Master and Commander

The beginning of a very long, very rewarding journey for the reader.

Here's the deal. You are being transported to another time and another place. It will be unfamiliar to you at first. The language will seem strange. The vocabulary is one of a completely different world. Be patient. For by the time you get to the end of the second book, you will completely immersed in an amazing literary accomplishment.

One other thing. These are not just sea stories. They are not sail operas. At the beating heart of the Aubrey/Maturin series is the story of friendship and a world that's changing around them. I mourned when I finished Blue At The Mizzen, for I felt as if an era of my life had ended.

I chose to start the Aubrey/Maturin stories because of David Drake's RCN series. Drake gives credit to O'Brian as his inspiration, and the stories are gripping. I've finished Master and Commander and am currently reading the 4th story in the series.

The only negative I have is sometimes the writing, particularly the dialog when dealing with non-seafaring people, tends to become a bit obtuse. Still, its worth wading through to get to the rest of the story.

This reading of "Master and Commander" marks the third time I have read it and, hopefully, the beginning of a third reading of the entire series of novels.

I have never read and enjoyed books more than this series. It is marked by outstanding character development, tolerably accurate history of the period and great story telling.

I commend this book and the rest of the series to anyone who enjoys a good sea story told in the form of great literature!

I haven't used the dictionary so frequently or for so much fun in very long time, if ever! The book was a great start to the series. I did have trouble seeing the movements in some of the engagements and had to reimagine them a couple of times. I liked the formation of the relationship between the Captain and Surgeon and expect it to grow. I will begin volume two shortly.

To say this series surpasses even Hornblower ... would be an understatement. This is my (cica) 15th return to my beloved Aubrey / Maturin novels. Always, when I find myself marooned from quality reading, can I count on O'Brian to renew my adventurous quest for fine reading.

Like an old easy chair, that favorite drink, or a dear love song ... I know I return home ... in the bosom of an old friend ... and relive their glorious escapades.

5 enthusiastic stars!!!

Clewseau

I first read Master and Commander over a decade ago. I've just re-read the first volume on my Kindle and I think I enjoyed it even more. I have a huge library of books collected over the years; if my house were to catch fire, I would save my family, my cat, and the Master and Commander series. Entertaining, exciting, witty, beautifully written, I can't recommend these books highly enough.

One word of advice for land lubbers like myself: the built-in dictionary on the Kindle version helped me make much better sense of the frequent nautical terms.

The book is for folks who like sea adventures. The characters are realistic, however, not embellished Hollywood film characters. Life on a British Navy battle ship is presented in detail. It is not an easy read. Naval terms are used as though the reader is already versed in them. Regardless, the characters and plot are worth the read for anyone interested in authentic historical descriptions in novels.

The Master and commander series is a wonderful friend to have at hand. I have read them all several times, and each time I find something I didn't notice. I have a tendancy to want action but realized that in between action and adventure themes there is also some excellent writing including romance, humor and history. I have had these books for several years and having read them all several times I still continue to pull them out and start over again. I love to read and these books are only a small part of the reading I do, but I would have to say that I have never been disapointed reading them again. To get the full effect all of the series should be read in order of their writing.

This is the first in an excellent, utterly addicting and always compelling series that chronicles the exploits of Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, taking us on a lively tour of their lives, loves and adventures over the course of many years. When my sister first suggested that I read this book I was skeptical -- isn't it a "guy book"? But I was coming off a Jane Austen fix and one of Patrick O'Brian's favorite writers was Austen...so I gave it a try. I read the entire series, back to back, while pregnant with my son.
O'Brian fills his books with such incredible period detail and wonderful Austen-esq characterizations that I was immediately and incurably hooked. You will be astounded how much you learn about the post-Regency Period and life at sea because you will be so busy being deeply engrossed and throughly entertained.

I recall reading the first of the series years ago as a young man, struggling with the cadence and syntax, but marveling at the author's ability to create real physical tension during the battle passages. This time around, on the Kindle, with ability to check the terms as I go, it was a far more enjoyable experience - and the action was even better. Coincidentally, I recently returned from vacationing in southern Spain, and many of the areas described in the book I had the pleasure to see first hand. Certainly added to the imagery.

