Customer Reviews (29)

O'brian has not failed me yet
For the past 10 years I have been reading all the O'Brian - Jack Aubrey books. I enjoy them so much, I only read them during vacations so I can throw myself into them. I only have a couple of books left and after I am done, I will feel like a old friend has moved away. I really enjoyed "The Yellow Admiral" It only took a couple of sessions to read because I did not want to put it down. If you like this series, then you will like this book too.

More Battles Over Enclosing the Commons than at Sea
THE YELLOW ADMIRAL is the 18th book of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Richard Russ, who changed his name to Patrick O'Brian, perhaps to suggest a purely non-existent Irish origin and to hint at a more exotic background than his English heritage would provide.Many authors have written under noms de plume, but Russ's name change strikes me as devious and as an attempt to fool book buyers into believing the author hailed from a more intriguing background than was the actual case.Perhaps the fact that Russ abandoned wife and children (one of whom was dying of spina bifida) and moved only himself to London to do his writing has prejudiced me against him.

But enough about the ethics of the author; what about this particular book?In a word, boring.The "action" begins on land, which is generally Russ/O'Brian's least interesting setting, and a great deal of the narrative focuses on Captain Aubrey's fear of being "yellowed," that is, of being promoted to admiral but without being given a fleet to command, hence the reference to a non-existent "Yellow Fleet."

There is also quite a bit of discussion concerning the enclosing of commons, an act that Aubrey abhors but which the fleet admiral's relative supports.When Aubrey prevails in court and the petition to enclose the commons that lies within Aubrey's purview as "lord of the manor" is blocked, the admiral has little good to report about Aubrey's seafaring performance, which obviously reenforces his fear of being yellowed.

The reader is in great hopes that the action may pick up when it becomes known that the government of Chile is interested in finding an experienced naval officer and warship to patrol its coast line.This would have to be done somewhat clandestinely inasmuch as the country could not ask England to provide such a service officially, so Aubrey is actually granted a unique leave of absence from the naval service and a promise of reinstatement with no loss of seniority when the mission is finished.Some actual excitement may be brewing, but, frustratingly, nothing comes of all of this scheming, as we see on the very last page of the book.Just as Aubrey is prepared to take his ship and sail for the Chilean coast, he is informed that Bonaparte has escaped from his exile on Elba and is ordered to blockade the French coast (again).Well, this development may prove exciting--but the book ends at this point.With some luck, this thread may resume in the next volume.We'll see.

Not only is much of THE YELLOW ADMIRAL generally devoid of entertaining action, but it also shows signs of a decline in Russ/O'Brian's imagination through his re-use of phraseology from earlier volumes.At one point, he waxes philosophical and observes that nothing but a nine-inch plank separates Dr. Maturin from eternity (the sick bay being below the water line of the ship).This might actually be a remarkably good observation had it not appeared pretty much ver batim in an earlier volume, THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD.

If one has collected the entire 21-volume set of Russ/O'Brian's seafaring novels featuring Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, then THE YELLOW ADMIRAL is pretty much obligatory reading.However, if one is picking and choosing selected volumes for his reading pleasure, then I suggest that THE YELLOW ADMIRAL be among those bypassed.I cannot see any of Russ/O'Brian's works being considered of having lasting value, but this volume is of even less quality than the others I have read so far.If one seeks a really fine series of seafaring novels, look to C. S. Forester or, for shorter stories, toJoseph Conrad.Overall, Russ/O'Brian is somewhat better than mediocre--but not by much.

Thin Paper
I really love this series, I just wish it'd been printed on better quality paper.

Simply the Best, again and again
"The Yellow Admiral" is 18th in the 20 novel Aubrey-Maturin series, featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and his companion ship surgeon Stephen Maturin, set in the year 1815."The Yellow Admiral" one a episode in a grand epic, and as such the plot is of secondary importance.Revealing "how it comes out" does not really constitute a spoiler.For reader's new to the series, the titles often describe the ending of the novel, or the next novel in the series.

The novel begins with a rather through summary of preceding novels in the series, through various second-hand accounts.So, a reader new to the series could start with "The Yellow Admiral" and not be too confused.Caveat, once you've read any book in the series, you're hooked.So, if you are thinking about reading "The Yellow Admiral", do it right.Start with Book 1, "Master and Commander"

SUMMARY
The action begins at with Jack on temporary leave at his estate at Woolcombe, England, to attend to his Parlimentary duties.Jack is very much opposed to the enclosures of the commons in general and specifically of "Simmon's Lea".As "Lord of the Manor", he is in a position to essentially veto the effort, and does.We learn a great deal about the subject, the effect on "small holders" and the politics.Jack's opposition to the enclosure, other political positions he has hold in Parliament, and unpopularity in some parts of the Royal Navy threaten his naval career if peace with France breaks out.

Jack is ordered to sea to join a rather uneventful blockade of Brest, France.During which his wife Sophie learns of an affair Jack had with an American woman.

When the blockade ends, with the capture of Napoleon, facing the fact that he will almost certainly be "yellowed", i.e., be promoted to admiral but never given a command, Jack opts to temporarily resign his commission in order to accept a private commission surveying the coasts of Chile, and organizing a Chilean navy.The agreement is accepted by "the powers that be", with the proviso that Jack can be called back into service with the Royal Navy at any time.

So, Jack and Stephen set sale on the former "HMS Surprise"-now privately owned by Stephen--for Chile.At Madeira, he receives orders to take command of all Royal Navy ships at Madeira to blockade the Straits of Gibralter.

CRITIQUE
Although lacking the wonderful action sequences of pitched naval battles, "The Yellow Admiral" is extraordinarily rich and vibrant.In addition to the politics of the time, and vivid details of nautical life, the state of medicine (and surgery) are brilliantly illuminated.

Not for the action junky, and maybe not the ideal introduction to the series.But for fans of the series, another superb installment.

I have lost track of how many times I have read the entire series start to finish--somewhere between six and ten times, and I look forward to re-reading the series again and again.

Now the end really is in sight
After the false scare that the previous entry (The Commodore) was the final entry, it is possible to see the end in sight in this entry.Aubrey and Maturin are placed on blockade duty off the coast of France as Napoleon nears capture.Jack and Sophie weather a domestic crisis, and the seamen face peacetime with trepidation.Captain Jack faces the humiliation of being "yellowed"--made an admiral in name only, with no ship or fleet.

Nineteenth in the series:The Hundred Days ... Read more

Product Description
O'Brian's greatness is present.Calmly and with wit he showshow things go wrong in little worlds.Amazon.com Review
Before the epic Aubrey-Maturin series,Patrick O'Brian wrote this sinister tale of love and death set inWales, a dark and timeless story with echoes of Thomas Hardyand Mary Webb.JosephPugh, sick of Oxford and of teaching, decides to take some time off tolive in a wild and beautiful Welsh farm valley.There he fallsphysically ill and is nursed back to health by Bronwen Vaughn, thewife of a neighboring farmer.Slowly, unwillingly, Bronwen and Pughfall in love, and while that word is never spoken between them, theirstory is passionate and tragic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Patrick O'Brian's early work
I enjoyed the Aubrey/Maturin series so much that I wanted to explore Patrick O'Brien's earlier work. Testimonies is a novel about life in rural Wales. The story is too fragmented for my taste and the end too sad .... Still, it is part of one of my favorite author's work and I will probably read it again to try to understand it better.

This book really sneaks up on you
I only bought this book because I'm a big fan of his seafaring series. I really did not like his Rendezvous at all.

Normally I would much rather walk over hot coals than read a romance novel. But this book hooks you from the beginning. It starts in a timid way about a timid man and gradually builds toward a real tragedy.

Descriptions of Wales and the people are well done. But kind of disheartening to read how unkind people can be towards each other ...for no real reason....just spite and meanness. I guess people are the same everywhere.
.
As the other reviewer mentioned, this book will affect you. It stays with you after you finish it. Not normally something that happens to me.

Try this one
Though I'm a big fan of the lighter-hearted Aubrey/Maturin series, especially the first three or four installments, "Testimonies" is my hands-down favorite O'Brien.It's orders of magnitudes darker, written in the 1950s, but if O'Brien had never written anything else he'd still deserve a place of literary honor only for this novel.It's nothing like anything else I've ever read.Without being gimmicky, it uses a shifting point-of-view device that will keep you off-balance right through the last page.The narrative tension builds so slowly that you can't believe what an unbearable vise you're in by the end.He was a master of his craft even at this fairly young age.

Testimonies vs The Catalans
O'Brian conveysthe feel of rural Wales in the fifties perfectly. I cared what happened to Pugh and Bronwen. I cared not a jot for the fate of any of the characters in the Catalans.

Curious sort of book
Perhaps one of the more interesting parts of this book, I thought, was the introspective view of the world situation as voiced by Pugh to Bronwen. Keeping in mind this was originally published in 1952 that would mean some of what was at issue for O'Brian was the Cold War and the nuclear threat, but it is fairly easy to interpret the concerns as equally applicable to today. The threat is different but the results on the human psyche are the same, as are Bronwen's curious response asking how that relates to the idea that a person has a soul.
Other interesting tidbits include Pugh's description of characters such as Lloyd, Ellis, and Skinner. Loved this bit on Skinner: "The stuff he adduced was such an intolerable farrago of rubbish that I was shocked that it should have imposed upon a man of education and some reading. It was such an incoherent, verbose mumbo-jumbo, with esoteric twaddle jostling Gnosticism, scholarship of the lucus a non lucendo order that I could not refrain (burning with my private fire) from saying some sharp things about his authors." (p. 124)
I had no issue with the person playing "Q" assuming it was just a rhetorical device.
... Read more

Product Description
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their beginning, with Master and Commander, these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the fourteenth book in the series.Patrick O'Brian is regarded by many as the greatest living historical novelist writing in English. In The Nutmeg of Consolation, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin begin stranded on an uninhabited island in the Dutch East Indies, attacked by ferocious Malay pirates. They contrive their escape, but after a stay in Batavia and a change of ship, they are caught up in a night chase in the fiercely tidal waters and then embroiled in the much more insidious conflicts of the terrifying penal settlements of New South Wales. It is one of O'Brian's most accomplished and gripping books.Amazon.com Review
Shipwrecked! When Captain Aubrey and his crew go aground on aremote island, they labor to construct a seaworthy schooner from thewreckage (taking breaks, of course, to play cricket.) Their subsequentadventures lead them to the dreaded penal colony at Botany Bay, andthen, as always, back to sea. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

The book is great, but I didn't receive the edition shown
I could never fault one of the Aubrey-Maturin novels. They are an amazing series. But for others who are collecting them one by one, I would like to point out that the book pictured is not the one I received through Amazon (yes, it's "The Nutmeg of Consolation," but not the edition pictured).

