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HMS Hazard

John Pearce, Book 16

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About this listen

1796. John Pearce is stuck with a difficult mission, a crew of Quota Men forced to enlist in the Royal Navy, four new midshipmen as well as Samuel Oliphant, companion cum spy, whom he finds a constant irritant.

In his favour, he commands HMS Hazard, a speedy warship, a pair of competent officers and, of course, his trusty friends the Pelicans. Their mission is to head for the Mediterranean Fleet and warn Admiral Sir John Jervis of impending danger he will face, fighting a combined French/Spanish fleet. But there is a serious distraction—the imminent arrival of a Spanish vessel from South America carrying silver, for which the Spaniards are waiting before declaring war.

Can John Pearce resist the lure of such a valuable capture and risk his ship in a dangerous battle to gain it, or will his duty come first?

©2021 David Donachie (P)2022 Soundings Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Sea Adventures War & Military Adventure War
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Why oh why change the narrator after 15 excellent books? The characters were all new and so different than before, it really spoiled the story for me and magnified a weak story.
I have enjoyed every book up to this one, is this just a book to fare?

W Murray

Disappointing book in an excellent series

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I was not happy with the change of narrator but persevered and after 1/2 hour I was hooked into both the story and storyteller, his Irish accent needs some work but apart from that I enjoyed it immensely. Great story, well read.

Pleasantly Surprised

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Yes it would be nice to have Peter Wickham narrating. But it was extremely well read with good voice.

I would urge narrators to read the book before (e.g captain of the Bedford was in my recollection from the north east) and O'Hagan is from the South of Ireland. But small points.

And yes seems a half-book, but still a reasonably weighty volume, c10h listen.

And yes, a lot of repetition of the past books, but less so than previous books (maybe a preface would solve this).

good story, well read

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The narrator was very good, but it wasnt great that everyone's accents had changed 😀 great character development

Great tale which continues

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I have listened and enjoyed all previous books in this series but 15 minutes in to Hazard I could not cope.
the new narrator's voice is off putting the characters are unrecognisable and portrayed totally at odds to previous books

New narrator is terrible

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