Mutiny: A Kydd Novel

by Julian Stockwin

Book Overview

The fourth book of Stockwin's epic Napoleonic-era naval adventures recreates one of history's most notorious naval insurrections. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743258002
• ISBN13: 9780743258005
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

The further adventures of pressed man Thomas Kydd

This is book #4 in this series by novelist Julian Stockwin. Being an avid reader, I have enjoyed many series of books of all types. Rarely does one find an author like Julian Stockwin who is not only prolific, but one who has a gift of using words to transport the reader back to those times between 1795-1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. This particular book takes place around 1797 during the end of the French revolution. Thomas Kydd was a young wig maker who suddenly found himself in the Royal Navy after being "pressed" into service (various seaman would seek out those in British coastal towns and simply knock them out---the pressed man awakening within the hold of a British naval vessel). The main character, Tom Kydd, discovers he actually loves the sea and is one of the few literate seaman at the time. This ability would prove unfortunate as he is drawn into a mutiny as the secretary of the mutineer's intelligent leader. Kydd and his best friend Nicholas Renzi are present in all the Kydd novels I have read. To date, author Julian Stockwin has written 22 Kydd books and is not only a great wordsmith but an avid researcher. As a former US Navy Officer, I have grown to love this author even more than C.S. Forrester. Lastly, you aren't required to love the sea to enjoy any of the Kydd books. This author knows just how much detail to include, and learning how different life was in the 18th century is an eye opener. You will not be disappointed---but readers should start with the very first book entitled, "KYDD". You can find out more about author Julian Stockwin by visiting julianstockwin.com . Keep writing Julian!

Read the series!

Julian Stockwin's Kydd series now stands at 8 volumes. Mutiny is the fourth in the series and finds Thomas Paine Kydd a master's mate serving on the 64 gun Achilles in 1797. I guess I'm an advocate of Stockwin primarily because Stockwin's books move the genre from the officer's point of view to that of the seamen of the day. I also appreciate what I come to think of as four themes Stockwin weaves within and between his books. In addition to the seafaring adventure, we get to explore the lifestyle of the men of the service at different stages in their careers. And the author exposes us to the more general seaman's culture of the time. Finally, Renzi is used to help his main character develop the skills necessary to move up the ranks. Mutiny starts with the voyage to Gibraltar where Kydd gets himself entangled with a married woman. To escape the pending crisis, he ships out to Venice to help diplomats who are escaping Napoleon. From there he stops briefly at Gibralter and then back, after two years, to England. Achilles drops anchor at Nore and soon becomes one of the ships involved with the great Nore and Spithead Mutiny. This event takes more than two hundred pages of the story and Stockwin presents a comprehensive picture of the insurrection from the seamen's point of view. Kydd is a Master's Mate, a warrant officer, in this part of the series and thus squarely between the ordinary seamen and the officer's ranks. Thus, this part of the tale explores the lifestyle and circumstances of the rank and file at a critical period on British Naval history. This career situation is balanced with a more serious affair between Tom and Kitty Malkin, the sister of one of Achillies' crew. Tom's involvement in the mutiny becomes serious and Renzi assumes the task of attempting to extract Tom from possible death as a result. The final event of the book is the famous Battle of Camperdown where Tom returns to his skills on the water. I would stress that Stockwin is writing the Kydd Series. Readers who become hooked on Tom are readers of all of Stockwin's books. We are watching this young man move up the ranks of his profession. As such, it is important to track critical events in each volume. In this manner we will develop reference points in the ever expanding world that Stockwin creates. In Mutiny we find the second appearance of Lord Stanhope who acts both as a politician and a mentor to Renzi in different stages of the story. We can be sure he will appear again before the last book is completed. I've evolved what I call Kydd's Log wherein I track the ships on which Kydd serves, the Admirals with whom he interacts, his globe of ports, his blunders and good fortunes, and his `black book'. This log, I find, helps me remember events from adventure to adventure. Maybe it is this `bridge' that allows readers to always report back with each new book to their cohorts that Stockwin has written another page turner.

Great Issues Raised by Historical Drama

The Kydd series is terrific, and I hope it goes on forever, but Mutiny struck me as particularly worthwhile. The Nore mutiny of 1797 is a completely unfamiliar subject, to American readers at least, and I've never before seen it treated in nautical fiction. It's a brave historical subject that quite possibly pushes conflicting emotional buttons to this day. It raises a host of moral issues that bedevil us all still: duty, loyalty, patriotism, and the means of dealing with outrageous and unbearable oppression. And it manages to be grippingly entertaining in the process! Perhaps the fact that I almost concurrently read the memoirs of US Revolutionary soldier Joseph Plumb Martin (published as Private Yankee Doodle) heightened my fascination. If any of my compatriots think we jettisoned the British aristocratic mind-set that produced the Nore mutiny ... that'll disabuse them! The arrogance of power didn't hide behind a façade of P.C. democracy in the 18th Century. Perhaps looking at it in its ghastly nakedness can help us to contain it in our own time.

