War in the Western Mediterranean, 1794

Philippe Kermorvant is an officer of the Marine Nationale, the navy of Revolutionary France. He is an aristocrat but a French patriot first. Captured by the British, he refuses parole, making a daring escape from a prison hulk to return to France.

“Tyranny’s Bloody Standard,” a historical novel by J. D. Davies, follows what happens next. Waiting follows Kermorvant’s return to France, as he haunts the Ministry of Marine for a new assignment.

Despite support for the Revolution and his escape and return to France, the Reign of Terror is underway. All aristocrats are under suspicion. He is finally given command of a frigate, but in the Mediterranean fleet in Toulon rather than his desired posting in Brest. France is rebuilding its Mediterranean fleet after the British occupation of Toulon, and it needs experienced officers there.

Soon after he arrives, he is temporarily detached, sent on a diplomatic mission by an obscure French, Corsican-born, artillery general. In 1794, Corsica is in turmoil, having declared independence. Britain and France are contending for the island. Kermorvant’s father was Verité, a philosopher beloved by a Corsican leader who offers to bring Corsica under French control. Kermorvant is seen as the perfect ambassador.

Treachery, murder, and revenge follow Kermorvant to Corsica and beyond. When Kermorvant returns to his frigate after the end of the mission, he has to contend with enemies on every side. A disloyal officer with a questionable hold on reality seeks to denounce him as a traitor. He is hemmed in at sea by the ever-present British. A visit to Malta ends in swordfights and a ship-to-ship duel with a Neapolitan ship-of-the-line. Unfinished business draws him back to Corsica.

Novels about the Age of Fighting Sail between 1775 and 1815 abound. As with the novels of C. S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian, “Tyranny’s Bloody Standard” is part of a series centered on a single officer. The second in the series, it differs from the Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin novels. It features a French naval officer and using the Marine Nationale as the focus of the story rather than a British or Yankee protagonist.

Davies does an outstanding job of capturing the Marine Nationale and the contradictions faced by its officers. He also builds a tale around an actual historical event, the struggle for Corsica in 1794-96. He realistically blends in historical figures present in the Mediterranean at that time, including Napoleon Bonaparte and Horatio Nelson.

“Tyranny’s Bloody Standard,” by J. D. Davies, Canelo Adventure, October 2023, 304 pages, $16.97 (paperback), $6.99 (e-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.

The sea-going metaphor that occurs to me as I try to give this deeply researched historical fiction a fair reading: hard sailing to weather.

While fans of Patrick O'Brien and C.S. Forrester's Hornblower series will find the change in perspective intriguing -- as this novel presents the naval conflict between France and England during the Napoleonic era from the side of the French -- this novel is not light reading.

This sequel to <i> Sailor of Liberty</> takes us back to the adventures of Philippe Kermorvant, French naval officer, who escapes English prison and becomes embroiled in various political (and romantic!) intrigues on Corsica. JD Davies does not stint on historical detail; the bedeviling challenge of historical fiction is the smooth inclusion of explanation. In O'Brien's novels, it's often Captain Jack explaining once more to Dr. Aubry how the boats work, for instance, in a way that drives characterization and helps the reader feel at home. It's not fair to make comparisons, still, when plowing through both French-word glosses AND the history of French military organization, I wished for a slightly clueless character in the book for Kermorvant to befriend and explain this to.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo Adventure publishers for the chance to read the eARC in exchange for my unfettered opinion.

hard to give a proper review when the book being downloaded isn't the one I was supposedly sent. Giving a 3 stars since it's in no way the author's fault and I wouldn't want to harshly rate it without having read anything else other than the summary so this is simply to show my discontent to the publisher/netgalley. Thanks for the thriller copy but that's not what I thought I'd be reviewing. Would still be curious to read Tyranny's Blood Standard though :)

Great storyline and character development made this book a hot and enjoyable read! I could not put it down it was that good!