Cheap Post Captain (Aubrey Maturin Series) (Book) (Patrick O'Brian) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Post Captain (Aubrey Maturin Series)

Sequel to "Master and Commander" fleshes out lives and careers of Aubrey and Maturin
Patrick O'Brian's beloved Aubrey Maturin Series provides its second installment with the excellent "Post Captain." While "Master and Commander" sets the bar impossibly high for the later works, "Post Captain" nearly attains the same heights as the first book. <
> <
>In "Master and Commander," Jack Aubrey earned the nickname "Lucky Jack" through a combination of skill and audacity, commanding the sloop "Sophie" and taking down a much larger enemy vessel and several other "prizes." A ship's captain didn't make a big salary, but was entitled to generous portions of the booty taken on the high seas from enemy ships (both military and merchant). With the fantastic military victory and his prizes, Aubrey appeared well on his way to achievement and wealth. <
> <
>Unfortunately for Aubrey, "Post Captain" sees his fortunes change drastically. First, the navy pooh-poohs his military achievements and refuses to give him his due. Second, the courts rule that Aubrey shouldn't have seized a couple of his "prizes," due to neutral status, so he has to pay the merchants back a colossal sum. And third, his agent skips town with his remaining funds. <
> <
>The 1800s were not kind to the destitute. If a bailiff laid a hand on you, you were arrested and sent to debtor's prison. O'Brian has a lot of fun with this legal quirk, as the peacock-like Aubrey must skulk and hide and even enlist his sailors to fight off onrushing bailiffs. Plus, Aubrey can't get a command with which to reclaim his fortune. Things appear dire. <
> <
>O'Brian foists other troubles on Maturin as well as Aubrey. Both men struggle in love for most of the novel. O'Brian writes about the formalistic "courtship" of English society very well, but these passages aren't quite as entertaining as O'Brian's depictions of life on the high seas. <
> <
>We do get to see a lot of our favorite captain-and-doctor team at sea, particularly after Aubrey gets command of an experimental ship that is as comfortable going backwards as it is forwards. True to form, Aubrey commands it in a damn-the-torpedos fashion, even in the face of a looming mutiny. <
> <
>My only quibbles with this book are, again, the absence of a map, and also the fact that the ship Aubrey commands for most of the novel has a much different layout than the otherwise helpful ship diagram at the beginning of the book. I don't speak Navy, and my knowledge of the European coastline circa 1800 is spotty at best. <
> <
>Still, these are minor quibbles in a heck of a yarn. Check it out. <
> <
>

Capital! Friends, lovers, wine, a dancing bear and Her Majesty's Navy
Post Captain, the second in the Aubury Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien, is an excellent romp through England, Spain, France and the High Seas. While the first in the series is an excellent book and recommended as a starting point, in Post Captain O'Brien really comes into his form as a writer. Besides being accurate from a historical and naval point of view and being an excellent adventure novel, O'Brien really embellishes his characters and develops the relationships. Capt. Jack Aubury and Dr. Stephen Maturin are excellent protagonists not just through thier actions and heroics, but through the fact that they are not "perfect" gentlemen and are very human. Jack, master and commander at last on the high seas, is prone to excesses of spending and eating on land, leading to an inspired escape from creditors trying to take him to debtors' prison. Stephen is shown to have emotional depth in addtion to intellectual depth in this book. All in all an excellent read. The unabridged audio book version by Blackstone Press is highly reccommended.