Product Description

Now available in an attractive movie-tie-in jacket for the release of the motion picture Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe: "The best sea story I have ever read."—Sir Francis Chichester

This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war are faultless rendered: 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.

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, ship's surgeon and secret intelligence agent, 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12195 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The opening salvo of the Aubrey-Maturin epic, in which the surgeon introduces himself to the captain by driving an elbow into his ribs during a chamber music recital. Fortunately for millions of readers, the two quickly make up. Then they commence one of the great literary voyages of our century, set against an immaculately detailed backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. This is the place to start--and in all likelihood, you won't be able to stop. --Amazon.com

Synopsis
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. All eighteen books are being re-issued in hardback by HarperCollins with stunning new jackets to coincide with a new film based on the adventures and to introduce these modern classics to a new generation. Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O'Brian's now famous Aubrey/Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship's surgeon and an intelligence agent. It contains all the action and excitement which could possibly be hoped for in a historical novel, but it also displays the qualities which have put O'Brian far ahead of any of his competitors: his depiction of the detail of life aboard a Nelsonic man-of-war, of weapons, food, conversation and ambience, of the landscape and of the sea. O'Brian's portrayal of each of these is faultless and the sense of period throughout is acute. His power of characterisation is above all masterly.

This brilliant historical novel marked the debut of a writer who grew into one of our greatest novelists ever, the author of what Alan Judd, writing in the Sunday Times, has described as 'the most significant extended story since Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time'.

From the Publisher
If you have enjoyed any of Patrick O'Brian's novels there is a whole series of books and audiotapes to look out for :
1. Master and Commander
2. Post Captain
3. HMS Surprise
4. The Mauritius Command
5. Desolation Island
6. The Fortune of War
7. The Surgeon's Mate
8. The Ionian Mission
9. Treason's Harbour
10. The Far Side of the World
11. THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
12. The Letter of Marque
13. The Thirteen-Gun Salute
14. The Nutmeg of Consolation
15. Clarissa Oakes
16. The Wine-dark Sea
17. The Commodore
18. The Yellow Admiral
19. The Hundred Days
20. Blue at the Mizzen

Customer Reviews

Which they are some of the best books ever written!
There is so much to praise in these wonderful books that it's probably best to start with assurances to the contrary of what might be potential readers' less favourable impressions and expectations. So, if you care about great literature but were hesitating about these - don't, I urge you.

First, you emphatically don't have to be some military history or naval warfare fan to appreciate O'Brian. (Like me, though, you may end up an admirer of Nelson or a visitor to Victory, purely on the strength of these great books.)

Second: have no fears of impenetrable maritime jargon - once again, everything is understandable and engaging purely from context and rhythm (although, once more, you may actually find yourself wanting to hone your facility to distinguish a topgallant from a studdingsail as your acquaintance with Jack Aubrey deepens). The brilliant device of having Maturin (one of literature's sharpest, most caustic characters) "ignorant" of his friend Jack's oceanic terms gives us all an enjoyable - and often hilarious - entry to the vocabulary.

Third (and most significant): have no qualms about the "antique" element. Yes, O'Brian seems, at times, to be writing with the benefit of a time-machine, so authentic are his terms of reference. But the underlying sensibility here is human, intimate and deeply affectionate; indeed, Jack's and Stephen's relationship over time constitutes one of the best love stories ever written. It all comes across as fresh, immediate and modern.

Also, I can't emphasise sufficiently how much humour there is here; and please rest assured that this is not the genteel "Don't y'know" school of polite chuckles but the "Full Blackadder" when it comes to sarcasm, slapstick and a Comedy of Manners that cheerfully blends Swift and Spike Milligan. Stephen's witty ribbing of Jack and others is nicely counterbalanced by his own pratfalls and duckings; Jack's sense of his own (hopeless) hilarity is a beautifully sustained study in loveable self-delusion.

