The Blaze of Glory: Baltic Mission, In Distant Waters, Private Revenge: The Third Nathaniel Drinkwater Omnibus: Baltic Mission, In Distant Waters, ... Revenge (Nathaniel Drinkwater series)
£1.67
The series gets better and better! - Just when you thought it couldn t get any better, Mr.Woodman pulls something new out of the hat. This collection of 3 books confirms the brilliance of his writing and exploits hitherto unseen aspects of Nat s capabilities. We get more drawn into the players characters, getting a deeper insight into what drives them, the web of the plots is finer, but still strong, with chance remarks suddenly shedding light far into the book.In Baltic Mission , Antigone has been at sea for 4 years and stress is beginning to tell - we have several threads running parallel, Boney vs the Russians, Rogers and his alcoholism, Nat s involvement in espionage, barely-suppressed mutiny in the crew, and the odious Santhonax surfaces again, this time at Boney s shoulder.Nat s job is to subvert the Franco-Russ alliance, so he has to leave his ship to the tender mercies of Rogers and head inland to Lithuania... Espionage pivotal to Britain s survival uncovers a deal between The warring factions, which Nat has to carry back with all possible haste, but progress is slow due to fickle winds and for once, Nat is taken by surprise and a fierce battle ensues, right outside the safety of port. More of a thriller than an action novel, this marks a slight departure from the norm, but it follows the same formula of plausible events deeply rooted in historical fact. In Distant Waters sees Nat in command of Patrician, a cut-down 64 (Antigone having been too badly damaged in the previous battle), neither he nor his men were allowed leave for reasons of national security and his first task is to hang a deserter - not an auspicious start to a trip round the Horn.Mother Russia is in evidence again and there are hints of desertion that become all too real after landing on a deserted island, the little freedom the crew are given is curtailed as they sight, then sink a prize, more desertions as they repatriate the prisoners, then sabotage almost completes the felony.Slightly different from the previous 7 in the series, it appears stilted and chopped into seemingly disparate paragraphs, which throws one initially, but ultimately works very well as the hints and threads of the plots are drawn together.Again, this is based on fact, the surprising thing is how many of the characters really existed.In A Private Revenge , after battling a typhoon and rescuing an East Indiaman, Nat arrives in China, where Britain is no longer welcome and she has to decamp, covering her losses as best she can, so Nat is put in charge of the defence of the convoy.The vile, venal Morris (see Eye of the Fleet & Brig of War) rears his ugly head again, but with no apparent agenda in mind, other than the recovery of several thousand pounds of specie. But his presence on board, along with his catamite, greatly disturbs Nat, as well as Mr.Q and Tregembo, wondering when and how he will wreak the revenge he has sworn on Nat.Sabotage, treachery, kidnap and torture follow as the depths of Moris s depravity become horrifically clear -revealing more would be a spoiler.As usual, excellent descriptions and tension-building make the pages fly by - and there are the author s notes to add plausability to the tale.