This is an interesting, detailed presentation of life and work in the British Navy in the Late 18th - Early 19th centuries. It is set in the format of a romantic novel. A well-written, classic adventure story. Many details and much information is presented on the operation of sailing ships and 18th century naval gunnery. Worthwhile and accurate historical material from the Napoleonic Period.

For me a 'hard' read, between the old English words and expressions and a lot of nautical terms. Great story, but for me it required a lot of focus. Not an easy read, but a very good one. If into old English would strongly recommend it. Will not follow up as to 'hard' for me.

Got it because reviewer said that the 'Richard Sharpe's' series was continuation of O'Briens work. In same tradition, but about 100 years before in writing. Recommend for intense reader.

Red Rider

It takes a little patience reading this because it is written in 17th Century English. That being said, once you get the hang of it, the book reads well and Jack Aubrey comes to life with his friend, Dr. Maturin. I felt like I was onboard with the officers and crew once I figured out the language differences. Five stars worthy and probably one of the best English Lit series I have ever read.

If your experience includes 18th Century nautical jargon, it's great. Good story, well-written, but about 8% of the words were over my head, and beyond the capability of my Kindle device's dictionary to define. An abundance of historical detail makes for an interesting read.

This book is just simply astounding! Halfway down the first page I thought, "well, that's a neat trick;" by the time I'd finished it I knew I was in the hands of a master.
Frigates! Guns! The Royal Navy and Spanish booty! An upright, straight-shooting newly minted captain, and an absent-minded, slightly flawed physician who fancies himself an amateur naturalist, and their unlikely adventures together upon the high seas!
Who cares! This book is a BOOK, readers - this is why trees are chopped down, sliced thin, and put between two covers! If you didn't know how good a novel could be, read this one - and prepare to be slapped across the face
I came to this book a couple months after finishing 'Two Years Before the Mast', and I can't imagine a better primer - but not necessary. If you like to read a book - if you like people at all - if you ever learned to read English - then I can't imagine that you won't absolutely love this book.
Yes, it's that good.

This soundtrack was amazing! If you watch the movie Master and Commander first, you will be able to relive each scene with this incredible music. I loved it so much, I purchased it three times, giving the other copies to my sisters, who also loved it. It is a masterpiece!

This is my second reading of this wonderful book. I marvel at the author's ability to recreate the period and his incredible facility and inventiveness with dialog and narrative. My only disappointed is that the book has to end. I can't recommend this book, or the series, more highly.

A master of historical fiction, O'Brian immerses you in a fully realised world. Master and Commander is rich with the period detail of the Napoleonic era. The depth of his knowledge of the inner workings of ships of this era is breathtaking. Perhaps it is this depth of description that makes the text so dense and at times difficult to read. It is however O'Brian's gifts as a storyteller that moves beyond the technical and archaic language. The relationship between Captain Jack and Doctor Maturin is at times bursting with humor or rich with pathos. The story itself is surprising in the arc that it takes the characters, more real in scope than a structured novel. O'Brian himself called this series his 'nautical tales' and at the end despite a great sense of satisfaction the reader is still left wanting more. I am now avidly reading the second.

Master & Commander is the opening book in a 21 book Aubrey/Maturin series. This book's purpose is to introduce the reader, and thus does not have a plot per se, but is really vignettes. O'Brian uses dialog true to the period, so it's a bit of an awkward read for newbies like me, but absorbing and captivating all the same. I seriously enjoyed the book and intend to continue with the series. Can't put it much better than that. Definitely a worthwhile read if you're into historical fiction or sea tales. 5 stars!

I chose this book because of its reviews. Because I have never been sailing there were very large segments that I didn't have a clue what I was reading about. It is the reason I chose 4 stars instead of 5. The story itself was a very good one and drew you right into it. I would recommend this book with the warning that if one doesn't sail there are parts that you might as well skip. I hope this author will consider this in more of his books

This book is not in my usual corner. Suggested to me by my history professor son. If I read historical novels, i prefer them to be in the category of history with which I am already familiar. This book was not so placed. However, I found it very clever, and I learned some naval history that I did not knowddd as well as some protocols of that historical timed. A good book, not just what I usually read.

