| Hornblower and the Atropos details the adventures of Horatio Hornblower in his first assignment as a post-captain in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
Prior to assuming command of his ship, HMS Atropos, Hornblower is first entrusted with a highly unusual job: organising the funeral of Admiral Horatio Nelson. The barge bearing the coffin springs a leak and nearly sinks in the River Thames, but other than that, the procession proceeds without trouble. Afterward, he is presented to the King and introduced to his new midshipman: the Prince of Seitz-Bunau, the King's great-nephew, and in exile after Napoleon had conquered his small German principality. Hornblower's mission is also rather out of the ordinary. He is to pick up three Sinhalese divers and their crusty interpreter and employ them to secretly salvage the cargo of a ship that sank in Turkish waters. The ship was carrying the payroll for the British Army when it foundered. After recovering most of the treasure, Hornblower discovers that the operation wasn't so secret after all when a much more powerful Turkish ship appears. However, by skillful (and highly dangerous) maneuvering, Hornblower manages to escape the trap. After a sharp, but ultimately victorious, encounter with a Spanish ship, Hornblower has to make repairs in the Two Sicilies. There, the ship catches the eye of the King of the Two Sicilies, and the British ambassador decides to give the Atropos to him to keep his support in the fight against Napoleon. Hornblower returns home to England, where he finds that his two children are dying of smallpox. | ||
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Plot & Themes Time/era of story: War Thriller Yes Armed Forces: - Navy Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 40 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Race Setting Europe Yes European country: - England/UK - Turkey Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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