Nevertheless, this entire series is outstanding. Patrick O'Brian was a genius, but not in the uppity, full-of-himself literary kind of way. Along with giving readers the sense of being on one of His Majesty's ships during Napoleon's era, the series is an up-close and personal encounter with the language, the people, warfare, naval traditions, intelligence and gunnery of the time, which people like me learn far more from than from history books. But O'Brian also looks at medicine, zoology, botany, fashion, food, music, literature...the list goes on and on. He must have been a devoted scholar, but brings all of this to readers in a very down-to-earth way that treats the humble lubber with as much respect as an admiral.

I admit, when I read the first book of the series it was like reading in a foreign language. It took me a while to understand such expressions as "Did you smoke that? (translated, did you understand the joke?) But because the writing was so appealing, I continued and soon found myself thinking in the Old English language O'Brian presents in the series.

The characters are wonderful and human, with both "shining parts" and unfortunate flaws. I read the series a decade ago and have recently decided not to let life get so busy that I don't read for pleasure, so here I am reading it again, replacing the books I've no doubt lent or lost in the past few years. The writing is still fresh and revealing and I feel like a richer person for getting to experience these books.

Gz20090709
Patrick O'Brian continues to impress with his ability. It is unfortunate that he passed away before completing the Aubrey story.

Pure O'Brian
You just get lost in the prose and the detail.Aubrey and Maturin continue their adventure in the South China Sea.Jack loses his ship, a career ending event for captains of his era.And that is just the beginning.Man one with nature and the microcosm of a ship at sea.

For fans of the series only
This 14th installment of the Aubrey-Maturin series finds our heroes shipwrecked, rescued, and then off to refit their ship at the notorious penal colony of Botany Bay. The first half of the book has lots of sea action with Captain Aubrey, while the second part immerses Stephen Maturin in the natural wonders and brutal social mores of Australian society, with great historical details. However, to me this was not one of the better books in the series. O'Brian's stories are always meandering, but this one was virtually plotless. For fans of the series only.

Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis and Clark"

The Best
I have read the entire series from Master and Commander to #21, The Unfinished Voyage, three times.I am a voracious reader and this is the best series I have ever read, no matter the genre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Letter or Marque
How does one review a book in this series?Having read much in this genre, I can say the Aubrey-Maturin books by O'Brien are unique.The style of writing is at first difficult.His transitions from action to dialogue, or from scene to scene are seldom clear.For the first two or three books this was offputting.But the richness, the detail, the cleverness, the character development, the action, the history, these books are wonderfully written and a joy to read, once one learns how to read them.I particularly like the work of Bernard Cornwell: simple, delightful reads with compelling characters and engaging plot lines.O'Brien is anything but simple.Yet I find myself in the 12th of the series, eagerly awaiting the next turn of the plot, and vaguely starting to dread the fact that there are only 8 (and a half) more of these wonderful books.
The main character is based upon Sir Thomas Cochran, the British naval hero of the Natoleonic wars, who's life was as remarkable, if not more so, than any of the fictional accounts based upon him, the same Cochran that Forester's Hornblower is based upon.
Lucky Jack is in a pickle.A tragedy has occurred in his life.Through a false accusation he is convicted of a fraud, and is struck from the service, his beloved navy.He has powerful friends working behind the scenes, and though a private and disgraced citizen, he is given letters of marque and a ship with which to pursue the King's enemies on the seas.A secret assignment sends him toward the Americas.He must avoid contact with the British navy for, being private, they can commandeer his crew, weakening his chances for successful completion of his mission.Will his small ship be captured by the Americans or the French?Will he ever gain reinstatement in the navy?On this impossible assignment stands any hope he may have of a future beyond shame and disgrace.O'Brien is truly the master of this field, and the Letter of Marque isis the equal of any in this continuing saga of the British Navy in the time of Napoleon.

As good as it gets
If you are a fan of HM Navy stories ca. 1800 then this entire Aubrey-Maturin series is one that I rate A+ (and I would also rae the Hornblower series an A); very good characterization and more than enough action to keep you reading from cover to cover.

Another Masterpeice
"Letter of Marque" is 12th in the 20 novel Aubrey-Maturin series, featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and his companion ship surgeon Stephen Maturin, set in the early 1800s. "Letter of Marque" one a episode in a grand epic, and as such the plot is of secondary importance.

SUMMARY
Jack Aubrey has been dismissed from the Royal Navy and is in low spirits.However, Stephen Maturin, now rich by inheritance, purchases the frigate "Surprise" and a "letter of Marque", i.e., an authorization to operate as a privateer.However, Stephen is still in the intelligence service, and the resulting missions are a mixture of intelligence collecting and profit making.The privateering goes well making Jack wealthy and popular.Later Stephen journeys to Sweden and is reconciled with his wife, Diana.In the meantime, partly as a result of the death of Jack's father, Jack acquires a seat in Parliament, and sufficient influence to be given assurance that he will soon be reinstated in the Royal Navy.

COMMENTS
"Letter of Marque" is a typical installment in the saga, filled with fascinating characters, battles, sea lore, and insights into early.There is virtually no mystery or suspense, but rather high adventure.Many men will wish that Stephen simply divorce and forget Diane, but of course, that's easier said than done.

THE VERDICT
I have lost track of how many times I have read the entire series start to finish-- somewhere between six and ten times, and I look forward to re-reading the series again and again.This is one of the grand classics to purchase in hardcover, and to bequeath to your grandchildren.

Best Read in a while
Continuity & action from page one & I would recomend this book to the movie fraturnity as it's better than Master & Commander in my view.

Sailng for Profit (and King and Country)
Patrick O'Brian has truly mastered the art of the sea story from the Age of Sail, and at the same time he has given us two superb characters (and a host of minor characters who nevertheles ring profoundly true).His two protagonists, naval officer Jack Aubrey and surgeon/naturalist/spy Dr. Stephen Maturin, form a friendship that endures over years even though they are opposites in many ways.As they age, they mellow a little as well as advancing steadily in their respective professions.

But in this story Capt. Jack has received a serious setback.He has been convicted (unjustly) of rigging a financial market and removed from the Navy List, yet Dr. Maturin buys his favorite ship, the frigate SURPRISE, which also has been rejected from the service, because she's too old and small.With semi-official help from the intelligence service run by Maturin's fellow naturalist Sir Joseph Blaine, Aubrey and Maturin set off on a mission that is also a privateering voyage in search of profitable prizes.Many of their old shipmates elect to come with them, although some of them had to desert to do so, risking hanging if caught, because they know "Lucky Jack Aubrey" will make them rich if they live to see England again. ... Read more

Product Description
On a strange decoy mission to the disease-ridden lagoons of the Gulf of New Guinea, Captain Aubrey and secret intelligence agent Maturin are ordered to suppress the slave trade, but the French are mounting an invasion that will give the men added problems. Reprint.Amazon.com Review
After several installments of gallivanting around the SouthSeas, Aubrey and Maturin return home to England, where thesurgeon-cum-intelligence-agent discovers that his wife hasdisappeared. As if such a domestic crisis weren't enough, the intrepidpair are also dispatched to the Gulf of Guinea (to suppress the slavetrade) and to Ireland (to rebuff an impending French invasion.) O'Brian'sstunning range, coupled with his mind-bending command of minutiae,explain why James Hamilton-Paterson has called him "the Homer ofthe Napoleonic Wars." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Sea story of glory
This is my second time through the 20-book series.It's a frequent companion and an alternative train of thought that stays with me to fill the dull moments.O'Brian offers a singularly personable and detailed perspective of people and times in the Napoleonic Era of waning British imperialism.He must have used the navy logs for colloquial and logistical details.This is as close to time travel as I'll get in my time.

Amazon's delivery is wonderfully prompt and well-packaged.If you intend to read them all, then the best savings are clearly by getting the entire series in one buy.Beware that different Norton series cover art is offered at different times -- what is offered now does not match the series images offered 18 months ago.WYSIWYG.You may have to hunt in other places to get matching cover art if the series is bought over a lengthy period.

Good enough to make me glad it wasn't the last!
Amended review:This ISN'T the last of the series!WOO HOO!I found that there are three more titles, and an unfinished one as well, plus a fellow named Dean King has put together an atlas and a dictionary of terms based on the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Whew.The Commodore ended well enough to cap off the series, but there is more to know about the characters, and I want to spend more time with them.

The last and one of the best of the Captain Aubrey series.O'Brian writes with an urgency like a ship flying across the ocean under full sails.He drives headlong right to the happy ending, resolving the last loose end(involving Stephen and Diane) on the last page.

Good enough to wish it wasn't the last.

Eighteenth in the series:The Yellow Admiral (O'Brian, Patrick, Aubrey/Maturin Novels, 18.)

The Aubrey-Maturin series is simply the best fiction ever written
Patrick O'Brian's "The Commodore" is the seventeenth book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series.The Aubrey-Maturin books are quite simply the best fiction I've ever read.I enjoy them so much that I find it difficult to read any other fiction now.

Although there are twenty (completed) Aubrey-Maturin novels, in a sense they are one long, unending story.O'Brian tells the story of an unlikely pair of friends in early 19th century Britain: a hard-charging Royal Navy captain and an Irish physician and naturalist (and British spy).Both are devoted, for different reasons, to the fight against Napoleonic France.Captain Jack Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin are dedicated friends, and the interplay between this unlikely pair is ranges from deep philosophical discussions to intended and unintended humor.

But what really makes these novels is Patrick O'Brian's writing style.Through his words, he paints wonderful pictures and creates real characters in brilliant narratives; which is good, because Aubrey and many of his exploits are based on real-life adventures during the Napoleonic Wars.

In "The Commodore," Aubrey leads a fleet of Royal Navy ships to the coast of Africa to interdict the slave trade.Aubrey has to deal with the internal problems of his fleet while also leading a successful campaign against African traders.Finally, Aubrey leads the fleet north to stop a French invasion of Ireland.This is a fabulous book, but I recommend that everyone with any interest in historical fiction or the Royal Navy read the entire series in order.

Another wonderful O'Brian novel
I am slowly reading my way through the entire set of Aubrey-Maturin novels.It has been one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of my life.The stories are compelling, the characters are extremely well developed, and the prose is vivid.Recommended to anyone who likes to read.

