A review by neilrcoulter
The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian

5.0

Ah, to dip into the Aubrey/Maturin story again--the evening musical improvisations, the toasted cheese, the morning pot of coffee from Killick... It's halfway through the series now, and the characters, settings, and plot devices are like comfortable old friends. [b:The Far Side of the World|672492|The Far Side of the World (Aubrey/Maturin, #10)|Patrick O'Brian|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388360954s/672492.jpg|19475] is one of my favorite volumes so far. It's possible that [a:Patrick O'Brian|5600|Patrick O'Brian|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1212630063p2/5600.jpg] by this point was feeling that the series didn't have much time left--as he points out in his introduction, he is running out of days left in the war--and so he packs Book 10 with a great number of interesting scenes. Most memorable is probably the marooning in the Pacific, by a boatload of anti-male Polynesian women. But the whole story is a thrill, guided by a single chase across the world, through every kind of climate and weather, with more ups and downs within the Surprise's own crew than ever before. Much of the book was a real test of the fan's patience, as Aubrey's luck continues to be poor; but the ending promises (yet again) a possible change of fortune for Jack. I found the last hundred pages or so of this one impossible to put down; and though I love the Aubrey/Maturin series, that is not always the case with all parts of all the books.

The characters continue to grow and develop realistically. Stephen (who may, humorously, be leaving one addictive substance for another one) has a few moments of contemplating what his duplicitous past has done to his character:

'The Odyssey is a fine tale, sure, though I never could cordially like Ulysses: he lied excessively, it seems to me; and if a man lies beyond a certain point a sad falseness enters into him and he is no longer amiable.' Stephen spoke with some feeling: his work in intelligence had called for a great deal of duplicity--perhaps too much.

I love reading a novel by a master wordsmith--an author who, for example, uses the word "enormity" to mean "an act of heinous atrociousness" instead of "really big." The historical archaisms are, as always, great fun to decipher, especially when the reader can trust that the author is fully in control of the language. It's a rare treat.

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
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