Against that runs the constant theme of incredible (and realistic) violence. Again, the astounding bravery and hideous bloodletting both adds to the realistic, contemporary texture and counterbalances, in its own way, the glorious comedy of these tales. Jack the "flat" who can never get a witticism out on time is a man who can, when necessary, bring down several opponents at once; whilst Stephen, the tetchy, cutting cove with his head in some Latin or his scalpel in a specimen, can do sudden, fatal violence when cornered - and, only moments later, undercut Jack or some other blusterer with a few incisive remarks. Dazzling.

O'Brian's way with action, as with his dialogue, is vivid, cinematic, oscillating between suggestion and the explicit. He also does fast-cutting worthy of the Bourne films. Here's just a little bit from HMS Surprise, when Jack sets out to rescue Stephen from torture:


The bubbling shriek rose again, huge, beyond human measure, intolerable. Inside the room the strikingly handsome youth had turned and now he was looking up with a triumphant smile at the other officers. His coat and his collar were open, and he had something in his hand.
Jack drew his sword, opened the long window; their faces turned, indignant, then shocked, amazed. Three long strides, and balancing, with a furious grip on his hilt, he cut forehand at the boy and backhand at the man next to him. Instantly the room was filled - bellowing noise, rushing movement, blows, the thud of bodies, a shout from the last officer, chair and table crashing down, the black civilian with two seamen on top of him, a smothered scream. The soldier shooting out of the door, an animal cry beyond it; and silence. The demented, inhuman face of the man on the rack, running with sweat.


The riches do not end there, of course. Maturin's natural philosophy alone is worth the admission; especially when it irritates Jack and gets in the way of the prize-cruising. There is a fabulous bit in HMS Surprise when Stephen brings aboard a creature ("comforting it in Portuguese" as he carries it) that Jack assumes to be one of the "vampires" he has forbidden Stephen to collect. It turns out to be a sloth; which all the sailors love and adopt - but which also has a phobia of Jack's face. Jack eventually persuades the sloth to come to him by offering it alcohol, much to Maturin's chagrin when he discovers the animal drunk ("Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"). The tales also feature badgers, horses, dogs, tortoises - a menagerie worthy of T H White, indeed.

Finally, these books are, of course, unspeakably romantic. The exotic landscapes and characters, the espionage, the food, the bawdiness, the danger: enough for anyone's escapist appetite. But a special mention must go to the use of music; not just the duets that Stephen and Jack so charmingly share, often at night in the great cabin; but also the choruses in which the whole ship often unties (notably, in Treason's Harbour, a chorus of "Ladies of Spain" joined with gusto by a colourful native character - who is hideously taken by sharks a few chapters later: well, I said O'Brian was cinematic).

There is so much to say about these glorious books; but it's all far better said by the author himself in the books themselves. Once again, I urge you to read them. You might want to try, say, HMS Surprise, as a good self-contained way in, to see if you like it. But, honestly; I can't imagine anyone not wanting to go through the whole sequence; as I've now done; twice. The thing is, the whole sequence of the novels is even greater than the sum of its parts. O'Brian really is that good. Individually, all of the Aubrey/Maturin stories work as great novels. Any one of at least four - and probably more - of them (certainly, Master and Commander, HMS Surprise, The Ionian Mission and Treason's Harbour) could stand amongst literature's finest. (My own Top Three Desert Island Booklist would put an "equals" sign after Earthly Powers, The Sword in the Stone and HMS Surprise.)

Slow Start of Series, Brilliant Set of Books
Simple really, am on book 14. Brilliant set of books, buy them and read them.

the best historical novel series
This is a historical novel for the intellectual reader, superbly written, engaging, and at times exciting. Patrick O'Brien writes in a period correct fashion, and whilst this is a shock for the first page, it quickly becomes its most endearing attribute. The series wont be for everyone, but if you want an eloquent read this is one to have. Post-Captain (the next in the series) is equally as good.