A lot happens in HMS Prometheus, the eighth book in Alaric Bond's Fighting Sail series.

HMS Prometheus, a ship-of-the-line commanded by Captain Richard Banks, is sent to the Mediterranean to serve under Admiral Lord Nelson's blockading fleet, but Banks and his crew spend relatively few pages on blockade duty. Banks, like Nelson, prefers to take a more active approach to the war with France.

Unlike so many series set in the Age of Sail, Bond does not focus his story on just one primary character. Banks commands the ship, no doubt, but the author expends considerable attention on other officers, crewmen and a few ancillary characters in the book. This expands the reach of the story immeasurably; the events are seen from more than one point of view, and they don't always agree.

Also, working with an ensemble cast of characters leaves Bond free to alter the status quo; in a series with a single protagonist, readers can be reasonably certain that character will not die, but Bond does not allow that certainty.

In HMS Prometheus, one interesting character who was introduced in the previous book vanishes with only a few sentences explaining his absence. And some prominent characters who have been with the series since the beginning meet their end -- some more surprisingly than others.

And Banks, while certainly an exceptional officer, has his faults. Foremost among them in this book is an error in judgment that, while having some strategic value, leaves the ship in jeopardy. The decision haunts Banks and, for a time, has him questioning his actions.

Besides Banks, the book features the perspectives of lieutenants and midshipmen, warrant officers and seamen, as well as the surgeon's wife and her impetuous maid. Each character differs from the others in ways that readers will always know whose voice is being heard.

Otherwise, the book is solidly packed with action and plot twists, from persistent pirates to unexpected pregnancies, battles on both land and sea, the revelation of heinous acts by respected officers, a desertion, a deadly illness, a Bible study group and a key character forced to cope with the loss of an arm due to the infection of an injury.

And, once again, the tale ends on a cliffhanger that will have readers reaching quickly for the next book.

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