Book Review: Lieutenant Hornblower
Feb. 6th, 2026 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerAlthough Lieutenant Hornblower is the second book chronologically in the Hornblower series, it was one of the later books written in the series. So, although the narrator is in fact Lieutenant Bush rather than Hornblower himself, it is very much a Hornblower book, which has the presumably unintentional effect of making Bush sound absolutely obsessed with Hornblower.
Oh, sure, he’s constantly running down Hornblower’s appearance (he looks like a scarecrow! He looked like he dressed in the dark and forgot to straighten his clothes!)... but that just shows he’s extremely aware of Hornblower’s appearance, as he rarely comments on how anyone else looks. He stares at Hornblower’s beautiful, skillful, fascinating hands (yes, he actually describes them as fascinating), and wonders if admiring a junior lieutenant smacks of French equalitarianism. He watches Hornblower drink a bucket of water from the well, which sluices down his chin and soaks his white shirt, and “The very sight of him was enough to make Bush, who had already had one drink from the well, feel consumed with thirst all over again.”
I mean yes they did just complete a sneak attack during which no one had a drink in the tropical heat for at least 12 hours, but also WOW. That’s what seeing Hornblower in a wet shirt does to a man, huh!
And then Bush is wounded, and the last thing he remembers before he blacks out is Hornblower’s pleading, tender voice… his gentle hands… the feeling of being safe and comforted by Hornblower’s presence… And once he’s in hospital on land, Hornblower brings him an entire basket of tropical fruit, and Bush is so bowled over he barely manages a “Thank you,” and then they just gaze at each other, which, let’s be real, is probably Hornblower’s preferred love language: Significant Looks.
Then later on Hornblower gets appointed captain, and Bush is so thrilled and so drunk that he ends the night stumbling down the hall, both arms around Hornblower’s neck, bellowing “FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW” at the top of his lungs as Hornblower helps him to bed. One presumes that Forester simply cut out before Bush dragged Hornblower in for a sloppy drunken kiss and Hornblower patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and fled.
So yes, all the people who recced Hornblower on the grounds that it is very slashy are 100% right. Amazing. This may in fact be the high point of slashiness for the series, as it seems unlikely that Hornblower POV is ever going to be quite as obsessed with Bush as Bush is with Hornblower (the series after all is not called Lieutenant Bush), but we shall see.
Oh, as for the actual plot, at the beginning of the book, the paranoid Captain Sawyer is making life hell for all his officers, as he suspects them all of trying to usurp his position. As often happens, his paranoia creates the situation he fears most: his terrified lieutenants meet in the hold to discuss the possibilities of mutiny.
Somehow the captain hears of it! The lieutenants get wind just in time to scatter! And then somehow the Captain falls headfirst into the hold.
He lives, but is incapacitated by his head wound, which drives him from paranoid but functional to full-blown madness. And he can’t remember what happened, and no one was close enough to see - except Hornblower, and a boy named Wellard.
I personally was on Team That Was No Accident, until it occurred to me that if Hornblower ever did decide to kill a captain, that captain would be good and dead. So either Hornblower is telling the truth when he claims it was a freak accident, or else Wellard is the culprit.
Oh, sure, he’s constantly running down Hornblower’s appearance (he looks like a scarecrow! He looked like he dressed in the dark and forgot to straighten his clothes!)... but that just shows he’s extremely aware of Hornblower’s appearance, as he rarely comments on how anyone else looks. He stares at Hornblower’s beautiful, skillful, fascinating hands (yes, he actually describes them as fascinating), and wonders if admiring a junior lieutenant smacks of French equalitarianism. He watches Hornblower drink a bucket of water from the well, which sluices down his chin and soaks his white shirt, and “The very sight of him was enough to make Bush, who had already had one drink from the well, feel consumed with thirst all over again.”
I mean yes they did just complete a sneak attack during which no one had a drink in the tropical heat for at least 12 hours, but also WOW. That’s what seeing Hornblower in a wet shirt does to a man, huh!
And then Bush is wounded, and the last thing he remembers before he blacks out is Hornblower’s pleading, tender voice… his gentle hands… the feeling of being safe and comforted by Hornblower’s presence… And once he’s in hospital on land, Hornblower brings him an entire basket of tropical fruit, and Bush is so bowled over he barely manages a “Thank you,” and then they just gaze at each other, which, let’s be real, is probably Hornblower’s preferred love language: Significant Looks.
Then later on Hornblower gets appointed captain, and Bush is so thrilled and so drunk that he ends the night stumbling down the hall, both arms around Hornblower’s neck, bellowing “FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW” at the top of his lungs as Hornblower helps him to bed. One presumes that Forester simply cut out before Bush dragged Hornblower in for a sloppy drunken kiss and Hornblower patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and fled.
So yes, all the people who recced Hornblower on the grounds that it is very slashy are 100% right. Amazing. This may in fact be the high point of slashiness for the series, as it seems unlikely that Hornblower POV is ever going to be quite as obsessed with Bush as Bush is with Hornblower (the series after all is not called Lieutenant Bush), but we shall see.
Oh, as for the actual plot, at the beginning of the book, the paranoid Captain Sawyer is making life hell for all his officers, as he suspects them all of trying to usurp his position. As often happens, his paranoia creates the situation he fears most: his terrified lieutenants meet in the hold to discuss the possibilities of mutiny.
Somehow the captain hears of it! The lieutenants get wind just in time to scatter! And then somehow the Captain falls headfirst into the hold.
He lives, but is incapacitated by his head wound, which drives him from paranoid but functional to full-blown madness. And he can’t remember what happened, and no one was close enough to see - except Hornblower, and a boy named Wellard.
I personally was on Team That Was No Accident, until it occurred to me that if Hornblower ever did decide to kill a captain, that captain would be good and dead. So either Hornblower is telling the truth when he claims it was a freak accident, or else Wellard is the culprit.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-06 11:29 pm (UTC)Forester probably didn't mean to make Bush obsessed with Hornblower? But Forester, in forgetting to be interested in anyone but Hornblower even though he'd shifted his pov character, 100-thousand-percent did make Bush absolutely fucking obsessed with Hornblower.
That bit with drinking from the well is amazing. As is Bush passing out in Hornblower's tender tender hands. As is them being too emotional to speak over the tender gesture of lemonade, and then a pineapple. As is the whole night Hornblower got promoted. (I like especially the part where Bush lays his head on the table and cannot stop smiling at Hornblower.) I would also add the scene of Bush watching Hornblower shower, although that isn't as top-tier as these others.
Re Sawyer falling down the hold: totally agreed that if Hornblower was behind it, Sawyer would be good and dead. I personally ascribe to theory that Hornblower arrived too late to stop or stage-direct the attempt on Sawyer's life (but possibly not too late to fuck with the evidence) and is doing his damnedest to get Wellard out of it alive. Unfortunately, Hornblower isn't telling, and the only other person who likely knew the truth (Wellard) is also dead.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-07 06:25 am (UTC)Poor Bush. Hornblower is intense about women in later books.