A more somber and reflective Aubrey & Maturin novel.
The seventeenth installment of the Aubrey/Maturin series is vintage O'Brian. Those who seek mere relentless thrills and action will be disappointed. By contrast, those who enjoy a novel that flawlessly fuses historically accurate fleet actions in the Age of Sail with meditations on the nature of friendship, love, fine music, literature, wine and all that makes life worth living will come away as fulfilled as could be expected from any book in this wonderful series.

"The Commodore" finds Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., and his friend Stephen Maturin, back in England after a prolonged, around-the-world voyage. For both, their respective home-comings are, at best bittersweet. Though substantially enriched from their last expedition, the two friends must confront personal and family challenges that are awkward at best, and, in Stephen's case, painful at worst. Over a decade has passed since the naval officer and the medical doctor/naturalist/intelligence agent had met in Port Mahon just before the Peace of Amiens. Sixteen novels later, in the waning months of the Napoleonic wars, we find them not only older, but more reflective and serious. Jack is now a Commodore, commanding a powerful squadron and charged with a complicated dual mission that will take him from England to the coast of West Africa and later, to the shores of Ireland. Stephen, his private life as complicated as ever, finds himself enmeshed in intelligence-related intrigues that threaten to reach far, far too close to home. For all that, the novel's dominant ambiance is never opressive. True to form, O'Brian provides his readers with plenty of flashes of humor and levity that pierce the somber clouds that now and again gather over the heads of the protagonists. There is a happy ending -- of sorts. As is always the case in the Aubrey/Maturin novels, the nature of happiness is always somewhat ambivalent, perhaps fleeting. But, then again, is that not true in real life?





... Read more

Product Description
Foreword bt Peter Weir. The twenty books in the Patrick O'Brian canon featuring the lives and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his confidant, naval surgeon Stephen Maturin, have been lauded across the world for their blend of classic storytelling, historical accuracy, and inspired characterizations. In this book, respected naval historian Brian Lavery explores the historical framework of the O'Brian novels by examining the facts behind the grand narrative and putting the key episodes in context while detailing naval life in the era of Nelson and Napoleon. With well over a hundred illustrations, the book presents contemporary plans, drawings, engravings, maps, and photographs of museum artifacts that have inspired age-of-sail novelists and moviemakers. Introducing the book is a foreword by Peter Weir, director of the film based on O'Brian's Master and Commander and The Far Side of the World. Avid age-of-sail fans will not want to miss this colorfully detailed complement to the O'Brian series, now available in paperback. 120 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Re-living our naval past
Being a descendant of an Admiral of the Fleet I have always been intested in naval life in the days of sail and wondered what the balance was between wonderful and privileged adventure and virtual slavery below decks. "Jack Aubrey Commands" gives you all the answers!I am not a great fan of Patrick O'Brian's books, but am glad he wrote them. This book, by Brian Lavery, is well-researched, suitably illustrated and enjoyable reading for well-informed naval historians or schoolboys who have an interest in the subject.

Nelson's Navy for Dummies
This book covers a large area rather thinly. It is saved from "coffee table" status by some penetrating insights into such things at shipbuiding methods, or the composition of the Admiralty administration. It left me with the need to follow up many subjects, and I count that a plus for this type of book.
I was a little disappointed that there was so little nexus between the sections of the book, and O'Brian's stories. One of the joys of O'Brian's work is that itseems closely relatedto fact, and I'd hoped for the little tingle of pleasure when the fact and the fiction are joined together.
on a very minor point, it seems to me that the cover illustration shows a ship whose sails are not properly set...some are on starboard, and some on port tack. If I'm wrong, someone please show me my blunder.

Facts, as Related to the Stories
While the sub-title of this book relates it to Jack Aubrey's world, this book is equally at home in understanding the world of C. S. Forester and indeed to the real world of of the Royal Navy of the time.

The book is broken into sections on the major aspects of the Navy including: ships, officers, men, techniques, life at sea, enemies, the Navy in Action, and finally the experience of war.

The book is a delight to read. Each of these sections contains not only information about the actual navy of the time, but also relates many of the details to particular Forester or O'Brian books. For instance the naval blockade is discussed as a tactic. Then there it talks about Hornblower having the Hotspur on blockade duty, and Aubrey being part of the Mediteranean Fleet in the book The Ionian Mission. He even mentions other novels, such as Sharpe's Trafalgar, while normally a soldiers story, Sharpe is put at Trafalgar almost as an accident.

Profusely illustrated by paintings from the time, these include not only the usual outlines of ships, but of the details of the action. These include not only the use of the guns, but also of the less happy parts of the ship, like the surgeon's cockpit.

It's fascinating to read just how accurately life is portrayed in fiction.

Excellent material, mediocre editing . . .
If you're a fan of nautical adventure, this is definitely a book you want to own. Lavery, a greatly respected naval historian, has written several earlier volumes on the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic period (including the highly regarded _Nelson's Navy_), and he was also one of the principal technical advisors on Peter Weir's film, MASTER AND COMMANDER. (Weir, in fact, provides a glowing Foreword.) This heavily illustrated volume tries to cover all the bases, organizing its topics into chapters like "The World of the Seaman," "The Ships," "Officers," "The Lower Deck," "Techniques," and so on. Technical information is provided but is kept under control so as not to frighten the novice, and he quotes heavily from early Victorian memoires, biographies, and histories -- and also from the works of Marryat, Forester, O'Brian, and even Jane Austen's _Persuasion_. On the other hand, Lavery, unfortunately, was not well served by his editor, copyeditor, or proofreader. (Having worked for them myself in the past, as a freelance editor, I know Naval Institute Press is capable of far better support work.) There often are several typos, omitted words, and confusing references on a single page. There also are a number of incorrect or incomplete source citations and at least one mislabeled diagram (on page 104). Lavery also is prone to frequent and unnecessary repetition in his discourse, especially in explaining points of shiphandling and other technical matters. Finally, the index and the bibliography are rather amateurishly organized. But on the *other* other hand, I finally understand catharpins!

A solid primer on the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey
Brian Lavery is the author of the thoroughly excellent "Nelson's Navy", praised by Patrick O'Brian as the most nearly royal road to knowledge about the Royal Navy of the 1793-18115 period he knew.Lavery's new book, "Jack Aubrey's Commands: A Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O'Brian", is quite evidently tied to the release of the film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", based upon O'Brian's novels -- the book's foreword, after all, was written by Peter Weir. the director of the movie.But the book is at least as much directed towards the readers of O'Brian's novels as to viewers of the film (and more so, I would argue), and it should be equally enticing for those simply interested in that historical era.To be sure, Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" is an excellent reference book that contains far more detailed information than the present work, but "Jack Aubrey's Commands" is written in a more approachable style for the general reader, with a text that is meant to be read as a continuous whole, rather than as a collection ofdetails and essays.Its particular strength lies in the numerous and lengthy quotes taken from contemporary sources, making the narrative more vivid and easy to relate to a living world long vanished.In this regard, "Jack Aubrey's Commands" serves as a companion to Lavery's own "Nelson's Navy" as well as to the novels of Patrick O'Brian.

Someone recently asked me whether it was better to buy "Jack Aubrey's Commands" or Richard O'Neill's recent "Patrick O'Brian's Navy: Jack Aubrey's World".Putting the obvious answer of "Buy both of them!" aside (and assuming that the reader already has Lavery's "Nelson's Navy" or feels that this earlier work is as yet too formidable to approach), then my recommendation would depend on the reader's personal preferences.Both volumes contain a good detail of information about the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey's era.O'Neill's book is especially strong in the area of excellent period illustrations, Lavery's in the direction of narrative strength.The first is perhaps best for repeated browsing, the latter for a straightforward read. ... Read more

Product Description
Patrick O'Brian is the well-known author of the Aubrey/Maturin novels, set during the Napoleonic Wars. They are acknowledged by critics and readers alike as classic works of fiction and attract an increasingly wide audience. Patrick O'Brian was also a translator of note and the author of several biographies and other works of nonfiction. His first books appeared over fifty years ago to wide and enduring critical acclaim. This compilation of essays is an appreciation of {Patrick O'Brian's writing life. As well as an autobiographical essay, it also includes "Samphire" and "Simon", two of Patrick O'Brian's best-known short stories. It includes contributions from eminent writers such as John Bayley, N.A.M. Rodger and Brian Laverty. Historian and author Richard Ollard adds a wide-ranging overview of Patrick O'Brian's writing, and the book contains other appreciations from admirers and critics including the actor and director Charlton Heston. The bibliography is a comprehensive and authoritative account of O'Brian's writing through 1994. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Absolutely essential for the serious O'Brian reader
I have a hunch that it would take some doing to get these same contributors -- towering literary figures all -- together between any two other book covers. Their essays provide thoughtful insight into O'Brian'swriting. They allow me to better understand why I instinctively liked itfrom the start.

In his opening paragraph of the introduction to this bookWilliam Waldegrave says, and so aptly, "Few events in the continuinghistory of literature are as satisfying as those moments when a writer,leaving behind the dissonance of experiment and imitation, finds his ownauthentic voice and settles into a lifetime of creativity in a style whichhe makes his own."

Patrick O'Brian's superb style is his alone, avoice like no other, and when we go back to his earlier works -- havingexhausted the Aubrey/Maturin series over and over -- we find that he hadsettled into his style long ago.

The final contribution sheds some lighton why O'Brian was so slow to take off in the U.S., which was not untilafter he was translated into Japanese. Stuart Bennett's essay is titledFour Decades of Reviews. "Though rarely out of print in GreatBritain," he says, "the first five of the Aubrey novels receiveda somewhat muted reception in the U.S. After 'Desolation Island' in 1979,no attempt was made to present Aubrey to an American readership untilNorton's 1990 reissues. Reasons for this long American dry spell can befound in some of the reviews of the early Aubrey novels." Someexamples:

"Publisher's Weekly" said of "Post Captain"in 1972: "Overwritten for so little plot, which consists mainly ofadventures at sea and the friends's feuding over their rather tediouswomen."

"New York Times Book Review" on "H.M.S.Surprise" in 1973: "Mr. O'Brian is constantly becalmed in his owndiction, which can take a disturbingly giddy turn. Men-of-war with nameslike 'Belle Poulle' and 'Caca Fuego' just don't inspire confidence."Mr. Bennett responds, "The French quite certainly possessed a shipcalled the 'Belle Poulle' ... Furthermore the Spaniards often named theirmen-of-war 'Cacafuego'; one formed part of the Invincible Armada."