Exciting book!

Book four in the Kydd series is fantastic! (see my reviews of _Kydd_ , _Artemis_ and _Seaflower_) Kydd helps an Italian nobleman escape Italy before the arrival of the French. Later, Kydd becomes embroiled in the fleet mutiny at the Nore where he must decide whether his loyalty to the navy or his mates is stronger (no spoilers here!). His decision is not as obvious as it might seem. How he gets extricated from the mutiny reads like a thriller! Lots of good intrigue. The book ends with Kydd taking charge of a gundeck at the battle of Camperdown. The description of the battle is fantastic. Stockwin puts the reader right in the thick of the action. The imagery is amazing: p. 316 Renzi saw a midshipman, then the signal lieutenant drop in their tracks, and over at a disabled nine-pounder a corpse exuded blood that made tracks on the deck as the ship rolled and heaved. Also, Stockwin's writing style is a real joy to read: p. 318 Her guns opened again with a thunderous broadside, which was answered with equal venom by their opponent-but having practiced over long weeks at sea the English guns spoke faster and truer. Not only has this series grown on me, but I have come to appreciate Mr. Stockwin's writing. His knowledge of ships and sea, languages, dialects, history and other things is impressive. A tremendous amount of research has gone into these books. The series was slow for me at first, but it has become interesting and exciting. Taken as a whole, it's a great story. At first, Mr. Stockwin set the table; now I'm feasting. I look forward to the next book.

Gets better with each book.

The pairing of down-to-earth Kydd with the intellectual Renzi continues to lift this series above the run-of-the-mill (although Kydd has lost most of his gaucheness by now). Promotion within the ranks has come to both, as a result of the Caribbean experience in 'Seaflower', and they are part of the Mediterranean Fleet - although in different ships. While Renzi is 'enjoying' the battle at Cape St.Vincent, Kydd is stuck in Gibraltar 'suffering' the attentions of the Town Major's wife. His new confidante Cockburn tries to warn him off - to no avail, so Renzi drags him off to Venice, where they are trapped by Boney's invading forces. They escape, thanks to an 'ex' of Renzi's, but a tough decision by Renzi seems to signal an end to the friendship as they return to Blighty - and the Nore mutiny. Kydd is in the forefront, but miraculously earns a pardon (thanks to Renzi), then finds himself in the thick of the bloody battle at Camperdown. Altogether a seeming mish-mash of events ... but after all, this is exactly what a seaman's life would be like: no plan; no greater purpose; no battle tactics; no 'story'; just go where the Admiralty sends the ship and do what the captain commands ... This is what the author is trying to convey in this series - the story is in life's little details. And very good detail it is; the author's personal research into the locations produces a highly-believable account of little-known events in the most volatile period in British naval history. There follows a taster of the next book 'Quarterdeck', and, as we have come to expect in this genre, his sources of the facts behind the fiction. This is the most in-depth depiction of the infamous mutiny that I've read, as - for the last time - through Kydd's eyes we see more of the behind-the-scenes machinations than if he were an Aubrey or Hornblower. *****

If you enjoyed O'Brian...

If you enjoyed reading the fabulous Jack Aubrey series of naval adventure novels from the late Patrick O'Brian, then you will love the Kydd Series by Julian Stockwin. Nothing can replace O'Brian, of course, but these come surprisingly close in some ways. The strength of this series is the sailor's dialogue, as created by Stockwin, a former officer in Her Majesty's Navy. Picture this scene: The press gang has just busted into a busy tavern and the leader of the group has to shout to get the attention of the befuddled customers...Stockwin's dialogue can be very funny..."So, who's fer a life on the rollin' seas?" That's from memory--it had me laughing for a day or two--but you get the idea. I have read all of Forester, Kent, Cornwell, and a few of the others, and the Kydd series is right up there with the best of them. In my opinion, the dialogue is a match for O'Brian, or even superior, although, in total, O'Brian's work remains the best that has ever been published in this genre. Moreover, Stockwin's knowledge and descriptions of the technical details of running a King's ship at the end of the 18th century is absolutely on a par with O'Brian, in my opinion.