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A review by andydavidsmith76
The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian
3.0
The Mauritius Command remains my least favorite entry from the early Patrick O'Brian novels. I didn't find it all that memorable through my first reading of the canon, and this second reading via audio book did nothing to change my mind, despite Patrick Tull's excellent narration. It's kind of a red-headed stepchild in the narrative, fitting neither into the loose trilogy of the first three books, nor into the longer arc that begins in Desolation Island.
The writing also takes a step back here. Don't get me wrong; average O'Brian is still a heck of a lot better than of lot of other writers best offerings. But I think the literary quality of The Mauritius Command is not as good when compared to the two novels that preceded it. The characters begin to flatten out here, becoming just slightly more caricatures of themselves. For instance, it's in this novel that Stephen Maturin develops his landlubberly habit of falling into the sea every time he gets in or out of a ship. It comes out of nowhere and actually contradicts developments of the first three books which show Stephen slowly becoming more comfortable at sea.
The writing also takes a step back here. Don't get me wrong; average O'Brian is still a heck of a lot better than of lot of other writers best offerings. But I think the literary quality of The Mauritius Command is not as good when compared to the two novels that preceded it. The characters begin to flatten out here, becoming just slightly more caricatures of themselves. For instance, it's in this novel that Stephen Maturin develops his landlubberly habit of falling into the sea every time he gets in or out of a ship. It comes out of nowhere and actually contradicts developments of the first three books which show Stephen slowly becoming more comfortable at sea.