China Flyer (Adam Horne Adventures)

And if you've read the first two, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect in this book. It's better than "War Chest," but that's not saying much, really. This entry maintains the quick pacing and superficial characterizations of the first two books, so even if you don't care for this book, it'll be over quickly.

The plot involves Horne chasing a hijacked ship, the China Flyer, commanded by a conniving thief who is intent on trying to undercut the Honorable East India Company, Horne's employer. Horne is sent to capture the China Flyer. Along the way we get to meet some pirates and mandarins and learn a little about the darker side of trading in the Orient.

I guess Porter Hill is asking for it by swimming in the same waters as CS Forester and Patrick O'Brian--Hill's books are nowhere near as good as even the weaker entries in the Hornblower and Aubrey/Maturin series. But they're not bad.


Law west of the Pecos   April 23, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is a passably good adventure novel set in the Far East in the 1760's. The Honorable East India Company has control of trade with India and much of the trade with China, at that time a frontier area for European powers, far from home and where people seemed to make their own laws. The novel continues the adventures of Adam Horne, a captain in the Bombay Marines.

A highly placed company employee has helped himself to company money and a company ship. Horne is sent in pursuit. He soon finds himself caught up in the middle of a scheme by a group in England who are attempting to break the monopoly on Far East trade. Horne finds himself contending on the one hand with the renegade trader, and on the other hand with Chinese officials who have ideas of their own. Along the way he has a gratuitous encounter with Sulu pirates.

It becomes a risky high-stakes game where winning can make a man wealthy but losing can leave him locked in a dungeon. The hero, of course, must prevail if for no other reason than the fact that the commodore's wife has a niece arriving in India who needs a husband.


Forgettable   June 13, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

The cover of this book compares it to the Horatio Hornblower series, but alas the book doesn't measure up. It is a potboiler adventure set the Far East in the late 1700s. The characters are flat, and because the author spends so much time shifting viewpoints between so many different characters, none except the hero achieve much actual depth. The plot isn't that interesting or exciting. This was the first of the series I'd read, and I won't be picking up any others. Not awful, but not the best--Not even average.


Not Great, But Okay.   June 8, 2001
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

In China Flyer, the third of the Bombay Marine books, the hero and his crew go to China. Lacks the in depth sailing details of O'Brien, but that was okay with me; also lacked the character depth of C. S. Forrester, and that hurt. The characters are a bit two dimensional, and historical anachronisms occur. Still, if you aren't too knowledgable about the precise details of eighteenth century sailing and are looking for a decent read, this is good. It's the sort of book you'd take to the beach.