This book was the most boring thing I have ever read! It was worse than reading an autobiography by William Shatner! Molly was the whiniest, most complaining and ungrateful character I have ever had to read about. And don’t you even get me started on how biased she was about Americans! Not to mention that every American she interacted with was fat. No stereotypes should be in multi-cultural books. It’s extremely offensive.I liked Sam and all, but I do say that he deserved everything that came to him on Victory. Ditto to his father with the head injury and Charlie. And what was with Lord Nelson? Do you really think that he would be excited by battle? That’s literally comparing an important historical figure to a Klingon!My least favorite part of the book was when Molly recovered from her panic attack. I really felt that she deserved going insane as compensation for driving readers insane with her irritating personality. My favorite part of the book was when Molly was drowning. It made me smile so much, and when she realized she was drowning and started flailing in the water, I literally shouted for joy.The bit of the book that confused me was the end. No, not the glossary, because that really was unnecessary to include so I didn't read it. But the bit where stupid, stupid Molly dragged the million dollar bit of cloth through seawater until it dissolved. Come on, she could have done so much more! If she had sold it, it would be her money, and she could bribe Carl’s company to ship him to Britain where they could live out their lives. Or she could have given the money to her family to help pay off debts or to pay mortgage or taxes or something like that. If she didn't sell it, though, she could have donated it to a museum and visited it every day. But no. Stupid Molly must drag that bit of cloth that could make her life a lot easier through the freaking ocean in the middle of nowhere. That I don’t understand. I would not recommend this book to anyone I know, because it was so horrible. I would recommend it for means of torture to get information, again because it was absolutely ghastly and so bad I wanted to die while reading it. I’m sure Susan is a nice lady and all, but maybe a job behind a desk or something where she is not trying to be creative might be best. Being an aspiring author myself, but of the sci-fi and fantasy genres, I now know precisely what characters to avoid creating unless they are secondary and die quickly. But in that case, I’d really have to base them off of Molly or Sam’s father. I do have a question for her, though; on the cover of my book, it said that she wrote an award-winning series. Seeing as I have suffered through her writing style, how is that possible?It’s called ‘Dark is Rising,’ I do believe, so I will avoid it like the plague, I assure you. I do suggest you find a better style of writing, because the flip-flopping between times is a) really dumb and b) sometimes confusing as to why you needed the current bits. It might’ve been a slightly better book if it were Sam and his sister back at home, or just Sam. Can you tell me honestly that Molly wasn’t just filler in the book?To tell you the truth, this book was one of the worst things I have ever suffered through aside from 'Manos: The Hands of Fate' and 'Brazil.' And those are hideously appalling! This book should be erased from the minds of everyone who has ever read it. But if you want a good author, I suggest you look up ‘Dean Koontz’ or maybe even ‘Jeffrey Lybarger.’ And hey, look me up in a couple of years. When I finish my book, I’m definitely getting it published, so you can count on my name being somewhere within the depths of a Google search. Just like your name, actually, Cooper.
This book struck a chord with me.I picked it up, mistaking this line, "Two lives across an ocean, two hundred years apart..." to mean it was an historically based time-travel romance. All the things I love best! The fact that it was not such a book should have disappointed me deeply, but seeing as I was charmed regardless, I know this is a worthy read.History came alive. I was so captivated by the descriptions of life on board Lord Nelson's ship. So much so, that a tour of the HMS Victory has now been added to the agenda for my next trip to the UK. I was enormously proud (as Sam was) to catch a few glimpses of the Vice-Admiral through this book. As the author herself states, "...for the chance of meeting one of my greatest heroes... Writers are fortunate people." Readers, too! For this took me two-hundred years back in time and made me feel like a fellow witness to the happenings on board. Most of all, I really understood the characters. I know how young Molly and Sam felt during their troubles and triumphs. I know what that homesickness for England is like--even though I'm America-born; missing the special sugars, and tea houses, and those decidedly British things that cannot be replicated in the States. I know how Sam felt with the wind on his face, looking ahead to an adventure; scared, but excited. Whether it's from my own bias or the author's talent, I'm not entirely certain, but I felt empathy throughout, and I loved the book for it. However, I cannot give it five stars for one reason. The book is from the perspectives of two British youths, but it's written in American English. There is no honour in honor. With Molly, who was removed to the States it was almost forgivable, but Sam was pressed into the Royal Navy! How on earth do you write with such striking detail about British things, and miss completely the proper spellings? It may seem a small thing, but the devil, as they say, is in the details, and I found it most distressing. My book cover says the author lives in Connecticut, but but her bio says born and raised in England, so I'm not sure where the error lies. Is the editor to blame, here? For a book of such historical detail, I feel the language should have been captured along with the culture. It made it difficult to hear the characters speaking in their native accent. So if she only would have added her u's and checked her z's, this would have been nearly perfect as perfect could be.
