Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Movie, Book, and Music Review Books: Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series

I gotta put a post in here about Pat O'Brian, currently my favorite author.

This series is pretty much his life's work as an author. 20 novels, set in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars, and follow the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and sometimes spy Dr. Stephen Maturin. Russell Crowe did a movie based on one of these books a couple of years ago (?) called 'Master and Commander'. If you saw it you've got the idea.

Some of the books in the series are better than others, but *if you have a taste for the author* they are all very well worth it, on average 4.25 stars of 5.

This particular author has a very stream-of-conciousness way of writing that is difficult to describe. It is very wordy and very intense, kinda like drinking from the fire hose (from my perspective... maybe I'm overstating it). I'm guessing its a love it or hate it kind of thing. I love it, while the wife and my father can't get past the first few pages. With that in mind, if you're interested, read 3 or 4 pages of the 3rd or 4th book in the series at the bookstore, before you buy. You will know by then whether you like this guy or not.

I'm not enough of a historian or tall ship sailor to comment on his historical or technical accuracy, but others who claim to know indicate that he is indeed pretty accurate on both fronts. There has been enough interest in the series over the years that a number of supporting works have come out, glossaries of the jargon and technical terms used in the books, and an atlas of the places featured in the stories.

An added bonus, the wordy style forces me, at least, to read more slowly. I started out buying these to read on business trips, and one book would last me the flight out and part of the trip, and a second book would get me home. By contrast, my first and last Clive Cussler novel (Valhalla Rising) lasted me about 4 hours on the plane IIRC (I live in Idaho, flying anywhere other than Seattle seems to require 12 hours minimum of airports and planes).

FWIW

tq

I'm another that can't get past the first few pages, even in an audio book! The wordy narration I can deal with, It's the accurate representation of 19th century speech that sends me to the land of zzzzz's.

I guess I just prefer "That stinks!" to "I must confess my dear that, while I have indeed encountered many abhorrent and noxious vapors in my many ramblings upon this continent, this one is, without a doubt, by far the most aggressively toxic in nature that I've yet had the misfortune to subject my olfactory apparatus to."

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Shaun

I got hooked on the series while I was evcuated to Houston---living in a friend's spare bedroom, not sleeping well anyway, so I started the series. I had read The Wine Dark Sea years ago, but I started at the beginning and finished the series in January, taking a few breaks for other books. I felt a real sadness when I finished the last one...had become much attached to Jack and Stephen, I think because they are such real, likable characters, quite flawed and imperfect, not typical heroes.

Well, last week I bumped into O'Brian's "The Unknown Shore" about a young midshipman and his sidekick, a surgeon's mate. Sound familiar? Although they are very different characters (although the midshipman is named Jack) you can see some foreshadowing of the Aubrey-Maturnin books.

Well, yeah, but which sounds cooler (talking about his friends mother-in-law):

'She sucks'

or

'the most unromantic beast ever to urge its squat, thick bulk across the face of the protesting earth'

:-)

tq

I read the first book during Thanksgiving while trapped at the in-laws. I got hooked and finished the last one about 3 weeks ago. As a general rule, I hate historical fiction, but I really like O'Brian. My oldest (17 year old girl) likes the series as well. We now even on occasion eat toasted cheese together in the evenings (although she of course is not allowed any port!)

I started reading these a few years ago on a whim. I started with the first book, MASTER & COMMANDER, it was hard getting past the first 100 pages but then I was hooked. I read them all in order and was about 2/3 through the last one when O'Brian passed away. I felt a bit of a sadness that I wouldn't be traveling the seas with Jack & Stephen anymore. (Although I think there are rumors that someone is attempting to finish the book he was working on at the time of his death).

As far as the question about his historical or technical accuracy, in a word, impeccable. The man did his homework, there have been a few books about life in Nelson's Navy written just to facilitate reading the series.

While I was writing this post I took a look at the four volume cased set I have of all 20 in the series. Lo and behold, the last volume contains his unfinished 21st book of the series. Now I have an excuse to read them all over again.
Rob