[admin]

Customer Review: The equal of any nautical fiction.
Jon Williams five volumes describing the fictional adventures of the sailing Markham family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is as good as any nautical fiction you can find. It's amazing to me that these books are out of print and rarely considered when listing Age of Sail writing. These volumes should be re-printed! His characters are deeper and more interesting than most I've found, and his naval action rivals anyone. He also writes from a strong American point of view, which is refreshing. Yankee, Privateer, Raider, The Macedonian, and Cat Island may be hard to find - but ABSOLUTELY worth the effort!!
Customer Review: An excellent novel of the war of 1812
Cat Island is the last of five excellent novels that focus around the nautical adventures of members of the fictional Markham family. The hero of the last three novels is Favian Markham, an officer in the US navy. These novels are well-researched. They include interesting elements of the politics of the time. Favian is not the only well-drawn character. These are all strengths in my eyes. Favian is an intelligent, calculating, ambitious officer. Like CS Forester's Horatio Hornblower, the nautical hero to which all other nautical heroes are eventually compared, he feels like an actor. In my opinion he is a more interesting, more fully realized character than Hornblower -- and would be a more interesting person to have a conversation with in real life. The novel itself is framed by the Battle of New Orleans. Favian arrives in the city prior to the attack, and takes a leading role in its defence. The novel includes the usual measure of well described battle scenes, with the added richness of political struggles as Favian helps meld the various parties in the city's defence. I am a big fan of this genre. I rank Jon Williams novels right after those of Patrick O'Brian, and before those of CS Forester, Richard Woodman, Dudley Pope, and all the others.


More...