Reviews

Another great installment from the Aubrey-Maturin series. Here the War of 1812 has broken out and we find Aubrey & Maturin prisoners captured by the Americans. A good chunk of the book takes place in Boston, crawling with American-allied French, where Maturin deals with enemy French spies and runs into the love of his life, but there are still a couple of very exciting naval battles. I was struck in this book by the violence and ubiquity of death, both at sea and on land. Death in these books is sometimes casual and sometimes tragic, but there is plenty of it. This book is again so, so funny and delightful and gripping. I was reading part of it waiting for a doctor's appointment and I was so engrossed that I literally started and couldn't quite remember where I was when they called my name.

greybeard49's review against another edition

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5.0

My second time round for this series by O'Brian. I've run out of superlatives for the man - BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BRILLIANT - quality of the writing - characterisation - dialogue - storyline -
Read this series - you will be astonished at how wonderful these books are.

fredosbrother's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.0

lekakis's review against another edition

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3.0

Not the greatest so far, and felt kind of lazy. And it’s pretty racist as well

matteo_of_eld's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lindajanebob's review against another edition

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adventurous

5.0

adrianasturalvarez's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

Here the story continues in an arc of misfortune for our heroes and this volume has everything: spy plots, at sea action, Americans, everything. And all the while O'Brian sets his epic story apart from other genre works with incredibly well crafted prose, and vulnerable characters the reader has gotten to know well from the start of the series.

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