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Title: Which Came First? The chicken or the egg.
Review: Forester may have helped create the genre of historical naval novels, but , quite frankly... Patrick O'Brian was the more capable writer. Forester's Hornblower is a cardboard figure compared to O'Brian's Maturin and Aubrey.Perhaps O'Brian's work could be considered "derivative"... but this would be a good example of the pupil trumping his Master.As light reading, with a fascinating dose of well-researched 19th C. naval history, I think O'Brian is the place to start, despite the "longevity" of the Hornblower saga.But.. reading both authors will give you material to form your own opinions about their relative merits.
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