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Here is the maiden voyage of O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, which follows the unique friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent.
It is the dawn of the nineteenth century; Britain is at war with Napoleon's France. When Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson's navy, is promoted to captain, he inherits command of HMS Sophie, an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend Stephen Maturin, Aubrey and his crew engage in one thrilling battle after another, their journey culminating in a stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate against whose guns and manpower the tiny Sophie is hopelessly outmatched.
O'Brian renders in riveting detail the life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
Jack Aubrey invites Stephen Maturin to become his ship's doctor/surgeon in 1800.
It is certainly a steep learning curve as the author makes no concessions to readers' ignorance of naval terminology and practice of the period. There were definitely times when I had no idea what was going on. it certainly throws into relief how much other authors play down the strangeness of the past. ( )
3 1/2 stars. I know I am preaching to the choir but Goodreads really needs 1/2 stars. This was not a 4 star for me but it wasn't a 3 star either. Well written with a great ending. I would recomend to anyone that likes nautical adventures. ( )
I've seldom read a book less inclined to offer the reader assistance to an unfamiliar setting. Oh sure, we're given some nautical basics through the landlubber's perspective of Maturin, the surgeon and naturalist, but if you haven't been at sea you will need a dictionary at the ready, and one with archaic terms at that, to properly follow along. Thankfully the book opens up as you gradually learn to tell your larboard from starboard and though detailed down to uniforms, knots and nautical references, the action is brisk and the story pulls you along with it. Be aware that you've set your course for 20 of these novels by opening the first. ( )
Ugh. Way too much nautical detail without explication. What does it mean that they have the studsails out and are running fore. Why are their no maps to show relative positions of various ships during battle. Two main characters, of which only one is sympathetic. The main protagonist is a fat, arrogant philanderer. I suppose that in the following 16 volumes there will be a character arc and room for growht, but I will never know. ( )
The first of Patrick O'Brian's novels about 18th century British naval officer Jack Aubrey and his friend, Stephen Maturin, is a worthy successor to the remarkable C.S. Forester novels about Horatio Hornblower. O'Brian has a way with language, not the equal of Forester's, but compelling. Unlike Forester, O'Brian doesn't make much effort to inform the reader of the meaning of the hundreds of nautical and military terms he uses (except in a welcome passage early on when the novice Maturin is shown the ropes on his first sailing vessel). O'Brian rather inundates the reader with terminology and, much like immersion language training, one either begins to grasp the meanings or ends up, well, totally at sea. This first novel is filled with action and derring-do, but it comes in a far more episodic manner than Forester would ever have chosen. Adventuresome things happen, but there's little sense of story beyond the normal tranpirences of sea duty. One senses (and hopes) that more plot will arrive with subsequent volumes in the series. Anyone who loves the Hornblower novels will surely love this one, even if it's missing a few key elements that made Forester's work on a similar canvas so deeply compelling and fun. ( )
[ = I present and dedicate [this book] to Mary, the commander and mistress of our yacht]
First words
When one is writing about the Royal Navy of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it is difficult to avoid understatement; it is difficult to do full justice to one's subject; for so very often the improbable reality outruns fiction.
Author's note.
The music-room in the Governor's House at Port Mahon, a tall, handsome, pillared octagon, was filled with the triumphant first movement of Locatelli's C major quartet.
Chapter one.
Quotations
'But my Sophie must have a medical man -- apart from anything else, you have no notion of what a hypochondriac your seaman is: they love to be physicked, and a ship's company without someone to look after them, even the rawest half-grown surgeon's mate, is not a happy ship's company ...' [Aubrey: 33]
Last words
The president cleared his throat again in the dead silence, and speaking in a clear, seamanlike voice that combined gravity, formality and cheerfulness, he said, 'Captain Aubrey: it is no small pleasure to me to receive the commands of the court I have the honour to preside at, that in delivering to you your sword, I should congratulate you upon its being restored by both friend and foe alike; hoping ere long you will be called upon to draw it once more in the honourable defence of your country.'
Here is the maiden voyage of O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, which follows the unique friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent.
It is the dawn of the nineteenth century; Britain is at war with Napoleon's France. When Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson's navy, is promoted to captain, he inherits command of HMS Sophie, an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend Stephen Maturin, Aubrey and his crew engage in one thrilling battle after another, their journey culminating in a stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate against whose guns and manpower the tiny Sophie is hopelessly outmatched.
O'Brian renders in riveting detail the life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
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Haiku summary
A navy captain and a land loving surgeon fight Spaniards and French. (marcusbrutus)
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It is certainly a steep learning curve as the author makes no concessions to readers' ignorance of naval terminology and practice of the period. There were definitely times when I had no idea what was going on. it certainly throws into relief how much other authors play down the strangeness of the past. (