Idiscovered "Master and Commander" and "Post Captain"wholly by chance in 1990, before I or anyone I knew had ever heard ofPatrick O'Brian. The reviewers this second time around had not awakened. Iwas hooked from the start and like a literary Johnny Appleseed beganintroducing others to this fine "new" writer. And so it has beena wonderfully satisfying experience for me to see the appreciation ofO'Brian's craftsmanship blossom, then swell to such heights as it hasduring the years following. Happily, the reviewers liked Aubrey and Maturinthis time around.

I believe this collection of essays was the first ofthe string of books that now accompany O'Brian's books. In it we learn somethings about Patrick O'Brian from himself. Among them: he wrote his firsttale of the sea, "The Golden Ocean", "in little more than amonth, laughing most of the time." He describes that the story,published in 1956, made no great impression, but led an American publisherto ask for an "adult" sea story. "Master and Commander"was the result. It was published in the late sixties, but would not besuccessful in the U.S. for another twenty-five years, this time at thehands of another publisher: W.W. Norton. Many American readers are veryhappy that Norton breathed new life into Aubrey and Maturin, andconsequently into Patrick O'Brian's whole works. ... Read more

Product Description
Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life, having earned reinstatement to the Royal Navy through his exploits as a privateer. Now he shepherds Stephen Maturin on a diplomatic mission to prevent links between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which could put English merchant shipping at risk.Amazon.com Review
Will Napoleon Bonaparte form an alliance with the Malayprinces of the South China Sea? Not if Jack Aubrey can helpit. Conveying a diplomatic mission to the Sultan's court, Aubrey andcompany must also contend with orangutans, typhoons, and a squadron ofwily French envoys. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

A ripping yarn, for all love.
Aubrey and Maturin are in fine form in this installment of the landmark series.Well worth the time!

Gz20090709
Patrick O'Brian continues to impress with his ability. It is unfortunate that he passed away before completing the Aubrey story.

Deep thoughts and action will please fans of the series
This book, number 13 in the Aubrey-Maturin seagoing series, sees Captain Jack Aubrey reinstated in the service after an injustice stripped him of his rank, and Dr. Stephen Maturin anticipating fatherhood. Their mission is to take over a new ship, the Diane, and escort a diplomat named Fox on an urgent mission to win the alliance of a Malaysian sultan. This series is never strongly plot-driven, and this one is particularly meandering as we spend a lot of time following Stephen on his fascinating journeys into the scientific, natural, and cultural curiosities of the island on which the mission takes place.

The stakes get higher when the British find themselves in competition with old enemies and traitors from their past, and there's bloodshed and betrayal before its all through. A theme emerges late in the book that elaborates on hubris, when Fox is successful in concluding a treaty and mistakenly believes he owes no thanks to anyone else. A fantastic action sequence and cliffhanger concludes the book.

I enjoyed The Thirteen Gun Salute but it is definitely one for fans of the series rather than a good one with which to start.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark"

Aubrey gets his stripe back, but doesn't end well
Aubrey gets his Navy position back, Maturin helps negotiate a valuable treaty with Malaysia, but they end up the book shipwrecked on a formerly unknown reef in the South China Sea with their ship destroyed by a typhoon.

Fourteenth in the series:The Nutmeg of Consolation

Patrick O'Brian series
This is an excellent book in an excellent series. Anyone who likes historical fiction will enjoy this. ... Read more

Product Description
"Vividly detailed 19th-century settings anddramatic tension punctuated with flashes of wryhumor make O'Brian's nautical adventure asplendid treat."—Publishers WeeklyJack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest victory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attention of two privateers soon becomes menacing. The chase that follows through the fogs and shallows of the Grand Banks is as tense, and as unexpected in its culmination, as anything Patrick O'Brian has written.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Great Books-Expensive Shipping
This was advertised as a used book, but the condition was fine!If I have one complaint it would be the shipping costs.I ordered three books at once and all were delivered in the same USPS envelope.In spite of that, I was charged three different shipping charges.

Excellent - as usual.
If you read this volume in the Aubry/Maturin series right after #6, the title is somewhat ambiguous: I was not sure whether O'Brian was hinting at further occurences involving the young man who, in volume 6, was Maturin's helper as ship's doctor (and who may have had something to do with the burning of Aubry's last command), or whether the question of Diana was finally resolved. Read it yourself to find out (last several pages, of course!).
This series is the best naval history fiction I have yet read - better even than the Hornblower series.

THE FORTUNE OF WAR Part Deux
THE SURGEON'S MATE, the seventh installment of the Jack Aubrey- Stephen Maturin series about the British naval captain and his surgeon friend at the start of the nineteenth century picks up the story as "Lucky" Jack and the Doctor, along with Diana Villiers (the woman Stephen has long pined for), head back to England after escaping Boston aboard the HMS Shannon and its subsequent defeating of the USS Chesapeake.The story continues with a series of loosely related episodes: Jack's losing himself in an affair with a woman of questionable character in Halifax, his and Stephen's mission to win over a Catalan unit from the French at Grimsholm (now in Finland) and capture the fortress there, and the imprisonment of Jack, Stephen, and Stephen's Swedish assistant Gedymin Jagiello by the French and our heroes' attempt at escape.Stephen's secret life as a super spy for the British Crown also becomes threatened.

Throughout the book, the reader might assume the title refers to Jagiello, but it becomes apparent by the end that this is not so.Jagiello, in any case, is an odd character who's not well fleshed out.He seems to be present mostly for comic relief, and late in the book he also serves as a plot device.

THE SURGEON'S MATE is the least satisfying of the Aubrey-Maturin novels at this point in the series, at least as a stand-alone novel.Although the last fifty pages are exciting, most of the rest of the novel, while still engrossing--Patrick O'Brian's prose style still pleases--is even more episodic than usual. It reads like a coda to the previous (and superior) book in the series, THE FORTUNE OF WAR (see my review on Amazon.com) than it does a cohesive work of its own merit.Still, to any fan of O'Brian's novels, this is not an important consideration.

O'Brian in a good groove
O'Brian has settled into a good groove by this stage of this multi-book series.You know what you are going to get and he delivers.As in the previous book, more time is spent on land, as we see Aubrey with his family and Maturin working his intelligence career, with a bit of a twist at the end.

Eighth in the series:The Ionian Mission (Aubrey Maturin Series)

Surgeon's Mate?WHAT surgeon's mate?
Confession time.THE SURGEON'S MATE is the fifth bookin the "Aubrey/Maturin Series" of seafaring novels that I have completed; however, it is the seventh book in the logical series order. Having subscribed to receive the entire series, I began reading the books in the order that they arrived, assuming that the publisher would send them in proper sequence.Such turns out not to have been the case, and some of my discontent with other volumes I have reviewed derived from the fact that I had missed some events because of reading the books out of order.Allow my experience to stand as evidence that, for maximum enjoyment and even comprehension, these books should be approached in their logical sequence.

I have now edited those earlier reviews to correct any misstatements as to the books' places in the sequence of novels and have removed comments pertaining to missing events that actually were addressed in preceding volumes.Nonetheless, I find that my overall assessments of the books remain unaltered.I feel that Richard Russ (Patrick O'Brian's real name) is essentially a "three star" author.When he writes of naval engagements aboard men-of-war, sloops, frigates, and the other fighting ships whose maneuvering capabilities are largely at the whim of the prevailing winds, he is a most engaging author.However, when he delves into the interpersonal relationships of his characters, he is less successful in engaging his readers.

Two other continuing weaknesses in Russ' writing are his heavy use of now-archaic seafaring terminology that often clouds the meaning of the passage and his frustrating lack of time transitions.The first problem could have been alleviated by judicious use of explanatory footnotes.The latter could have been corrected by use of transitional commentary.As it is, however, in one sentence, the captain may call for one of his officers, and in the very next sentence he is speaking to that officer.It is as though a time warp has occurred and the officer has materialized next to his captain at the very moment he is called for.This annoying truncation of time appears in each of the five volumes I have read thus far, and I fear it is a weakness to which the author is blind and may well continue throughout the series.

By itself, THE SURGEON'S MATE, while subject to the general criticisms I have mentioned, is, by and large, readable and engaging.Is Russ/O'Brian improving as he writes additional volumes, or am I becoming accustomed to his style and more accepting of it?In either event, I found this volume a much faster and more intriguing read than some of the others I have already encountered.The single most perplexing thing about this book is its title.There is no focus on any "surgeon's mate" whatsoever, and where Russ/O'Brian found his inspiration for the title remains a murky mystery! (Some reviewers have identified the title as referring to the character of Dr. Stephen Maturin; however, he has hitherto been described as being much more than a naval surgeon, being a skilled physician while a naval surgeon was essentially limited to chopping off shattered limbs. If this is indeed Russ/O'Brian's intent, then his choice of title essentially demotes Maturin from his former position, which is not, I think, the author's intent.)

If, gentle reader, you are determined to read the entire Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, you will certainly not want to miss this one.However, you will perhaps enjoy it most if you have read the preceding six volumes first.On the other hand, if one is interested in merely sampling Russ/O'Brian's work, this would not be a bad example to choose, although I would still suggest reading at least the first work, MASTER AND COMMANDER, before delving into any of the succeeding books, including this one. ... Read more

Product Description
"One of the best novelists since Jane Austen."—Philadelphia Inquirer

This novel is a powerful successor to Testimonies, Patrick O'Brian's first novel written for adults. It is set in that corner of France that became O'Brian's adopted home, where the long, dark wall of the Pyrenees runs headlong to meet the Mediterranean. Alain Roig returns to Saint-Féliu after years in the East and finds his family in crisis. His dour, middle-aged cousin Xavier, the mayor and most powerful citizen of the town, has fallen in love and plans to marry Madeleine, the young daughter of the local grocer. The Roig family property is threatened by this union, and Madeleine's relatives object on different grounds.

Xavier is a tragic figure, damned by what he perceives as a lack of feeling; Madeleine is to be his salvation. Unfortunately she does not return his affection, and, as the feasts and harvest festivals of Saint-Féliu are played out, she finds herself falling in love with Alain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Patrick O'Brian's early work
After finishing the entire Aubrey/Maturin series, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I wanted to try his early works and found the Catalans somewhat lacking in plot. However, the characters were well developed, the tight family relationships are very interesting and the book is worth reading. But this story cannot compare to the richness of the Aubrey series which is based on early 19th century British naval history.

