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    Winds of Marque: Blackwood & Virtue
    Winds of Marque: Blackwood & Virtue
    Winds of Marque: Blackwood & Virtue
    Audiobook9 hours

    Winds of Marque: Blackwood & Virtue

    Written by Bennett R. Coles

    Narrated by Steven Brand

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    ""Bennett R. Coles ranks among my go-to list in SF. Entertaining and intelligent storytelling and terrific characters. In Winds of Marque, Coles may well have invented a whole new subgenre that has me scrambling for a description--Steam Space?  Whatever you call it, a blast to read. Here's hoping that many more adventures are in the offing for Blackwood and company.""  —Steven Erikson, New York Times bestselling author

    The first novel in an exciting science fiction series—Master and Commander in space—a swashbuckling space adventure in which a crew of misfit individuals in the king’s navy are sent to dismantle a dangerous ring of pirate raiders.

    In a dense star cluster, the solar winds blow fiercely. The star sailing ship HMSS Daring is running at full sheet with a letter of marque allowing them to capture enemy vessels involved in illegal trading. Sailing under a false flag to protect the ship and its mission, Daring’s crew must gather intelligence that will lead them to the pirates’ base.

    Posing as traders, Daring’s dashing second-in-command Liam Blackwood and brilliant quartermaster Amelia Virtue infiltrate shady civilian merchant networks, believing one will lead them to their quarry.

    But their mission is threatened from within their own ranks when Daring’s enigmatic captain makes a series of questionable choices, and rumblings of discontent start bubbling up from below decks, putting the crew on edge and destroying morale. On top of it all, Liam and Amelia must grapple with their growing feelings for each other.

    Facing danger from unexpected quarters that could steer the expedition off course, Blackwood and Virtue must identify the real enemy threat and discover the truth about their commander—and their mission—before Daring falls prey to the very pirates she’s meant to be tracking.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 16, 2019
    ISBN9780062899026
    Author

    Bennett R. Coles

    Bennett R. Coles has a degree in naval history and served fifteen years as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. His first novel, Virtues of War, won the Cygnus Award grand prize for science fiction and spawned two follow-up novels, as well as a short story in the 2017 anthology Infinite Stars. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia, with his wife and two sons.

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    Reviews for Winds of Marque

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      Fun tribute for Hornblower fans. This is what life would be like if the British navy of the 1700s and 1800s were transported to the future space navy. You have the same castes, political setup, personal relationships. Evil lords, valiant Naval officers, and good lower castes. There are the creaking of masts and sails in the solar wind, broadsides, boarding parties. Lots of fun.
    • 3/5
      I gave this a 3 because, while it was kind of fun, it seemed so improbable it eroded my enjoyment.The story takes place in some dense star cluster with at least three space going species, humans, Sectoids (think giant roaches) and Theropods (think giant lizards). Space faring is in vessels with sails (to catch the solar winds which, since this is a dense star cluster, blow strong). The vessels have masts projecting from 4 sides. How it's possible for such a ship to travel through deep space in anything less than centuries is never explained.The author really stretches the 17th century sailing concept beyond the breaking point. The ships are equipped with cannons (with cannon balls fired by gunpowder), boarding parties are armed with swords and pistols, there are space-faring pirates and cutthroats in every port. Sailors get an extra ration of rum once in awhile for doing a good job. What's improbable is that the ships are also equipped with lasers, artificial gravity, computers, "sensors" and some other sort of propulsion called 'thrusters'.. The bridge has a transparent canopy so the first mate can scan the sky with a high-tech, but hand-held telescope. The mix of technologies is just confusing.The humans have an Empire, ruled, naturally enough, by an Emperor. There are noble men and woman who get all the choice jobs in the Navy, apparently without regards to their actual ability.The story concerns the HMSS Daring, disguised as a merchant ship, out looking for pirates. Operating under the Emperor's direct authority (a letter of Marque), the crew can keep any loot they recover but if their mission fails they will be disavowed by the Emperor. The officers are all nobles and the story is mainly about Subcommander Liam Blackwood and commoner ship quartermaster Amelia Virtue.The dialog is often witty and well done and it's not really a bad story. The long smoldering romance between Blackwood and Virtue could have been consummated sooner (not a spoiler, you know from the time they meet they're going to end up in the sack together). Apparently in this Navy it's common for men and women to serve together and fraternization between ranks (and between nobles and commoners) is allowed (if not actually encouraged).In the background, is a potential war between the humans and the Sectoids. Humans don't like the Sectoids, because, well, they're giant roaches. This gets resolved (in a way I saw coming well before the final reveal). A sequel planned as at the end the Daring is being refitted for another mission. Not sure If I'm going to want to read it.