripping (nor believable) and may be a strong reflection on Worrall's personal views on war and fighting.

And again, I was disappointed with what may turn out to be his standard 'cute' trick. In the previous novel, Horatio Hornblower made a brief appearance. In this one, Jack Aubrey (Patrick O'Brien's famous captain) came aboard briefly. Aubrey's appearance was more seamless and didn't strike me as something added later (like Hornblower's), but still...I could easily have done without it.

Overall, I liked the book, I will read it again someday, and I will look forward to more novels in this series.

Sails on the Horizon begins with the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 1797, during the Napoleonic War. The main character Charles Edgemont is both promoted from lieutenant to commander of the small frigate HMS Louisa and made a wealthy man by his actions during this battle. When he returns home while waiting for his ship to be readied, he meets a young Quaker woman Penelope Brown and falls in love with her. Edgemont must return to his ship and face the task of training new recruits (mostly landlubbers) into fighting sailors.

Overall, the story was well-paced with nicely developed characters. The inclusion of Quaker views and Penelope's difficulty with Charles' profession was an interesting twist. Unlike some Napoleonic naval novels, this book kept the naval jargon minimal so those not familiar with vanges or jib-booms could enjoy the story. Likewise, with the exception of Penelope's use of "thee" or "thy", the dialog was simple, without much attempt to reproduce various English dialects.

On the downside, the author switches from points-of-view in several passages and leaves the reader wondering who this pertains to. Also, some of the characters and their relationships could easily have been expanded, such as between Edgemont and his First Lieutenant Bevan.

On a personal pet-peeve note: I wish Worrall had left out the tiny section when Horatio Hornblower makes an appearance. It was cute to include, but it served no real purpose in the story and actually detracted from the story.

There are three novels on a list of recommended historical fiction I've been working through that deal with the exploits of British Naval captains during the Napoleonic Wars. Two are rather celebrated. CS Forester's Mr Midshipman Hornblower is the first of the classic Horatio Hornblower series. I've loved those books since my teens, and all of those novels are on my bookshelf. Horatio Hornblower, as a lieutenant, even has a brief cameo in Sails on the Horizon. Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander is the first of the Aubrey/Maturin series on which the Russel Crowe film of that title was based upon, and I did enjoy it and intend to read further in that series.

Placed beside those two, Worrall's book seems a rather weak sibling. The Hornblower tales are remarkable in pace, plot, and a character that is the Sherlock Holmes of nautical fiction: clever, brilliant, honorable and the inspiration for many incarnations, from Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, a soldier in the British Army in the Napoleonic era, to David Weber's space opera heroine Honor Harrington. Unlike those other examples, I don't feel Worrall does enough to distinguish his work from Forster and O'Brian. Worrall's prose is at best pedestrian, and he certainly doesn't attempt a period style or tone such as O'Brian's novels. The captain and protagonist, Charles Edgemont, is fairly likeable but next to Hornblower and Aubrey seems to me bland. Worrall, unlike Forester or O'Brian, isn't British but an American, which makes me rather feel Worrall missed an opportunity to distinguish his series by say, setting it in the American Navy instead.

Worrall's background does figure in the novel in another way. The biographical note states he was "[b]orn a Quaker into a military family." Charles' love interest, Penny Brown, is a Quaker, and the famous pacifistic beliefs of that sect do play into his courtship--romance certainly figures a lot more into this book than it does in all but one of the Hornblower books or the O'Brian book I read. But I don't feel that aspect rose above routine. (And the way he seemingly became so filthy rich with prize money early on that he can hire ships of his own seemed implausible.) I do love nautical tales and found this one entertaining, but this first book certainly doesn't leave me in a hurry to look up the rest--especially with over a dozen of O'Brian's to try on my long to-read list.

I thought that this book was a great sequel to Jay Worrall’s “Sails on the Horizon”. Edgemont is on the move again; sailing his frigate in search of Lord Nelson’s fleet. Along the way he finds his enemy; the French fleet at Alexandria. Eventually, he locates Nelson’s fleet and joins in the action to do battle with the French in one of the most famous sea battles: The Battle of the Nile. The author kept my interest with his writing of this historical period and he did it in such a way that I could understand just about everything he wrote.

If you have read the Hornblower series, I would think that you would enjoy “Approaching Enemy..”. Highly recommend.

Newly married, but off to sea with his brig Louisa, Charles Edgemont becomes separated from Nelson's fleet on the Mediterranean after receiving intelligence about a great French fleet massing around Toulon.

Where is Nelson?
Where are the French?
And what's his wife mean by saying she will "soon visit"? Doesn't she know there's a war going on?

This is naval adventure in the mode of C.F. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels. If you like that sort of thing, you'll like it, if not, you may not. With that said, Worrall writes well and fluidly. His naval battles are intelligible, his characters drawn well, and his style is easy.

Charles Edgemont, a young naval officer, finds himself thrust into the role of hero after his Captain and first lieutenant are killed in battle. Edgemont receives a battlefield promotion for surviving the carnage and his given his own command. When home he meets a lovely young neighbor, a Quaker, and falls immediately in love. She returns his affection but objects to his career. Will Charlie be able to prove himself an effective Captain? Will he win the hand of his one true love?

Lively naval adventure, sympathetic characters, a strong woman, and some unusual themes for this type of novel strengthen this strong debut.

Just finished the first book in a new series by Jay Worrall dealing with the British Navy during the start of the Napoleonic Wars, Sails on the Horizon.

Charles Edgemont has just been promoted to Commander of his own ship after the great British victory at Cape St. Vincent, and must now turn to getting his new ship, HMS Louisa ready for action, while courting a pretty Quaker girl at home. He is soon torn between them, when the ship that ruthlessly attacked his badly damaged ship at St. Vincent presents itself to Edgemont with the possibility of victory and most importantly, revenge.

An interesting book much in the same vein as the Patrick O’brian books or Kydd or Under Enemy Colors. Maybe a bit too much social or religious commentary thrown in for good measure, but not overly distracting.