The audiobook version produced by Recorded Books is wonderful. John Franklyn-Robbins's performance of the Irish dialogue is particularly entertaining (at least to an American ear). I love the Aubrey-Maturin series, but The Golden Ocean also deserves recognition. The ending is a little rushed, but the book's descriptions of the privations and disorders suffered by sailors of the day, as well as shipwrecks and strandings, are as entertaining to me as anything I've read in the Aubrey-Maturin books. ( )

Great: A wonderful look at the real hardships involved with being on a long voyage in a man of war during this period. A must read for those who are into the days of sail.

I recently finished Patrick O'Brian's The Golden Ocean. It's alright... I feel about this book as our hero Peter feels about the tropics: "Peter decided that he liked the Tropics, but not very much." Peter and his servant Sean enlist on the Centurion under Commodore Anson. Their mission is to capture the Spanish ship Acapulco that is headed for Manila with a cargo of gold and silver. The first part of the book consists mostly of Peter and his friends getting into fights with their shipmates. But when we finally sight Spaniards and chase them down, things get more interesting. Blowing things up is always fun.

It's been enjoyable in parts but rather lagging in others. By the time I reached the end I was glad I had read the book, but for the majority of the story I was wondering why I kept reading. There are small flares of humor here and there, but they are far and few between. Yes, Peter's feelings about the Tropics sum things up nicely for me: I like this book, but not very much. ( )

The Golden Ocean is a good book in its own right, separate from the Aubrey/Maturin canon. It is not as mature as O'Brian's later writing, and it lacks the subtle humor pervasive in his other work. Some of the trademarks are still there, though - the literary (and Latin) references, the Irish characters, and the pair of friends. He uses the device of skipping segments of time, and then backfilling what happened as you might remember it, incomplete and skipping around. Unfortunately, he has not mastered the art in this work, and it is clumsier and less artful than in his later works. Altogether, it is still a fine novel, even to someone who has not read O'Brian before. ( )