The Catalans
An excellent early work by Patrick O'Brian.It was fascinating to see the developing author of the Aubry/Maturin novels in this book. Even though the characters and story line were completely different the fledgling artist was clearly present.A very nice tale, indeed, from the 1950's.

A fascinating view of a master honing his skills
This is a fascinating work. Not a casual read. You have to be prepared to let yourself sink into many lengthy "descriptive" passages about that corner of southern France where the east end of the Pyrenees officially marks the Spanish border. The Catalan world and language bridge the nations, and O'Brian is clearly enthralled by them.

The plot is outlined in other reviews: the story of Alain Roig, the middle-aged learned doctor returning from a long stay in the Far East to the Catalan town of his birth, in response to a summons to help in a huge family issue, and how it plays out to everyone's surprise and probably the family's initial dismay, though as one puts the book down one can consider that they will probably feel it was for the best - except unhappy Xavier.

Mostly, the plot is a framework for O'Brian to create an in-depth exploration of some unusual and troubling states of the human heart, and to develop, try out, aspects of writing technique. Xavier's night-long soliloquy about his frightening lack of true emotion, his dismay at being inhumanly cold in situations that seem to demand a wrenching involvement, is a kind of tour-de-force in both respects.

Some little things amusingly foreshadow the Aubrey-Maturin series: the experiment with switching from regular narrative form, to scripting as in plays: "XAVIER: (some statement)ALAIN: the reply)."He uses this when there is a sustained interchange between two people, just to get away from the monotonous "Xavier said...Alain replied..."And this foreshadows the point in one of the A-M series which many critics have tut-tutted about, where someone has a musical instrument and O'Brian just writes "Plays." exactly like a stage-direction.

Then there is the performer clad in the skin of a bear, foreshadowing Jack's Aubrey's perilous escape through France to Spain. Again ,this is something that has been criticized as being too far-fetched: I think O'Brian just didn't want to waste a neat idea. Of course, the references to Alain's life in Prabang clearly foreshadow the East Indies episodes of A-M. Then, too, the beautiful Madeleine gives a glimpse of Diana Villiers: "..she moved with incredible distinction...Her fine head poised....She was in spirits too, that brilliant day..." O'Brian really admires grace in movement, mentioned many and many a time about Diana, for whom the most apt adjective would always be "spirited." (Though Madeleine is unlike Diana in other ways.)

The one thing that is completely lacking, in comparison with A-M, is any touch of humor. This story addresses itself to its characters and its settings with full seriousness. One would never, from this book, expect the overflowing, bubbling yet quiet wit that so totally pervades the A-M series. He must have mellowed by then.

Do not read this book if you are one of the many reviewers here who complain that books are "too long" or "too slow-moving," but if you like immersing yourself in an amazingly detailed world of people and place, you will enjoy it. But four stars, because I have to admit, in some ways the writing could be called a little self-indulgent.

A rich novel of dark shades
For Patrick O'Brian's many fans of the towering nineteen novels of the Jack Aubrey series, the republication of The Catalans is an opportunity to get a different view some of the building blocks which in the series found their finest expression. The Catalan culture he paints so vividly, and the personalities and reflections of Xavier and Alain, the principal characters, representing aspects of O'Brians own character, resonate throughout with chords that are heard woven into the Aubrey books, but it must be said that whereas in the Aubrey series they are leavened with fine story telling, naval scholarship and above all wit, The Catalans is an altogether more introspective preparatory interlude.

Do not read this novel for a fast-moving adventure. But read it nonetheless, for there is much that is fine here. Xavier is a memorable, if off-putting, creature, and Alain's reflections have the immediacy of autobiography which adds some fascination. O'Brian's women are as always two dimensional creations which will continue to deny him a large appreciative female readership, but his descriptive passages are as wonderful as anything in his oeuvre, and The Catalans will haunt you long after you replace it on your shelf.

A great novel
After having read most (but not all) of the naval historical novels of P.O'Brian, this book a very good and pleasant surprise. I did certainly like all of Maturin's and Aubrey's novels, but this is a much more profound immersion into human nature, feelings and behavior. The descriptions of the main actors and of the old style "Mediterranean" families around them (sorry for the previous real "Catalan" reviewer, this novel could have been written around the geographical details of many other corners facing this sea) are extremely well constructed and give a good and faithful picture of the culture and traditions of families around this region.
What could otherwise be a fairly trivial love story is used as a pretext to explore the deep feelings, the emotions and the driving forces of two very different men. Some pages reminded me somehow of the magical atmosphere in Sandor Marai's "Embers", certainly the long dialog at night between the two protagonists is very evocative in this sense. If you liked Marai's book, I am confident that you will enjoy this one. ... Read more

Product Description
"The relationship [between Aubrey and Maturin]...is about the best thing afloat....For Conradian power of description and sheer excitement there is nothing in naval fiction to beat the stern chase as the outgunned Leopard staggers through mountain waves in icy latitudes to escape the Dutch seventy-four."—Stephen Vaughan, ObserverCommissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Stephen Maturin sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy—and a treacherous disease that decimates the crew. With a Dutch man-of-war to windward, the undermanned, outgunned Leopard sails for her life into the freezing waters of the Antarctic, where, in mountain seas, the Dutchman closes...Amazon.com Review
Captain Bligh (yes, the guy from the Bounty) needs tobe rescued, and the Royal Navy has the perfect man for the job:Captain Jack Aubrey. With his friend and cloak-and-dagger expertStephen Maturin in tow, Aubrey sets off for Australia. Severalfactors, including an attractive spy and asmall-scale epidemic, conspire to change his plans, and before longhis frigate is being pursued into Antarctic waters by a Dutchman-of-war. Five installments into the series, the Aubrey-Maturinstory remains (to quote The Observer) "the best thing afloatsince Horatio Hornblower." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (52)

um yea 5
one of the best of the series.
this guy is so good i can't really give a criticism.
well. i a, ...

Best starter novel for O'Brian series.
When I start talking to people who want to get into the Patrick O'Brian series, I always recommend that they read Desolation Island first. Somehow this novel stands on it's own more than any of O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin series. You get you a superior novel without having to have read the earlier books. Desolation Island displays the splendor of O'Brian's writing, tells a gripping story, plus it makes you feel like an insider in O'Brian's world when you go back and read Master and Commander and then you are totally hooked from Chapter One!

Geoff Hunt: Portrait of a Marine Artist
Extensively shows how Geoff painted the cover for this book. Tells what it was like working with O'Brian

Geoff Hunt: Painting in the Studio
Geoff painted all of O'Brian's covers - incredible artist!

High Seas Schooner: Voyage of the Harvey Gamage
Award winning documentary shot in heavy seas in the North Atlantic.

Utterly sublime brilliance
If there is any better writing in the English language than the couple of chapters in Desolation Island where the Leopard is being pursued by the Waakzaamheid, and the aftermath thereof, then I've certainly never read it.

You don't have to read many of these books before going back to other authors starts to feel like going from reading the Wall Street Journal to a British red-top tabloid.

On the whole I think Desolation Island is the best of the series, the worst of which is many times better than any other novels I've ever read.

Implausible, and unrelentingly depressing, and increasingly unlikely
Not the best of the series so far, despite great action and character development through the first half.The second half of the book is taken up by a series of potential disasters, from a chase by a more powerful enemy, to a near-fatal fight with the enemy during a hurricane blow, to hitting an iceberg, to a near-mutiny, to nearly sinking due to a leak from the iceberg hit, to nearly starting the War of 1812 with an American whaling ship whose sheltering bay they have unwittingly invaded to try to fix the ship enough to move on.

All of these things were be truly potential dangers of any voyage, and there were probably voyages in the golden days of the British Navy as cursed as this, but in fiction it just seems implausible, and unrelentingly depressing, and increasingly unlikely that anyone would survive all these things on one voyage.

And the book concludes with Captain Jack and the Doc still stranded on the island, but with the ship fixed and an international incident averted.It should make for an interesting start to the next in the series!

Sixth in the series:The Fortune of War (Aubrey Maturin Series)

Aubrey shipwreck onland / master at sea
I enjoyed this book.Besides the fact that Napoleonic History is a hobby of mine, I believe that the author truly has put to words what a naval commander must feel while assigned to year long mission.Aubrey is miserable on land and yearns for another command even though that means leaving his wife and young children.While Aubrey is a hero on the high seas, he is a ship wreck on terra firma.Back at sea, he comes back to life but begins to feel isolated from a crew that hasn't entirely warmed to him. As always his physician, Maturin makes insightful analysis of his friend Jack, but that is not all.
We begin to see more into Maturin's alternate persona, as a highly trusted intelligence agent, as he is entrusted with delivering an American spy to the Botany Bay penal colony.Has the good Dr successfully manipulated the American spy after arranging for her "escape?"We will see.
Throughout the voyage we are treated to the author's great tale-telling: cat-and-mouse encounter with a Dutch ship-of-the-line as well as the perils of the South Atlantic.
Definitely worth reading.
... Read more

Product Description
One of our greatest writers about the sea has written an engrossing story of one of history's most legendary maritime explorers. O'Brian's biography of naturalist, explorer, and cofounder of Australia, Joseph Banks, is narrative history at its finest. It reveals Banks to be a man of enduring importance, and establishes itself as a classic of exploration. 6 line drawings, 2 maps, 6 halftones.Amazon.com Review
Joseph Banks (1743-1820) led a life of great adventure. As anaturalist, he accompanied Captain James Cook on expeditions toAustralia and Tahiti, where he cataloged new species of plants andanimals; as an explorer, he helped chart sea passages along the coastof Canada to the Arctic. He was also at the center of power in histime, enjoying an on-again, off-again friendship with King George IIIand cultivating acquaintances with the leading scientists andstatesmen of his time. Patrick O'Brian, well known for his captivatingseafaring novels, brings dramatic flair to retelling the incidents ofBanks's life, which are closely tied to the expansion of the Britishempire. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

excellent biography
The book is clearly written and filled with information about the time and place of its subject.

Disappointing to say the least
Let me preface this review by saying that I am an avid reader of biographies, particularly those related to British naval history. I have read and enjoyed several biographies of James Cook, and thus was naturally drawn to purchase a biograpy of his primary naturalist, Banks. The book is indeed full of facts that can't be found elsewhere in a single volume. Unfortunately, O'Brian's writing turned what I thought would be an enjoyable and enlightening read into an immense chore. First, he frequently uses, without reference or description, the names of people and objects that nobody outside of a british naval historian could possibly know. Second, it seems O'Brian's writing style has been heavily influenced by the many 17th and 18th century journals, etc., he has read. At times I had a difficult time telling whether I was reading an extended quote of original material or O'Brian's own writing. Halfway through it occurred to me that I was no longer looking forward to my nighttime reading, which had turned into an unenjoyable slogging through this literary nightmare.

