Horatio Hornblower series. Which is *best* to read first?

[Hoggirl]

Somewhere (?Amazon) I read that whichever of these books is truly "first" in the series is a collection of episodic short stories which is not the "best" in the series; that some of the novels are better. My ds really likes action, and grows weary of short story collections (we have done several of those this year already). So, which novel would you read first to get him engaged in the series?

Thanks!

[clwcain]

Read them in order of publication. There are several Hornblower fansites on the Internet that will given the order of publication.

Like the Narnia books, these do not benefit from being read in the order of internal chronology.

[Hoggirl]

Read them in order of publication. There are several Hornblower fansites on the Internet that will given the order of publication.

Like the Narnia books, these do not benefit from being read in the order of internal chronology.

I ordered the first one. My ds doesn't really care for historical fiction, but it is often difficult to find reading materials that are appropriate. I hope he likes it!

[Ma Bear Up North]

A great list of books comes from the G A Henty series. They are individual books based on different countries, battles, or historical figures. My DS loves these books and challenge his thought even in 10th grade. The only place that I have found these is on the visionforum.org website. Very few make it into the libraries. Blessings