Harry Heron: Midshipman's Journey is, as the title implies, the story of a voyage. Set during the period from just before to just after the Peace of Amiens the narrative follows Harry as he grows up with his boyhood friend Ferghal in Ireland, as they join the Navy, and then transfer to a ship ordered to escort a convoy to the penal colonies of New South Wales and then travel home via the Far East and India.
During the voyage the boys, Harry as an Officer and Feghal as a ship's boy, experience all manner of things which you would expect. They were a believable pair which the authors narrative brought to life well in a well paced plot.
This book has been substantially re-written from it's previous incarnation (which I did not read) and is the first in a trans-generation series which heads off to a science fiction/fantasy adventure. There are not any overt elements of this in the narrative, but towards the end of the book the author includes a few hooks leading to this transition in subsequent volumes which to the HNF purist may seem a little odd, however they did not detract from what was a well written naval fiction novel which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Recommended.
Description of: Harry Heron: Midshipman's Journey
Author: Patrick G. Cox
|
|
|