If you ever want to understand excellent writing that marries compelling character development with near-total historical accuracy, the Aubrey Maturin series cannot be beat. Set in the dawn of the 19th Century where the British Royal Navy is still the preeminent naval power. O'Brian writes in a way that conveys the feel, the smell, and the taste of the times.

This is where the Aubrey-Maturin series began, and it's easy to see why it took off. Literate, witty, historically accurate, compelling, complex characters and sharply drawn action make this a joy to read. If you enjoy historical fiction and are intellectually curious, you will love this book. It is serious work in the best sense, in that O'Brian obviously cares about his characters and fills out their humanity with loving care, warts and all. Pure pleasure on a number of levels. Reminds me of some of the classical Greek stories which tell of men who serve in war and peace, their friendships, weaknesses and moments of greatness.

Two friends recommended this author's series. Within one of the rewiews that I read on the store the reviewer commented that one should read this first book first as it sets the tone for the followings stories and allows you to understnad the relationshsip between Aubrey and Maturin. I have read several nautical adventure stories which I have enjoyed. The Master & Commander was very difficult to get through for me. It makes assumptions that the reader already knows about the workings, hierarchy and practices of the British Royal Navy during that time period. Much of what was mentioned in this story about such things was lost as there was no or minimal explanation. The book was loaded with old english terminology, slang, the names of the differant sails and nautical terms where I could not undertand what was happening. You need a dictionary to understand a large portion of this story and possibly a book giving pictures of the differant styles of older wooden ships and which shows the names of the differant sails and where they attached to the mast. Otherwise, a large part of the store is meaningless. Also, there were many times when I could not figure out who was speaking or whose thoughts were being written. During the coming winter nights I will read the second book in this series to see if the writting gets any better. If not I will let Mr. O'Brian's writing stay in Davey Jones' locker

A cacophony of archaic words showboated by the author into a good story made the book a rather difficult read. I tend to look up words I do not know so I'd be looking up many words on a page, only to find that I'd never ever use the archaics in my vocabulary. I'm a sailor and had not much trouble understanding the sailing terminology, which is vastly covered in this book. I enjoyed the jargon. If you're not a sailor, you may have a hard time with this book's sailing jargon. The Old English portrayed is very nearly a foreign language. " Archaic" came up in nearly all Kindle dictionary definitions. This book contained the most words that I have ever had to look up. Thankfully I'm done. I won't try another volume until I'm rested. I feel like I just finished an epic assignment or translation.
My Kindle dictionary couldn't process many of the archaic verbiage used in this great voluminous fiction! I do like historical novels though.However, I do not like some of the video portrayals by actors of the English language, with all it's frilly embellishments and nonsense. I find it tiresome. This book was good but tiresome. Chichester was English and said it was the best he ever read. Pass the grog.

The lead chapter in the great multi-novel series. Although just beginning his development in this book. Dr. Stephen Maturin becomes one of the most complex and intellectually challenging characters in historical fiction since Sherlock Holmes.

Unlike Forrester O'Brian has really done his homework. His books are really informative.
Forrerster follows the straight Tory ticket and O'Brian, does not.
Of course the Hornblower series started in the thirties when England still had an empire. The Aubrey/Mathurin series on the other hand started in 1969 when England had lost its empire and democracy had become respectable.

