Kent does not have the writing skills of Forester. I am a Hornblower devotee and after two readings of the series fifty years apart, was looking for more. The Bolitho series is like beef soup after having grown used to beef stew.Bolitho does not flesh out as Hornblower does, POV switches without warning. A lover is introduced and snatched away as though she were no more than a 3X5 note card. A spy is unmasked with no warning they had one in their midst. And the confusion of battle seems more like something I'm watching on television than actually involved in. Bolitho is always being overwhelmed and suddenly rescued from death by the same person.For all it's faults. The Bolitho series remains a fair to middling light read and I shall continue until I stumble on a better substitute for Hornblower.