Review:This novel takes Maisie in a new direction working with MI6 and becoming closer to James. It is well written and again skilfully evokes the era between the wars and the lifestyles of the various social classes that Maisie moves in. I hope all of the series will soon be available to purchase for the Kindle reader. Read more

Review:For those that were growing weary of intrigues by land, of Stephen Maturin's intelligence work, who wanted to get back to sea with Lucky Jack Aubrey - well, this is the book for you. Capt. Aubrey is now in command of a 74-gun line-of-battle ship, sent to the Toulon blockade (the French Mediterranean naval base). Unfortunately for Jack, HMS Worcester is English-made (it is a truism in the Age of Sail that British ships were terribly built and expertly crewed.... and the opposite was true of the... Read more

Review: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. Read more

Review:Having Jack Aubrey finally attain his long-desired goal, an admiral's commission with its blue flag, brought the series to a very satisfactory conclusion for me. I don't plan to read the unfinished, unedited Book 21, because I have deeply enjoyed the entire series of 20, and Book 21 seems gratuitous. If O'Brien had lived to finish it properly, I'd of course have bought Book 21. But "Blue at the Mizzen" as a conclusion is so satisfying that I'm happy with it--though I could wish for the series to... Read more

Review:I feel conflicted about giving this set of books only three stars.

On one hand, O'Brian's writing is brilliant. Speaking purely in terms of the literature, I would give his work five stars rather than three. I would describe this work as a combination of Herman Melville and Jane Austen. This set really consists of one long novel, not 25 short ones. For that reason, it makes sense to purchase all of the volumes at once.

Unfortunately, the publisher of this set did a distressingl... Read more

Review:Not what I expected. The book is of very different dimensions than the other 12 books I have in the series and looks odd in the book case. The dust cover does not fit correctly on the book. If I had seen this product beforehand I would not have purchased it. Read more

Review:This was advertised as a used book, but the condition was fine! If I have one complaint it would be the shipping costs. I ordered three books at once and all were delivered in the same USPS envelope. In spite of that, I was charged three different shipping charges. Read more

Review:This book partially inspired the Master and Commander movie. Maybe not the best of the Aubrey/Maturin series, it recommends anyway itself for the usual masterly O'Brian's description of day by day life on a British frigate in the Napoleonic age. Worth the money for O'Brian's fans (like myself). Read more

Review:-The last book in a 20+ series. Unfortunately, the author died while writing the conclusion, and the story never became developed. You leave feeling totally "teased" and disappointed. Better to not even begin this "book".

The publisher DID try to help by including his hand-written notes, but on a Kindle, those notes are completely unreadable and useless. This book is worse than a total waste of money (-Never said that before (sigh)). Read more

Review: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 ... Read more