A movie that is adopted from a novel presents the eternal quandary as to whether you should read the novel before or after seeing the film. However, with the release today of "Master and Commander: The Far Side of World" you have a unique opportunity to do both. Although we have assumed this Russell Crowe film was an amalgam of the first and tenth novels in the series of twenty written by Patrick O'Brien starting in 1970, that is not the case. The film is based squarely on "The Far Side of the World," although certainly liberties have been taken with translating the work to the screen (the enemy ship is now a French vessel in 1805 durng the Napoleonic Wars instead of an American ship during the War of 1812). This means that reading "Master and Commander" before seeing the film would actually work to your advantage, because you would then understand the relationship between "Lucky" Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin, which begins in this first novel.
On the first of April in the year 1800 two of the most important things in his life happen to John Aubrey, Esquire. Not only is he appointed Commander of His Majesty's Sloop "Sophie," but he makes the acquaintance of Dr. Maturin. Aubrey, who is taller and broad shouldered, plays the violin, which the smaller Maturin plays the cello. Aubrey is the embodiment of an English seaman while Maturin is an absent-minded intellectual. Outside of their love of music there is little to recommend one to the other, but this is the beginning of one of the great friendships in literature. Many times we will be reminded through these books that each is the other's particular friend, and that friendship begins here. Consequently, you can read "Master and Commander" and it will enhance you experience of watching the movie because it provides all you really need to know about the back story concerning this deep friendship which is a recurring subtext of the film.
Aubrey's first command, H.M.S. "Sophie," is an old, slow brig and unlikely to help him fulfill his dream of making a fortune in captured French and Spanish prizes, all of which are bigger and better than his small ship. If there is a theme to this first novel it is the story of how Jack Aubrey came to earn the sobriquet "Lucky," and how he pushed that luck right to edge, and a bit beyond. In the telling of this tale O'Brian amply demonstrates both Aubrey's capacities and his vulnerabilities, both of which are explored in future volumes.
You have to think of this as a series rather than a novel, because after reading this book and seeing the movie you want to progress to the second O'Brian volume, "Post Captain," and not skip ahead to "The Far Side of the World." This is not Horatio Hornblower; these Aubrey-Maturin novels were written in order and the first half-dozen volumes are the ones most grounded in naval history (O'Brian liked to take real engagements and add his characters and their ship into the mix). For his 21st birthday I got my son the entire 20-volume series and one of the many excellent companion volumes that are out there.
Just be aware that if you get the movie tie-in editions of "Master and Commander" and/or "The Far Side of the World" that they are slightly larger than the standard paperback editions. Consequently when they are all lined up on your bookcase having them is going to keep your collection from looking shipshape.

I have seen the movie Master and Commander several times and enjoy the story and characters, so knowing books are always better than their movies, I purchased the first Aubrey/Maturin book but didn't begin it for well over a year . Now i am on book 3 and cannot stop reading. I never imagined myself to be a fan of naval adventures and yet here i am, breathless and worthless. Supper isn't prepared but i always know what hemisphere we are in and what a bosun and a coxsun do. The characters are delightful. The storylines keep me hooked. Surely i will run upon a lousy book, but not thus far. Another series i thoroughly love is J. D. Davies' Matthew Quinton series. So join me in hoisting the mainsail and all those other peculiar things we do onboard. It's a lot of fun!!

I found this story of British naval life and adventures to be interesting and enjoyable. It is based on historical events and contains detailed descriptions of sea battles and the associated sailing ship handling. The primary proponents, while quite skilled, are presented with ordinary human frailties. The story flows well and conveys an overall feeling of realism.

Like many other readers I really wanted to like this book but found it tough going. There was so much historical, nautical language that I was constantly using my kindle dictionary which was very distracting. Incidentally many of the words used were not listed in the dictionary either! This became very tedious after a while and for this reason alone I would recommend the film, which I thoroughly enjoyed, rather than the book. There was no great storyline, other than attacking every ship they encountered and I felt the crew of the Sophie were portrayed more like pirates than men of war. I too had trouble with the continuity, one moment Jack was on land, the next , in his cabin with no explanation of how he got there. I was constantly going back to see if I'd missed something. It also ended a bit suddenly though I must admit it was
a relief! On the plus side I believe it is historically very accurate and O'Brian is obviously very talented to be able to write a book in the 20th Century that could have been written two hundred years ago due to his use of language from that era and historical accuracy. Sadly, that wasn't enough to hold my attention and I'm not sure I would want to tackle another book from this series.

I have read the entire cycle of Aubrey-Maturin novels six or seven times--and I rarely re-read books. The characters are fascinating--flawed, driven, hopeful, evolving. The story line, and all the sub-arcs within it, are exciting, The writing is sly, engaging, by turns somber and light...Jane Austin Goes to War.

Start here, with the concert in the Governor's music room in Port Mahon, and embark on a multi-year adventure that goes right round the world.

This author has created a series which I love. The characters are well thought out and deep and the setting is so detailed I can imagine myself on the deck of a ship I have never been on before and running up the mizzen mast to look for the next prize.

Can't help but contrast Aubrey with Hornblower... the difference is night and day. That's a credit to both authors. I am on book 2 of this series. You really don't know what to expect... that is a good thing!