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

Espionage takes center stage in ninth Aubrey-Maturin novel: I continue to marvel at how strong a series Patrick O'Brian has created with his beloved Aubrey-Maturin books. Now into their ninth novel, Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin have lost none of their appeal.

One of O'Brian's best decisions was to have Aubrey and Maturin play two dramatically different roles while serving together. Aubrey is a duty-driven fighting captain, good for plenty of gallantry and traditional British heroism. In certain novels, such as "Master and Commander," Aubrey gets to take the lead. Maturin, on the other hand, is a spy as well as a naturlist, humanist, and physician. O'Brian lets Maturin take the lead in other novels where dueling broadsides play less of a role. And thank goodness he did so, for after a few novels the stories of Aubrey leading ship after ship into combat would grow more than a little dull.

"Treason's Harbour" is one of the series' espionage-oriented novels. The novel opens in the titular harbour in the island of Malta. Aubrey's lucky ship "Surprise" is in for much-needed repairs, and Aubrey must confront the extortive practices of the local tradesmen in order to get his ship fixed. Maturin must confront the attempt by the French to seduce him using a charming local lady whom they have blackmailed. O'Brian masterfully injects humor into the scenario as Aubrey tries to rescue the lady's beloved (and mammoth) dog, who has fallen into a well. Despite falling in himself, Aubrey rescues the dog, who thereafter treats Aubrey with such affection that the local gossip swiftly becomes that Aubrey and the lady must be having an affair.

After this entertaining episode, it is off to the Red Sea for Aubrey and Maturin for more diplomacy. While there is plenty of time for seamanship, this mission is more in Maturin's line than Aubrey's. O'Brian treats the reader to several fun and thrilling passages, whether it is Aubrey trying to negotiate the desert on a camel, or Maturin using his new-fangled diving bell to explore the sea floor, or an unfortunate swimmer being devoured by a shark.

The pages of "Treason's Harbour" will fly by as Aubrey and Maturin move from scrape to scrape, eventually ending up in a sea battle with the French. All in all, a well-rounded entry into the Aubrey-Maturin series. I only give this one four stars to distinguish it from the best novels in the series, but this is by no means a criticism - sometimes you must discriminate between the very good and the excellent.

I'm really trying to pace myself when going through this series, because with every part of it I read, I am more and more conscious that I only have a finite number of books remaining to be read. I'm not even quite half way through the series, but I'm still trying to draw it out as much as I can, so that I will have more of this world to savour and explore.

Treason's Harbour is one of the quieter of O' Brian's works so far. The pace is slower, and it feels much more like a part of an extended series, not a stand-alone work, than the previous novels of his that I've read. The prose is still a joy to read, elegant and free-flowing, and capable of displaying O' Brian's erudition and knowledge of the period without ever letting them overwhelm the story.

The skill and the subtlety and the love with which he draws his characters is still more than apparent, though. I've rarely read characters who seem more real to me than Jack and Stephen. I've wittered on before at length about my love for Stephen because of how closely I can relate to him as he's one of the few characters I've ever read in fiction who have a comparable background to me (mixed English and Irish culturally) and who share my speech-patterns; and this story certainly did nothing to shake that. His quietly ruthless intelligence, his single-minded fixations on his academic pursuits, his loyalty to Jack and the friendship they have - I can't offhand think of many books which inspire such a fierce joy in me as I read them. ( )

This was one of the best books of the series so far. More humor than most and a fascinating plot that takes A&M to the exotic Suez. Also an interesting spy sub-plot. Worth re-reading once the series is complete. ( )