What do You think about Victory (2006)?
I love Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence, this one not as much, though it was interesting and well-crafted. It was just a little flat to me. I learned a lot about British warships in Napolean's time (maybe too much), and she uses some interesting format, switching back and forth between two seemingly-unconnected stories, one modern, one historical, using past tense in the old, present tense in the new, and bringing the two stories together by the end. Honestly, I doubt the story would grab any of my kids. Eric might possibly like it someday, if he's still fascinated by ships when he's old enough to wade through a fairly slow-moving book without a lot of plot. The almost-fantasy elements didn't quite work for me, maybe because the author is working so hard for historical accuracy. Maybe you can't have both. Still, I have to admire what she's done.
—whalesister
Sam Robbins is a young man who is forced into the service at the age of eleven on the ship Victory, under the command of Admiral Nelson, in 1803. The book goes on to tell of his experiences on that ship for the next three years.Molly is a thirteen year old girl who has just moved to American from England, in 2006. She misses England very much. She finds a book in a bookstore and starts to have dreams about what happened to Sam Robbins. I enjoyed the book, it was an easy and fast read. Learned some things about ships and the battle of Trafalgar.
—Kim
The is the story of Molly, who lives in Connecticut in 2006, and Sam, who lives in England, in 1803. Molly and Sam tell alternating chapters throughout the book, each concentrating on Admiral Lord Nelson and the HMS Victory, a ship that fought in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1806. The book opens with Molly. Molly's mom has recently married Carl, an American, and moved the family from England to Connecticut. Molly is miserable. She has no friends and school is about to start. She is terrified of starting a new school and not knowing anyone. Carl takes the family on a weekend drive and happens upon a little bookstore. In the store, Molly feels pulled by a book about Admiral Lord Nelson, an English sailing captain. She purchases it and later, by accident, finds a small brown envelope in the spine with a swatch of fabric. The fabric is a piece of the English flag flown on the HMS Victory. In the meantime, we meet Sam who is "pressed" into service for the English navy, meaning that he and his uncle are hit over the head while walking down the street and forced to become members of the navy. They are stationed on the HMS Victory and Sam learns the jobs of a scab in the navy - caring for the animals kept on board for food, killing them when the time comes, helping in the kitchen, killing the many rats aboard, cleaning up after the men, etc. All of them nasty jobs, mostly below-deck. Eventually Sam works his way up to helping up on the deck, running for gun powder, sewing torn sails. The HMS Victory is eventually involved in a battle against Spain in which the Admiral Lord Nelson is killed. Sam is a part of this battle and decides the navy will be his life's work.It turns out that Molly's father was a distant relative of Sam's and that Molly and Sam have the same last name. The book got weird for me when Molly started channeling Sam while she was touring the HMS Victory. I also think that the author should have played up the war part more in order to catch the attention of male readers right away. Girls will stick with a book longer than boys will and this book opens with Molly telling the first chapter. I think if Sam would have been telling the first chapter, boy readers would have gotten hooked and completed the book. It took me awhile to get into the storyline. The first chapters are kind of a snoozer.
—Amy