Interesting yet disappointing
This biography is obviously a collection of study material for Aubrey & Maturin. Sea travel combined with geographical exploration as well as botanizing and zoologizing, plus English society bickering is what the series is about just like this book on Banks. The whole O'Brian is there in the material.
Unfortunately only in the material. The flow of the prose is sadly lacking. The wit and humour comes through occasionally, but not the brillant dialogues, nor the elegant story telling, nor the gripping passages on nature and human encounters with it.
This is far too lean, relying on the accumulation of facts. Too much of the narrative is told in Banks' own stunted language. I have a hard time going through these condensed and stumbling diary entries. This is mostly a probem in the first half of the book. It gets much better at the time after Banks' travels, when he becomes a 'barnacle' and presides over the Royal Society.
A good biography ought to be more than material and information. It ought to tell us a story. The story is visible, but not fully told.
A good biography, on the positive side now, is always also a history of something larger than the main hero. This is a history of science and exploration in the 18th century, with some noteable supporting cast like James Cook and Linnaeus, with King George III and Benjamin Franklin. And awful Captain Bligh of Bounty fame, later Governor of Ossiland. And Jane Austen, but she more by association and less by personal appearance.
All that is fine.
But what about poor Solander? The man is there for much of the narrative, but does he ever get a chance to become a person? I don't think so, only in wee little asides. Just a tertiary cast member. Does Solander deserve that? Possibly not, but since O'Brian treats him with scarce attention, I may never know.
Disappointing.

The Intrepid Englishman, Sir Joseph.
Joseph Banks served forty years as president of the Royal Academy, Britain's oldest scientific institution.His legacy survives as a result of his scientific enterprise; he helped to transform an "insular" monarchy to an "industrial powerhouse."

He sailed on expeditions to North America and Iceland as well as the Pacific, and established Kew Gardens as one of the world's greatest botanical centers.His 'Florilogium' about his botanical studies in the South Seas is there in the library.

He was a naturalist, a young botanist, in addition to being an explorer.He was one of Australia's founding fathers.He accompanied Captain Cook as he circumnavigated the globe to discover that country.

His Last Will & Testament requested no monument, but forty-seven years after his death in 1820 at the age of 77 years, a tablet was erected showing his grave.He was portrayed as forthright, cheerful and a hospitable man, an intrepid explorer abroad who investigated all he encountered as a genius journalist.He left all of his possessions to wife, Dorothea, with his library at Kew under the direction of Robert Brown, who would have the leasehold house after her death.

Jason Wilson wrote in 'London Magazine' that "this leisurely and witty biography brings the 'genuine' Englishman fully to life."P. O'Brian used Banks' letters to such luminaries as Edward Gibbon, Samuel Johnson, Cuvier and Watt -- and his journals.He wrote a biography of Picasso and resided in southern France.

An Interesting Piece of Work, But...
I, on the other hand, have never read any of the Aubrey & Maturin books, but I'm extremely interested in the Cook expeditions of which Banks played so much a part. I think it must be because I can see Banks Island right outside my window. Anyway, I must say that, after reading this book, I was prepared to believe Banks walked on water. Founder of modern botany (and modern science generally), explorer, developer of Kew and on and on. Certainly one of the giants of British naval exploration.

Alas! Cook biographers have been a little less kind to Banks. While often portrayed as a hard driving scientist, he has also been portrayed as a bit of an upper-class twit, always petulent and silly. Which is it? Probably somewhere in the middle. Read this book, but keep an open mind about the hagiography! ... Read more

Product Description
Now in its second edition, this expanded work catalogs every person, animal, ship and cannon mentioned by name in the 21 books of Patrick O’Brian’s series on the maritime adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. The novels, renowned for their “far-ranging web of wit and allusion,”teem with thousands of characters and ships, both imaginary and historical. From Master and Commander to 21: The Unfinished Voyage, this book distinguishes the fictional from the factual, making a useful series companion for the casual reader and the most ardent fans. Each of the more than 5,000 alphabetized entries provides a reference to the novels and chapters in which the topic appears. Additionally, biographical notes on the historical figures are included, with sources provided in an annotated bibliography. Colin White, a leading British naval historian and an authority on Nelson’s Navy provides a foreword. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Don't leave the seashore without it!
If you are one of the vast multitude of lovers of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, you should own this book. It is the most fascinating, detailed, no-seashell-left-unturned compendium published today. If it's not here, it doesn't exist. Period. A truly fine companion to O'Brian's magnum opus.

Thorough and informative.
I must say that my recent purchase of "PO's Muster Book" is worth the investment.I wish I had bought it sooner.

I am not quite finished with all 20 and 1/2 volumes of the O'Brian 19th century odyssey, having only finished the first 18, but I became an Aubrey/Maturin junkie after reading the first two novels and watching the movie. Comprehending the wealth of people, places and events, real and imagined, combined with a liberal use of foriegn languages was difficult and intimidating.I was often confused, because I didn't readily remember names and places from one chapter to the next.

Fortunately, before I started no. 5, I discovered, through Amazon, the companion books advertized there.I purchased "Sea Of Words", "Harbors And High Seas" and "Patrick O'Brian's Navy".Problem solved.I constantly cross referenced my new literary tools several times a chapter to interpret the rich mix of story and detail woven together in O'Brian's romantic chronology.The downside is that I needed to carry a tote when I went to read at the coffee shop as well as use an extra chair to hold my not so portable library.

Recently, I have added "The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book" and I immediately liked using it.Actually, it could be a "stand alone" companion book, except that it is absent of maps, diagrams, pictures or a commentary on the life and times. I know that this type information is beyond the scope of "Muster" by nature, so, my other books are still important to me, just not needed by the night stand.

That said, I am pleased with the appearance, organization and thoroughness of "Muster". Formatted like Webster's, it is highly informational and allows quick alphabetical access to the who and the where along with the what and the when not as easily accomplished by the other companion books.I can quickly remind myself of the names and places and not lose track of the story in doing so.Additionally, it lists all O'Brian's books with a Cliff Notes style summary and along with each item is the cross reference of all mentions in the series by book and chapter.It has helpful optional references to deliniate the fact from fiction.

While I finish the series and re-read it, as I'm sure I will, "Muster" will be my favorite companion. Now, when I'm reading on the plane, I won't have as much baggage.

It's the great reference book of the world, sure.
Of "our world, our wooden world," as O'Brian wrote in the Nutmeg of Consolation.As an O'Brian devotee who is compiling a quotation book for naval officers and mariners (The Literary Mariner; look for it next year), I have found this Muster Book to be more useful, in its own way, than even Dean King's excellent Sea of Words.King's work is mostly a wonderful timesaver--you needn't hunt up terms in other reference books--but Gary Brown's POB Muster Book is unique and indispensable:no where else will you find the attention paid to and the cross-referenced information on the characters, ships, and animals of the entire Aubrey-Maturin series (what one reviewer called the Aubreyiad, a term I like very much).

Once the book was in hand, for example, I was able very quickly to answer three questions that had been bothering me:was Awkward Davis and Awkward Davies the same man (yes); were the Dumanoirs mentioned separate characters (yes); and what were the names of the various cannon in Surprise.

There is a very useful and succinct summary outlining the entire series, and the lengthy essays on each of the major characters also walks through all the books from that character's perspective (warning:if you haven't read the Aubreyiad through, these will be spoilers).Gary Brown also makes good use of helpful references to biographies (Dean King's and Nikolai Tolstoy's--see my Amazon reviews) and to historical works.This is simply a stunning achievement.

Indispensable!
As an academic, I was first introduced to O'Brian by a colleague who thought I might find it interesting to compare O'Brian's works to Jane Austen's. As I did so I became convinced that there was more than a chance connection between the authors' works, but with O'Brian's expansive Aubreyiad, trying to corroborate the simplest connection became so time consuming it was discouraging. I happened across the first edition of this book on Amazon, ordered it, and three published academic articles later, it may well be the most indispensable work in my library. So much so, that when a newer edition came out that included the last few novels O'Brian wrote, I had to have it. I haven't been disappointed. Whether you're a "fan" or an academic, Gary Brown's meticulous research is sure to add to your understanding and appreciation of the genius of Patrick O'Brian.

The most indispensable companion book
There are other companion books to Patrick O'Brian's world and works, but none better than this one. Being a foreigner and rather a recent fan, I really need the help of such books to attain at least the merest understanding of what's going on, so I own several others which I enjoyed enormously. However none is so complete and helpful as this one. Most recommendable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

To understand the work behind the art
If you're a Patrick O'Brian fan, you have to get this , sooner or later.
I won't comment on the actual paintings (it's art, it's up to you whether you like it or not), but it's impressive the amount of work behind every single one one them.
Just a little disappointment : I was expecting more pages dedicated to the Aubrey / Maturin saga (actually I hope for the whole series, while there are some 15)

A fine collection of paintings with a major surprise...
Having long admired the paintings of Geoff Hunt, I was thrilled to find a collection of his works under one cover. The surprise was, in addition to the paintings, a wonderful brief autobiography of "how I got started" by the author/painter. I have Patrick O'Brian's complete collection of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Each one having a Geoff Hunt painting on the cover. I don't know how else to review a book of paintings but to say for anyone to want a wonderful collection of marine art, this is the book for you. And if you've yet to read Patrick O'Brian. Start spending some money on Amazon. You won't regret it.

Manifestation of a Dream
The colossal weight of a ship of the line, the sea right before my eyes, Geoff Hunt brought that world into focus like the Hubble brought us distant galaxies. He places the viewer into at live, real world of light and color, and then he does what? With great generosity he opens his studio to us and shares a bit of his method for approaching this spectacular subject. I've started the Aubrey Maturin series for the fourth time now and the images bring that world of 200 years ago to life.The movie fills in the faces, even Killick's unfortunately, but Geoff Hunt has rigged me up a bosun's chair and hauled me aboard a hansom fleet, one carefully painted ship at a time.

