Series: Aubrey & Maturin
by Author Patrick O'Brian
The Commodore (1996)
Patrick O'Brian seemed to get better as a writer as this series wound down toward its end. This entry, number seventeen in the series, has actually been my favorite so far. Possibly that is because much of the action takes place on land and I didn't have to worry about keeping track of naval batt...
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1993)
SUMMARY: At the end of O'Brian's Thirteen Gun Salute, Captain Aubrey and the crew of the Diane are shipwrecked by a typhoon on a remote island in the Dutch East Indies. After they are rescued, Aubrey and crew continue their interrupted mission aboard a new vessel, the Nutmeg. The fourteenth novel...
The Yellow Admiral (1997)
Another great entry in the Aubrey/Maturin series. This would ideally be read by someone who's read the seventeen previous instalments. You wouldn't have any difficulty following what's going on, but I think the author is playing to his regular audience here. Action scenes that once would have bee...
Blue at the Mizzen (2000)
The "Surprise" is on a secret mission to South America, helping Chileans gain their independence. Nothing goes simply in a Patrick O'Brian novel, and the passage to Chile is fraught with delays. After arriving, Maturin needs to navigate among the various juntas vying for dominance, and he has an ...
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004)
This 65-page fragment of a novel is only rewarding to fans of the series who want to say goodbye to one of the greatest fictional friendships in literature. We get to experience one last time the special bonds between British naval commander Jack Aubrey and his ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, wh...
The Hundred Days (1999)
Many readers have noted that O'Brian's series declines in quality generally at some point in the second ten books. I agree with that, but The Hundred Days is the first volume where I actually almost wished he'd ended the series earlier. The reason for this is mostly in the opening chapter. The cl...
The Mauritius Command (1991)
I'm cruising through the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series which comprise a mighty set of enjoyable, well-researched yarns set at sea during the Napoleonic wars early in the nineteenth century. The connecting thread is the career of a John-Bull archetype, Captain Jack Aubrey, in the company ...
The Letter of Marque (1992)
In the last volume of the wonderful Maturin/Aubrey series, Jack had been court-martialed for what appeared to be his complicity in a stock market fraud. Being a naïve landlubber, he had no idea of what he was being fraudulently involved in, thought he was just helping someone out and making a kil...
The Fortune of War (1991)
How much do I love these books? Let me count the ways...so far, we're up to six. Six splendiferous volumes of early 19th century seafaring goodness! By the sixth of this series of twenty, I was fully enamored of the characters, the story, the writing - the whole kit and kaboodle! Although I've be...
Treason's Harbour (1992)
Treason's Harbour continues the Mediterranean cruise that Aubrey and Maturin began in the previous volume. It also extends the bittersweet tone of that book, as Jack and Stephen age, mature, and reflect on their lives and their futures. Jack's luck is still not back to its early heights, though t...
The Far Side of the World (1992)
Two years ago, I started reading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series after years of prodding by my husband who insisted that the books weren't really war adventures - which I would hate - but were more about the relationships of the men on the ships. Finally succumbing to his persuasion, I fo...
H.M.S. Surprise (1991)
Let us beat to quarters and join Jack and Stephen on the H.M.S. "Surprise," a Royal Navy frigate during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Jack Aubrey transports an ambassador to The Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), while Stephen stops at remote locations along the 30,000 mile journey to conduct scientif...
The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1992)
Glad I bought the next two, because this doesn't end at the end. Scads of good fun, as always. Probably the most memorable part of this adventure was Stephen's trip to the Buddhist temple, where men and beasts live together in harmony and Stephen basically gets to have the on-shore naturalizing...
Desolation Island (1991)
The beginning presents a Jack who is all at sea ashore - playing cards with apparently respectable people but card sharps nevertheless and also unsuspectingly investing in a mining project. Sophie, privately concerned over all this, cleverly convinces him to assume command of the Leopard. Quite a...
The Surgeon's Mate (1992)
This is one of my favorites, which partially brings an arc to a close. These arcs are intersecting, which is one of the brilliant aspects of Patrick O'Brian's roman fleuve. But there is a sense of closure in this one, which (in a reread) marks a milestone.Structurally, it is remarkable in a numbe...
The Wine-Dark Sea (1994)
After several years of returning to this series periodically, I'm now in the home stretch of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin tales. This is the sixteenth entry and the quality has not declined at all. In fact, The Wine-Dark Sea was one of the more interesting reads in this latter part of the lon...
Post Captain (1990)
This is part 2 of 22 in the Aubrey/Maturin series and Patrick O'Brian, despite his eloquent, colorful timepiece language, could do so much more for the series if he wrote more lengthy passages about naval maneuvers and fighting action in Post Captain. Instead he spent well over 450 pages maturin...
The Reverse of the Medal (1992)
Jack Aubrey is such a dunderhead. He really should not be allowed abroad on land without a keeper.At sea, he is authoritative, knowledgable, decisive, charismatic, a man of action that other men delight in following. He is "Lucky Jack."But on land, he is decidedly unlucky. He is "Dunderhead Jack,...
The Ionian Mission (1992)
After a break from Aubrey and Maturin for a few months--mostly to take care of some nonfiction reading and reviewing--I finally have time to dive back into the continuing story. I went into Book 8, The Ionian Mission, with a bit of fear, however. Why? Because the last time I tried to read through...