Please see my comments on Vol. 1, Master and Commander. ( )

Amazing, As Usual: Wine-Dark Sea is the sixteenth in Patrick O'Brian's wonderful 20-part nautical series. It is also the final in a four-part mini-series, as volumes thirteen through sixteen are an ongoing circumnavigation of the world. In this installment, Aubrey and Maturin and the HMS Surprise finish their adventures in the Pacific, land in Peru and then round the Cape into the Atlantic on their way home to England. For fans of the naval wars, there are some good 'ol rip-roaring chase and battle scenes. The Maturin crowd will find their hero high in the Andes examining wildlife and carrying on his intelligence activities. A wonderful worthy addition to O'Brian's series.

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2008/04/01... ( )

Faultless, as ever. The plotting was, perhaps, a little thin; but when it comes as part of such beautifully written prose, and interspersed with such fantastically observed events as the emergence of a new volcanic island, or Stephen's adventures in the Andes, I really can't bring myself to care. Only four books left in the series, though! I think I shall have to slow down my pace again. I find myself wanting to really draw this series out, to make it last. ( )

This was the first of O'Brian's Aubrey / Maturin series that I read and I really liked it (along with most of the others).