Be careful you don't leave drool marks
I am in no way an artist, but I know what I like: Representational art. You can keep your Rembrandt and your Picasso -- I'll stick with Charles Russell and the Wyeths and others like them. In fact, I generally prefer illustration to "fine art" and that's where Hunt got his start, laboring in London art agencies, designing packaging and advertising campaigns, and finally moving into book covers. He has become most famous as the creator of all the cover art that graces Patrick O'Brian's now-classic series of sea novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, but he's also responsible for the covers of the more recent series by Julian Stockwin. In fact, Hunt grew up nowhere near the water, in a family notable for its lack of naval connections or history. But from childhood, the graceful lines of ships "just seemed right." Unlike paintings of buildings or locomotives, you can't just set up your easel on a passing wave to paint a picture of a ship at sea. Nearly all marine painting, therefore, is done in the studio and depends heavily on technical drawings, reference books, and ship models in order to get the light and the wind right, not to mention the evolutions a sailing warship passes through to get from here to there. Hunt also insists on historical accuracy of location, especially in portraying naval engagements. All of this rigor leaves the viewer of his paintings with a decided sense of time-traveling. But beyond that, while his subjects come largely from two centuries ago, his methods do not. He's an experienced photographer as well as a trained graphic artist and his perspectives and goals are entirely modern. Unlike some artists, Hunt also enjoys explaining how he works and where his ideas come from. In fact, in addition to a couple dozen plates with accompanying explanatory text and historical notes, he includes five case studies with developmental drawings and photos. This large-format volume will please any armchair sailor.

Great Illustrations!
Geoff Hunt's book on marine art is filled with recherche paintings from his collection.The compendium in this book deeply delves into the analysis of ships in motion.It is unfeignedly a great illustrative book.If your searching for outstanding artwork, this book is for you!For this alone I give it 5 stars.

The Marine Art of Geoff Hunt, is not a how to step by step book! ... Read more

Product Description
The design, construction, and careers—inhistory and in fiction—of Jack Aubrey’s favorite command.There is no more famous a vessel in naval fiction than HMS Surprise, the principal ship in Patrick O’Brian’s much-celebrated Aubrey-Maturinseries of novels. Yet, this 28-gun frigate alsohad an eventful real career serving in both theFrench and then the Royal Navies. It wascaptured from the French in 1796 and took partin the famous cutting-out action on the frigateHMS Hermione, which the Spanish hadtaken after a savage mutiny. In 1802, after thePeace of Amiens, HMS Surprise wasdecommissioned and delivered into the fictionalcaptaincy of Jack Aubrey.

Thissumptuous new volume narrates the career of HMSSurprise in both her historical and her fictional roles and presents an all-embracingconstruction and fitting history. In addition to historical illustrations, maps, artifacts, andphotographs, thirty-five paintings, somespecially commissioned, have been contributed by Geoff Hunt, whose art graces the covers ofPatrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels. Fiftyline plans have been drawn by the marinedraftsman Karl Heinz Marquardt.

50 color; 70 black & white drawings; maps ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Wish I had bought it sooner
Great book with lovely illustrations. The book covers don't do justice to the quality of the paintings, you need to see them in the large format. I got this book after reading 15 of the novels and wish I had bought it right from the start, many of the scenes on the ship would have made a lot more sense.

Save a place on your bookshelf
Lavery was already the author of two outstanding coffee-table-sized volumes on the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic wars and on the now-classic series of novels by Patrick O'Brian -- _Nelson's Navy_ and _Jack Aubrey Commands_. This one, focusing on Aubrey's favorite ship, is the hat trick. If you already own the first two, you're definitely going to want this one to sit beside them on the shelf, and to be taken down and re-perused at intervals. SURPRISE was a real frigate, of course, launched by the French (by whom it had been named L'UNITE) in 1794, captured by the British barely two years later, and a participant in several notable actions and adventures after that, under several captains. It's career was rather short, actually, as the Navy Board sold it to the knackers in 1802 -- but in "Lucky Jack" Aubrey's world, she escaped and went on to circumnavigate the world, capture a very much larger Spanish ship, and engage in privateering and intelligence-gathering. This book covers both of SURPRISE's lives, factual and fictional, as Lavery extensively quotes and summarizes the ship's logs and muster rolls, explains what the terse record actually represents, and considers the personalities of the men who commanded her. Hunt has become moderately well off doing the paintings that grace the novels' covers but he was already a noted marine artist and is now one of the very best; his works beautifully complement Lavery's text -- as do the technical drawings, the reproduced original plans, and the numerous photos of surviving ships and modern reconstructions, including the version of SURPRISE that appeared in the Russell Crowe film (for which both Lavery and Hunt were also technical advisers). To sum it all up: It's a beautiful, engrossing, amazing book. Buy it. If you can't afford it, get it from the library. But read it.

Great for O'Brien fans
fine background on the Surprise(s) that existed in the Royal Navy
and on the replica ship used in the movie.Even lists a ship's company
by name and rate.Great background for O'Brian fans.

Very Well Done
This is a most interesting concept for a book. In the Patrick O'Brian series of novels set at sea during the age of sail the fictional hero Jack Aubrey commands the ship Surprise. ==The interesting thing is that the Surprise was an actual frigate in the Royal Navy. It wasn't built until some twenty years after Aubrey took command. And it was built by the French for the French Navy and sailed under the name L'Unité. It was captured by the British on April 20, 1796.

This book is then a combination of the actual and the fictional. It is exhaustively researched including finding the original plans of the Surprise as the ship was refitted at Plymouth in 1798.

The book is profusely illustrated by Geoff Hunt, the artist who did the original paintings for the illustrations used in the novels.

It's a delightful book, filled with information and surprise.

LOVELY BOOK FOR AUBREY/MATURIN FANS
My husband and I are fans of O'Brian's Master & Commander series and this book is a great resource. Very nicely illustrated with some pertinent information. ... Read more

Product Description
"The best biography of Picasso."—Kenneth ClarkPatrick O'Brian's outstanding biography of Picasso is here available in paperback for the first time. It is the most comprehensive yet written, and the only biography fully to appreciate the distinctly Mediterranean origins of Picasso's character and art.

Everything about Picasso, except his physical stature, was on an enormous scale. No painter of the first rank has been so awe-inspiringly productive. No painter of any rank has made so much money. A few painters have rivaled his life span of ninety years, but none has attracted so avid, so insatiable, a public interest.

Patrick O'Brian knew Picasso sufficiently well to have a strong sense of his personality. The man that emerges from this scholarly, passionate, and brilliantly written biography is one of many contradictions: hard and tender, mean and generous, affectionate and cold, private despite the relish of his fame. In his later years he professed communism, yet in O'Brian's view retained to the end of his life a residual Catholic outlook.

Not that such matters were allowed to interfere with his vigorous sensuality. Sex and money, eating and drinking, friends and quarrels, comedies and tragedies, suicides and wars tumble one another in the vast chaos of his experience. he was "a man almost as lonely as the sun, but one who glowed with much the same fierce, burning life." It is with that impression of its subject that this book leaves its readers.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

I doubt even Picasso would have enjoyed this book.
I purchased this book as a text book for a class on Psychology of Art History.I only read the first 70 pages and was completely turned off by the author's blind worship of Picasso.(Not to mention his laborious style and paragraph-long sentences with too much needless information.)It is literally the worst book I've ever read in my life.Picasso must surely be one of the most interesting characters in the history of art, but this books is mind-numbingly boring.There is a whole chapter about the weather where Picasso lived as a boy, but only one sentence on how he lost his virginity.

Accomplished, readable and very worthwhile
Patrick O'Brian was not an art historian or a professional biographer. He was an accomplished writer with a wide range of interests and knowledge. He is, of course, the author of the celebrated Aubrey/Maturin nautical novels ("The best historical novels ever written" - New York Times), but was much more than that. Among other things, he was the first to translate Simone de Beauvoir's works into English, and was the author of a fine biography of the English scientific luminary Joseph Banks. He was also a close friend of Picasso's.

O'Brian's familiarity with Picasso, his wide range of interests and knowledge, and his attention to historical context and detail is a recipe for a wide-ranging and very personal account of the artist. It attends carefully to the material and geographical circumstances of Picasso's origins and life; it is filled with real truth about the artist and how his life and history are reflected in his art. It is not a treatise on Picasso's contribution to 20th century painting, but is nonetheless a wonderfully written and engaging perspective on the man and his work. Highly recommended.

A note: Amazon lists several versions of this title. Most of them are imports that will take 1 to 4 months for delivery, and the more current one from Norton doesn't show up in a search on Picasso and O'Brian. Do a search on ISBN 0393311074, listing just the number, to get the most current edition.

Amazingly literate biography
I have read two other books about Picasso ("Picasso's Women" and "Picasso's War".This give a much more-rounded (and affectionate) view of the great man, and also gives much insight into his work and the critical reception of it.Highly recommended.

A pleasant read without much effort.
After having read many books about Picasso. It was a pleasure to enjoy the author's prose. The subject was a keen interest of Mr.O'Brian's as were his other bio. clients who form a wide range of characters. It is apparent that it is the writing rather than exacting erudition which is the author's trademark.

The opening of the book which describes Malaga and its history is fascinating and sets the stage for Picasso's development. One can easily understand Picasso absorbing this rich culture.

On comparison with Richardson this volume comes off rather poorly and subscribes to some well known anecdotes which are now known to be false. One such incident was when Picasso's father is supposed to have given up painting altogether after seeing how good his son was. Picasso was fourteen or fifteen at the time yet there exist paintings of pigeons signed by Don Ruiz up until his death.

The narrative follows Picasso from Spain to France and rightly emphasises the entire cubist episode. The usual list of early characters are present, e.g. Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, Fernande Olivier, etc.

What struck me as the best of this book was the author's willingness to describe Picasso's terrible behaviour, especially in his latter years when he would ignore or reject official plaudits. His treatment of women including the terrible initiation of Jacqueline Roque is not spared and yet it is not written with malice but with an understanding that it was all the sycophants and their scraping that only served to isolate Picasso even further.

Nevertheless, when Picasso was faced with an equal (Matisse or Braque) or someone even older than himself whom he may have known as a youngster (Pallares)he was a gracious and tactful host.

This is not the best biography of Picasso (that honour belong's to John Richardson) but it is perfectly readable and does contain some insights that are unique.

A fascinatingand well-written portrait
It is a pleasure to find a work of non-fiction in which the writing flows smoothly across the page, and in which a rich portrait of the subjectemerges without recourse to over-wrought speculation. This sympathetic, yetdetailed account of Picasso is both fun to read for its own sake, andfascinating for the sake of its subject. A very readable biography. ... Read more

Product Description
O'Brian's richly told adventure saga,with its muscular prose, suppledialogue andengagingcharacters, packs a nice old-schoolpunch." --PublishersWeekly

This story begins where Patrick O'Brian'sdevoted fans would want itto, with a sloop in the SouthChina Sea barely surviving a killer typhoon. The time is the 1930s and theprotagonist a teenagedAmerican boy whosemissionary parents have just died. In the company of his rough seafaringuncle and anelderlyEnglish cousin, an eminent archaeologist, Derrick sets off in search of ancient treasures incentralAsia.

