This is my third time through the series, and I am just as addicted as ever. I dare you, but don't blame me when you are late for work.more But O'Brian kicks back into form with Volume 11 and it doesn't let up until the end. Yet Jack and Stephen and the whole crew of the Leopard are left still shipwrecked on a deserted island down in the Southern Ocean! This is genius at work. This volume has one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read, one of those where you carefully shut the book and close your eyes and smile. My second favorite is Volume 5, Desolation Island, for sheer masterful storytelling. After volume two his skills of plotting and pace reach a near perfect pitch, so each volume reaches a thoroughly compelling emotional crisis (which is not always a naval battle) and comes to a satisfying ending. His knowledge of naval technology and natural history is profound, so you actually learn quite a bit in every volume. He has invented a world of characters who are far more fun to be with than most real people. O'Brian's skills as a writer are almost too numerous to mention. Another friend realized she'd missed her bus stop because she was reading so deeply, and then decided it didn't matter and rode the bus to the end of the line, arriving two hours late to work. One friend, sick with pneumonia, left his bed and staggered five blocks to Booksmith when he heard a new volume was out. Everyone has their story of O'Brian addiction. Most of the action takes place on shore, where the personalities of Jack and Stephen really shine in all their quirky splendor, but we get a thumping good battle at the end, right when we're ready for it.Īfter this point, I dare you to stop. Here O'Brian mates his extensive knowledge of 19th century English life with a Jane Austen-like suite of characters and dilemmas. Volume 2, Post Captain, is my favorite in the series. It is an enjoyable book (and much fun to re-read) but its over-emphasis on naval vocabulary and warfare has stopped many readers from moving on to subsequent volumes. While all the books are about the 19th century British Royal Navy and its various battles, Master and Commander puts them at the center of the story, rather than Jack and Stephen, the main (and incredibly compelling) characters. They are not real, however much I want them to be."Īctually volume 1, Master and Commander, is the least compelling. Then I realized the reason why I hadn't heard from them: they are characters in a book. The big loud sailor and his naturalist friend. But once I got started on these books I couldn't stop."Īnd I will quote myself, speaking to a friend: "I was just thinking, hey, I haven't heard from those two guys in a while. T I will quote my wife here: "I don't care about England, I don't want to know anything about their navy, and I certainly don't give a shit about English naval battles in the 19th century. But once I got started on these books I couldn't stop." And I will quote myself, speaking to a friend: "I was just thinking, hey, I haven't heard from those two guys in a while. I will quote my wife here: "I don't care about England, I don't want to know anything about their navy, and I certainly don't give a shit about English naval battles in the 19th century.
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