A review by alexsiddall
The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian

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.