Along the way they encounter a charismatic Chinesebandit and a host of badcharacters, including Russian agentsfomenting unrest. The narrative touches onsurprising subjects:astronomy, orientalphilosophy, the correct identification of ancient Han bronzes, and somevery local cuisine. Itends in an ice-bound valley, with the party caught between hostile Red-Hatmonks and the Great SilentOnes, the Tibetandesignation for the yeti.

Customer Reviews (13)

One of his earliest works, and it shows
I've been a big fan of the maturin/aubrey books for quite some time, so i thought i would venture into some of O'Brien's other works.This book is one he wrote when he was pretty young, which is apparent especially toward the end.The story starts strong and there is plenty of comic relief and a smattering of action- you can see some parallels between this and later works.About two thrids through the book got a little repetitive; group after group is chasing them, and it's hard to recall who they are or what their motivations are.The main characters are pretty well developed and believable to some extent, but the peripheral ones decline swiftly.The ending has a 'deus ex machina' feel to it that was not very satisfying.The book may be worth the read if you're a big fan of O'brein already, but I'd probably get it at the library.

My teenagers loved it!
In reviewing this book--not comparing it to others from O'Brien--one can only say how good it is. My two teenaged girls absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. It is not just for boys! Highly recommended for your young adult readers, both for the joy of the story and for the history that is opened up to them.

The Road to Samarcand- An Adventure
Early Patrick O'Brian-- a good adventure story with signs of his later mastery, but too easy solutions to apparently unsolvable problems. Enjoyable however.

Not typical O'Brian's
The main interest in this book is to see where O'Brian started -- hard to believe how much better a writer he became with the Aubrey-Maturin series.Perhaps it is because he was writing for teenagers in "The Road to Samarkand", and that isn't his genre.If you want to read a really entertaining kid's adventure set in the same part of the world, see if you can get hold of "Big Tiger and Christian" by Fritz Mühlenweg.It would be great if this tale, (originally published in 1954, reprinted in 1966, 1971) were to become available again, in paperback. However, your library may have it-- check it out!

O'Brian in his formative years...
If you're a fan of O'Brian's later Aubrey-Maturin series, this early work is an excellent way to see the author developing his unique style, blending high adventure with subtle deadpan humor. As with most O'Brian pieces, this is what I call a "quest story" in which the characters set out on a journey towards some goal, encountering lots of challenges and adventures along the way. The weakest aspect of Samarcand is that the purpose of the quest is pretty implausible. I found it hard to believe that his brave band of travelers would endure so many hardships just to satisfy the Professor's desire to explore some ruins and to get young Derrick to Oxford. Also, the story contains numerous improbably close escapes, particularly the final one. But, what the heck, this story is no more improbable than Indiana Jones, so just sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy O'Brian's wonderful writing style. ... Read more

Product Description
17 compact discs. Narrated by Patrick Tull. Review: '...full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein... Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.' James Hamilton- Paterson 'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian: his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and lightens the lives of those who read him.' Kevin Myers, Irish Times 'Written with most engaging enthusiasm that can't fail to give pleasure to anybody who enjoys historical adventure flavoured with more than a dash of realism.' Sunday Times 'Liveliness and expertise... the hero is vigorous flesh and blood.' Observer 'This book sets him at the very top of his genre' Mary Renault --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. ... Read more

Product Description
Follows the adventures of two young seamen who are shipwrecked along the coast of Chile in 1740 and are driven to drink and mutiny by a ruthless captain. Reprint.Amazon.com Review
The Unknown Shore, a sort-of sequel to The Golden Ocean, is afascinating blue-print for the Aubrey-Maturinseries. We follow Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow, twounlikely neighbors and fast friends in whom we catch glimpses of theheroes of the epic series to come. They set off to sea in 1740 as partof Commodore Anson's fleet to circumnavigate the globe.Byron, aromantic, forceful lad, signs on as a midshipman; Barrow, a strangelyeducated, scientifically brilliant boy, is running away from hisfather and wins a commission as a surgeon's mate.Set up in theWager, which is parted from Anson's squadron and sinkssomewhere along the desolate coast of Chile, Byron and Barrow are leftto struggle for survival by wits alone, facing mutiny, famine,indifferent natives and lingering infighting.A fully realized hintof the fictional magic to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

If you like the Master and Commador series you will not be disappointed
I've now read everything Patrick O'brain's written and this was not a disappointment at all.Excellent book.

A fix for Master and Commander fans in withdrawal
You'd think 20 books of the "Master and Commander" series would have been enough, but it really wasn't, not for true devotees, which is almost everyone who ever started the first one and then found themselves hooked. We were left hungering for more, a more that would never come, as author Patrick O'Brian had died.

So we look for anything we can, and "The Unknown Shore" is a surprisingly close recall of it. In this (early?) book O'Brian essentially created the characters of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, two young sailors here on Anson's ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1740.

Midshipmen Jack Byron is easily Aubrey as a young man, albeit 30 or 40 years earlier; he's a hale fellow well met, with many friends, a quick mind, a love for navigation and an affection for his eccentric friend Tobias Barrow. Tobias is a bit different from Maturin. An orphan raised by an equally eccentric country gentleman with progressive but strange ideas about education, Tobias is scientifically brilliant while being clueless about most other things, including arts, human behavior and social norms. But he has Maturin's charming absentmindness and fear of heights, as well as his obsession with natural science. Byron, a midshipman with a few voyages under his belt, gets Barrow signed on as a surgeon's assistant on the same ship. The fleet is battered going around Cape Horn and their ship, the Wager, is wrecked at one of the coldest and most remote spots on Earth.

O'Brian comes close to his final style in this book, but you can still see him playing with it. It has a storybook-like tone to it early on, fitting well with the humor playing off Barrow's many social gaffes. But he gets more serious when the two's lives are in danger.

I found myself turning the pages as relentlessly as in any of the originals. If "Master and Commander" is your heroin, this is some mighty fine methadone.

Feeds the Habit
I am probably like most readers of this book, a longtime fan of Patrick O'Brian, principally through the Aubrey-Maturin series.Like them, I think O'Brian died too young at 86; the twenty books in that series were not enough.

In hopes of finding a bolt of lightning like the ones I had found in earlier readings of O'Brian's work, I picked up The Unknown Shore.I am pleased to report that I was not disappointed.

As a stand-alone volume, it lacks the density and momentum of the Aubrey-Maturin books, but it definitely shares the same parentage.It is very entertaining, both amused and amusing and, ultimately, familiar.It was like finding money in the pockets of old clothing.

A bit of plagiarism in this story..
It needs to be said, that The Unknown Shore is 99% based on the narration by John Byron (grandad to the poet) a midshipman of the Wager, who survived the wreck in desolate Patagonia and returned five years later to England. History describes Byron as"surviving great hardships". You have to read his account of the story to really understand the meaning of the word (well, from your comfy chair). So when some of the reviewers sort of complain about "oh, how much hardship can we take", I'd say, "Dude, that actually happened"
Patrick O'Brien simply lifted the story, scene by scene, and in no edition of this book I have seen any recognition to Byron's narrative.
The story is so compelling, that it is still in print. Do yourself a favor and read the original. Find it in Amazon as The Loss of the Wager. This edition adds even more fascination to the story, because of including a second account of the wreck, this time by the group that deserted Captain Cheap, and sailed back south, through the Magellan Strait once more.

Nothing less than an excellent Aubrey-Maturin PREQUEL!
Fans of the Aubrey-Maturin series will not be disappointed.

Here again is the real, witty dialog, the warm (and evil) characters, the all-too-real scenery made possible by what can only be called preternatural powers of story-telling.

You won't be disappointed in experiencing O'brien's failings, too:complete disregard of tying off the loose ends of a plot, complete lack of any epilogue.But haven't we come to love even that part of his work?

... Read more

Product Description
"An overwhelming, outstandingnovel...!"—Irish TimesCaptain Jack Aubrey, R. N., ashore after a successful cruise, is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make certain investments in the City. This innocent decision ensnares him in the London criminal underground and in government espionage—the province of his friend Stephen Maturin. Is Aubrey's humiliation and the threatened ruin of his career a deliberate plot? This dark tale is a fitting backdrop to the brilliant characterization and sparkling dialogue which O'Brian's readers have come to expect.
Amazon.com Review
Ashore between cruises, Captain Jack Aubrey is persuaded tosink some money into an investment scheme. Soon this innocent decisionenmeshes him in various criminal and even treasonous enterprises,which threaten to destroy his entire career. Bad luck? A deliberateplot? Read this latest installment of the Aubrey-Maturin saga to find out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Reverse of Medal
This novel had a little more personal activities and less naval activities than I would prefer.

Reverse Of The Medal
I received this book within the specified time in new condition. It was all I expected and provided a good read. Thank You Amazon

"Off hats" to Patrick O'Brian!
It says something of the power of this series that I've been lately glancing through ads for sailboats, and I live in Montana. Ha - perhaps in retirement, eh?

Without giving away any point of plot, I must say that the scene with the pillory had me in tears. Rumor has it that it is this book of the series that they are looking to next adapt into a film, and I couldn't help imagining how it might be depicted on screen.

Needless to say, I loved this book and the series as a whole. It is my personal choice, had I to choose one collection, for reading on my desert island.

O'Brian grows as a writer
Very good, tightly-scripted entry in the series.The last few, O'Brian has run out of historical events to fictionalize, and his plotting freed from the constraints of mapping to historical markers is really good.He has learned how to leave at least one unresolved conflict that keeps the reader on edge for the next entry, and those conflicts aren't always resolved for the good guys!Plus, he has learned how to quickly refresh the story from the previous entry in the readers mind at the beginning of the current one without long-winded exposition.

One of the best of the series.The only drawback is the rapidly approaching end.

Twelfth in the series:The Letter of Marque

Sad but Spendid
This book, which by all means should be read before "The Letter of Marque" is a wonderful, if sad installment in the series. In the midst of the unfortunate treatment of Aubrey however, is a real powerful moment towards the end of the novel. Again, a real testament to the themes of honor and friendship that abound in this series. ... Read more