This is the first book in Stockwin’s Kydd series in which Thomas Kydd is an officer. In it, Kydd - a former pressed sailor - struggles to find his place socially with his friend Renzi as his Professor Henry Higgins
This is a good book, devoted more to manners and personal conflict than action. Part of the story revolves around Kydd’s exposure to the new US Navy; he is tempted by their more egalitarian style.
I have some concern that the sailor’s-eye view that distinguished this series will no longer be present, but the book does move the series and its characters forward.