Reviews

The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian

fflf's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

neilrcoulter's review against another edition

2.0

Many readers have noted that O'Brian's series declines in quality generally at some point in the second ten books. I agree with that, but The Hundred Days is the first volume where I actually almost wished he'd ended the series earlier. The reason for this is mostly in the opening chapter. The clunky exposition in this first chapter is not especially worse than the lame exposition sections in some (not all) of the other books in the series. But I felt shocked and insulted at the way O'Brian uses this gimmicky introduction to off-handedly mention the death of one of the most important characters in the series. I seriously wondered if I had the books out of order and had missed a volume between the previous one and The Hundred Days. I continued on through the book, expecting some sort of dealing with this death by one or more of the other characters who should've been quite affected. But this grieving is mostly absent, other than some vague references here and there. I just don't understand this at all, and I felt cheated.

The end of the novel features another unexpected death, also of a beloved character (though not as significant as the death just before the story's opening). And again, characters who ought to have been very affected by this death seem to feel very little.

It's a shame that this strange lack of emotion mars a story that otherwise I found interesting enough. The political intrigue is nicely done in this one, if similar to other missions Stephen and Jack have already accomplished. The story could have been at least on par with the books in the second half of the series, if only O'Brian had allowed some real emotion, given some urgency and necessity to this book as a whole. But without that urgency, the book feels cold and unnecessary.

The gimmick of having Stephen ask questions in order to teach the reader something continues to wear thin. At some moments, he actually seems to have learned something about life at sea, but then he'll ask some question that surely he must have asked before. After all these years sailing with Jack, can Stephen really not yet have figured out the payment of prize money?? Come on.

So now on to the final finished book of the series, with hopes for something more substantial than The Hundred Days.

My reviews of the Aubrey/Maturin series:

Master and Commander

Post Captain

H.M.S. Surprise

The Mauritius Command

Desolation Island

The Fortune of War

The Surgeon's Mate

The Ionian Mission

Treason's Harbour

The Far Side of the World

The Reverse of the Medal

The Letter of Marque

The Thirteen-Gun Salute

The Nutmeg of Consolation

Clarissa Oakes

The Wine-Dark Sea

The Commodore

The Yellow Admiral

The Hundred Days

Blue at the Mizzen

21

bdhoffmeister's review against another edition

3.0

Like all the Aubrey-Maturin novels, The Hundred Days took me a little bit to get into with its very particular language style and nautical jargon. O'Brian's matter-of-fact storytelling works against the story through a lot of the first two-thirds of the book, underplaying some things that should be emotional (Stephen's reaction to Diana's death) or dramatic (Stephen and Jacob's mission to find the Dey of Algiers). The final battle, however, is riveting and cinematic, making me continue to wish they had made more movies out of this series. Overall, not my favorite of O'Brian's, but still enjoyable.

michael5000's review against another edition

4.0

What an amazing voyage it has been. It's kind of heartbreaking that it's almost over.

alexsiddall's review against another edition

4.0

read for 2nd time - first read 2010 (?). I'd given this 2 stars on first recording it on goodreads, but I must say on rereading that I found it as good as any in the Aubrey/Maturin series - almost. A certain plot point (why the treasure is needed) was reiterated 3 or 4 times, and I can't really understand the heavy-handedness of this emphasis, as O'Brian's touch is usually much lighter, except where summarizing earlier events ('Previously on HMS Surprise...'). But I found this as gripping and entertaining as ever, full of lively historical detail and believable incident, romantic but not sentimental. It would be so easy to go straight from this book to the next in the series, and so on round and round - but perhaps part of the pleasure is that these books are so congenial especially in comparison with almost anything else I read.

0xb04t's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.0

doodlebuginarug's review against another edition

adventurous funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

bowienerd_82's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

2.5

mbondlamberty's review against another edition

4.0

A good read but not as good as others in the series. A bit contrived at time and not enough time spent on the feelings side of the equation but still a fast read with plenty of action.

siria's review against another edition

3.0

Not him at his best, I think. O' Brian's very clearly tired at this point, and I think writing just in order to spend more time with the characters, rather than in order to say anything new about them. Still eminently readable, of course, but there's a certain spark that's lacking—not to mention the fact that he elided over the departures of two major characters in a way which made my eyebrows shoot up. There's British reticence, and there's that.

I will confess, on a shallower note, to having derived much fangirlish amusement from the crossover potential at having Jack and Stephen sailing to the Ragusa Vecchio, in the company of a Lieutenant Turnbull, while playing music by the Czech composer Zelenka. *g*