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Admiral
- Thomas Kydd, Book 27
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
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Summary
April 1814. Napoleon is deposed and exiled after defeat by a resurgent allied collation. Saddled with huge war debts, the British government has no choice but to place many of its naval ships in reserve.
Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is one of the lucky officers not to be put on half pay. Instead, in the realisation of his life's ambition, he is offered an admiral's flag, but the station is West Africa and with it comes anti-slavery operations set in fever-ridden swamps. Despite the obvious dangers and hardships, Kydd readies for sea with his beloved Thunderer as his flagship.
But before he can set sail comes the electrifying news - the tyrant has escaped from Elba and is marching on Paris, the citizens flocking to join him.
Napoleon's invasion fleet is still in being and if the French navy declares for him they can sail from the ports now free of blockade and make the invasion of England a reality. What's more, the entire Channel Fleet has been stood down, its ships in various stages of repair.
There's one man in active service who happens to be on the spot - Admiral Sir Thomas Kydd. With frantic haste he's appointed temporary commander-in-chief to sail with all the men-o'-war that can be scraped together to stand athwart the French.
Waterloo is coming but before then Kydd must use all his legendary subterfuge and daring to save England from her peril.
Admiral is the twenty seventh and last of the adventures of Captain Sir Thomas Kydd whose story began in the year 1793 and tells for the first time in fiction how a pressed man through his bravery and ingenuity progresses to the quarterdeck of his own ship, and here, in the final book of the series, the command of a fleet with an admiral's pennant.
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- Bretwalda
- 18-10-24
The end of an era.
Fantastic end to a fantastic series of books. Great from the first book to the last.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-10-24
Expected more
I expected more from the final book of what's been an excellent series. Kydd feels like a side character of his own finale. As the title gives away he does achieve admiral and then seems to disappear for much of the book, almost as if Mr Stockwin felt he had to give him the step to say he did. Keeping it spoiler free this is shown most evidently when Kydd explains how he found Napoleon himself, I had to skip back to make sure i hadn't had a playback error and missed the part he described. I didn't, it's glossed over in a three sentence conversation. I really feel like Kydds story didn't end, rather it just stopped being told somewhere around chapter 10.
Narrator does an excellent job with large shoes to fill.
RIP Christian Rodska
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- John Adamson
- 25-10-24
End of a long and remarkable voyage
First let me pay special mention to Cristian Rodska, I’ve listened to every Kydd book and it is very sad that such a gifted narrator could not complete the final voyage.
Admiral was a real history lesson for me because, hitherto, I had read little of Napoleon after Waterloo. I was surprised at the reference to ‘millions of soldiers’ and near the end, ‘hundreds of thousands of soldiers’ - I need to check those figures.
Julian Stockwin is up there with Forrester and O’Brian for nautical yarns and I thought he faded Kydd very smoothly into retirement.
I look forward to Harry Wild, though his name might automatically conjure up the female detective series of that same name until he becomes established in his own right.
I like to imagine Kydd having a convivial supper with Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey as they reminisce about their adventures in the British Royal Navy.
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- Amazon Customer
- 17-10-24
A fitting end to a great series
This is not only my review of this book but the series. Firstly I’d like to say how saddened I was to hear of Christian Rodska’s passing, he really did bring Kidd (and Hornblower) to life. I was a little worried about hearing Kidd narrated by someone new after 20+ previous books, but by the time I got to the start of chapter 1 I knew I was in safe hands, John Telfer was excellent. This book is not the powder and shot smashing match I was used to but still a good conclusion, and plenty of drama. My one regret is we had to leave the crew of Thunderer so abruptly, particularly Toby Stirk, what happened to him!? Hopefully he’ll make an appearance as Gunner Stirk one day, and have a comfortable retirement on his warrant officer’s pension and see out his days on a fishing boat somewhere.
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- Dr G.
- 19-10-24
Punchy Series End
These later books in the series are punchy yet well written with very little chaff remaining.
For all that they remain engaging but of a different character to the earliest stories.
All the threads are brought together well.
It is a great shame that Christian Rhodska did not get to voice this final novel.
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- Craig Thompson
- 18-10-24
lots of untied ends. something of a disappointment
firstly I've absolutely loved these books but this is a let down of an ending. what happened to Nicolas? what about sturk? what about all the other characters we've grown to love. while it is terribly said that Christian rodska passed the new voices are jarring and kydd especially sounds far too posh. I do however thank the author most earnestly for the joy the entire series has given me
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