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The Emperor's Coloured Coat
- The Otto Prohaska Novels, Book 2
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
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The Emperor's Coloured Coat
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Summary
Early in the year 1912, the recently-promoted Lieutenant Ottokar Prohaska finds himself stuck as a gunnery officer aboard a battleship mostly moored in harbor. He answers a War Ministry advertisement for training as a naval air pilot, but he soon finds himself appointed aide-de-camp for aviation to the appalling, boorish, near-insane Austro-Hungarian heir-apparent: the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
After breaking a leg in a flying accident, Prohaska is relieved of his duties, and upon his recovery, he is posted to a river gunboat on the Danube. After an ill-considered liaison with a Polish opera singer, he flees her vengeful husband into Serbian territory. There, a case of mistaken identity enmeshes him in a Serbian anarchist plot to kill the Austro-Hungarian chief of staff with a small diversionary operation in the town of Sarajevo - the assassination of the Archduke.
His warnings of the assassination plot are mysteriously disregarded by Austrian officials, and Prohaska is whisked off to Shanghai aboard an Austrian liner, where he arrives just in time for the outbreak of World War One. Plenty more outlandish adventures await him: an insider's view of the Japanese siege of a German colony, an escape aboard a Chinese junk, and instruction in the art of flat-earth marine navigation. Finally, Prohaska must come to grips with the decision, by a not-very-bright commandant of a Turkish fort in the Arabian desert, that he should be hanged as a spy.
With irony, wit, historical accuracy, and telling detail, Biggins brings alive a time and place that spawned two World Wars, the Cold War, and the Balkan wars of the late 20th century.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-01-21
Colourful, flag-waving adventure.
Wonderful voice acting from Nigel Patterson. The protagonist is an interesting sort; along the lines of Etienne Gerard, though more reserved perhaps and lacking the naughty outrageousness of Harry Flashman. Still, a fun character all the same. The choice of making him a son of the Austro-Hungarian empire allows for an unrivalled amount of opportunity for international adventure. Captures the feeling of the last decade of that empire in a happier fashion than that conveyed by Roth’s Trotta family.
Not a work of literary genius but if you’re looking for an book that focuses on the typical derring-do of those young, dashing officer-types then you can’t go far wrong with the stories of Ottokar Prohaska.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ian
- 03-01-19
Simply wow
Austrian Naval hero had the most wildest 1914 that it is possible to have had from crashing a plane Into the Archduke Franz Ferdinand afternoon dinner party at Battling allies In the desert of Turkey.
Simply amazing
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matt
- 10-12-20
A really good listen
I really enjoyed this book, it’s only the second John Biggins book I’ve listened to, can’t wait to hear the next one. A really good story and you learn a bit of history that I certainly haven’t read about before.
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