Reviews

I'm afraid that right now I have to DNF this book. I wanted to read more about the age of sail after finishing "The Wager" at the end of last year, but this book was tough. For me, right now, the book was rather dense and demanded quite a bit from the reader, including a well known knowledge of ships. To give the book credit, the edition I have contains a diagram of a ship in the front, but I still often found myself confused by what was exactly happening.

I do want to complete this book at some time, but I think it's going to be after reading another age of sail series to which I hope to gain a better understanding of ships. Once I have that, I do believe that I would enjoy this book.

I will not give the book a star rating because I don't think that's fair to the author. I just wanted to state my reasons for not finishing at this time.

allie_shu's review against another edition

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adventurous funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

loont's review against another edition

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4.0

What to say about it? To call it a character driven story is fair, and yet must also mention that the characters herein are not the usual emotionally resonant type of character found in many other novels. The story, and series, revolve round a friendship on the early nineteenth century high seas. Set between a stern and stoic Captain in the British navy with a love of the sea, though at this, the beginning he is younger and somewhat more lively. And his great friend, a quiet and often unassuming physician and naturalist.

To call two often stoic characters characters, passionate about their own technicalities of sailing and naturalism respectively, emotionally resonant for most people would be a lie. But as a programmer and science geek myself, I find both perfectly well and relatable, and so their friendship has throughout the series (I'm up to the sixth book) been engaging throughout.

Not to say that their friendship is the only driving thing. Historical accuracy, with technical accuracy included throughout, is present and if you enjoy it then you may find yourself enjoying this book throughout. But the best parts, and when both this and any subsequent novel really get going for me, are the battles. Few in history have ever written of the chaos of battle in such an enticing and engaging manner as O'Brian, and while the buildup to them takes all the time it needs in coming it still comes with a fell swoop and enough bang to make you cheer out loud. And even the battles are accurate, well researched and based on actual events as they are, which knowing that they are perfectly plausible makes their sheer often nigh unbelievable heights and audacity all the funner to engage in.

sabrielsbell's review against another edition

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SOOOO much ship terminology that I could not have cared less about. I wanted action but it took 90 pages for the ship to leave the dock and then it was still all jargon. I kept skimming paragraphs looking for something to latch onto and hoping for action. I decided to put it down finally at page 130 when the actions started and I was still somewhat confused by the language.

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