Chris Paige has reviewed Set the Seas on Fire for the fourth issue of ConNotations, the PDF newszine of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society.

Michael Moorcock recommends this author, and Revolution SF describes this
book as “Horatio Hornblower meets H.P. Lovecraft.” The Lovecraftian elements of
madness, monsters, and horrible death only come out of the rocks near the very
end, and the source is actually Polynesian legend; but either way, the climax is
effective. This novel is an extended and revised version of a print-on-demand
publication by the same title. Now it is seeing the light of day in large paperback
format, and this is good news for all readers who enjoy blood and thunder naval literature in the tradition of Master and Commander.

[snip]

I loved the sheer literary quality of this book: ah, King’s English! It is a complete stand alone novel, but it turns out, upon reading the Afterward, that Roberson has written a number of books about the Bonaventure clan. Titles include End of the Century; Paragaea: A Planetary Romance; and Here, There, and Everywhere, and the Dulac family crosses the Bonaventure family more than once in these volumes. So if you enjoy this book, be of good cheer! There is more in the same vein to read.

Labels: reviews