H. M. S. Surprise (Aubrey / Maturin)

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin set off on a secret mission to recover the islands off Madagascar for Great Britain. Lots of naval action, but, as always, the main appeal is the interaction between the two protagonists, the description of life on and off the ship and the glimpse of English history that goes beyond the action of Book 4 in this series.

All the Maturin/Aubrey follow the sailing career of Jack Aubrey and his good friend Steven Maturin as they travel the oceans of the early 1800s'. Well written and thought out. Historical Fiction at it's best.

The excellence continues unabated. This series must be seen as the quintessential British Naval action and life in the era of British colonialism and the expanding Empire. Aubrey and Stephan continue their steadfast friendship and duties as Master mariner and doctor/spy.

Less action and more talk in this book. Jack spends a great deal of time dealing with captains who dislike each other, jealousies and egos. Still a good book with an interesting look into the minds of men in power.

Patrick O'Brian continues to take historic evevts and weave a spell binding tale. You will feel the deck of the H.M.S. Surprise under your feet and gaze at a distant speck of white on the ocean, wondering if it is friend or foe.

You need a dictionary. YOu need patience to grasp many of the nautical and seamanship scenes. One has to appreciate the life requirement that living at sea under the orders of His Majesty's Service, demands serious discipline.

with that background, one can enjoy the events and brilliant characters.

Not only will you be introduced to nautical and military strategy, but memorable characters that reside in each one of these Aubrey and Maturin adventures.

Number 4 in the series is another good read. The interesting relationships among the characters continues to keep me buying the next volume in the series. However, I really feel like the real stars of the show are the ships themselves.

Lucky Captain Jack (Commodore Jack) and his bromance buddy Stephen Maturin feel the sting of victory snapped away by the jaws of a last minute arrival by Admiral Bertie who manages to take most of the credit. As usual, an awesome read with plenty of out of date words to look up. "Sails to larboard!"

I have the whole series of Aubrey/Maturin books, both in print and in audio, and highly recommend that if you want any of the books in audio look for the editions read by Richard Brown. Not all of them are by him. Some are only by Patrick Tull who does a good job also; but there are a couple other readers who are horrible. It's like listening to a high school play. Richard Brown truly captures the feeling of the period with understated dry wit. The others suffer from "enthusiasm" as Maturin might put it. You'll have to try several vendors (Alibris,BOT) to find all those by Brown, but I think you'll enjoy the difference.

Brilliant book. Fantastic series. Extremely well written, full of precise details of the Napoleonic wars. In my opinion O''Brian is even better than CS Forester. More depth to the characters and more intricate plots. Well worth reading the entire series.

I have previously noted that this is my fourth (or is it fifth?) reading of the 20 book series.....and I have always been amazed that I have never found even one of my circle of friends who has the same enthusiasm - in fact none of them have even finished Master and Commander. They are all enthusiastic about Hornblower, but Aubrey and Maturin leave them cold. Their loss, because I appear to be in unknown, but good company.

His description of period sailing is fantastic and highly accurate. He describes shipboard life in great detail. Both daily boring routine and combat are interesting and capture the environment perfectly.

I somehow misplaced this book of the series..and so had to buy again. This is my third time thru all 20 (Ok 21) of O'brian's masterpieces. Every 5 years or so I find I can get lost in this totally absorbing world again.

This was my introduction to the O'Brian seafaring series, although it is No. 3 in the series. Thoroughly enjoyable; provides insight into British naval history and the early 19th Century in general. Plots,develop over several books, and the main characters are particularly memorable.

Rollicking yarn as usual but gets bogged down in unnecessary detail at times with a truncated storyline at the end. This appears true of many of the novels in the series. Perhaps the characters' back story is the most interesting, linking the novels

Tight, elegant story telling combined with strong historical research make this series intensely enjoyable. The complex narrative is interlaced with careful reconstructions of historical Royal Navy ship actions. These are page turners, and the Mauritius Command is particularly tight.

Patrick O'Brian is one of the greatest writers ever! The entire Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin series (all 20 books) are a delight from start to finish, and a literary masterpiece. We read them over and over again.

This book is best savored in the audio format. Narrator Simon Vance superbly delivers an almost impossibly complex job of rendering different characters in different voices. As a result the compete nuances of Regency period language are there to be savored. And of course the writing itself is simply unequalled.

Another thorough novel by O'Brian. At times it seemed a bit long in the tooth but one must remember the times the novel is set in. So far I would heartly recommend any of the books so far in the series to ant and all that love the sea and the rich heritage.

This is my second reading of the Aubrey/ Maturin series by P. O'Brian. Discovered many wonderful things I'd missed on my first encounter w/ this series. I highly recommend this series to anyone with a love for a grand tale!!

Another great book by Patrick O'Brian in the Jack Aubrey/Marturin series (think: Master and Commander).
I've long been an O'Brian fan, and currently am attempting to read the entire series in order. Wonderful sea adventure from another time, with captivating characters, well developed yet with human frailties mixed with rugged courage.

The Aubrey-Maturin saga continues and while the men are hard at work life goes on back in England. I love this entire series and have read it several times. Each time I am swept to sea, looking over shoulders to participate in what is happening.