Master and Commander

Rating:
Summary: A Great Beginning
Review: As a history(and military history) buff, I am a sucker for historical novels. Master and Commander (and all of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels) rates up there with best military history novels written by the likes of Michael and Jeffrey Shaara (Rise to Rebellion, The Glorious Cause, Gone For Soldiers, Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, The Last Full Measure) and Gore Vidal (Burr, Lincoln, 1876).

Any reader can discern that O'Brian had a comprehensive knowledge of tall ships sailing, British naval history and the Napoleonic era. However, O'Brian's references to art, science, period medicine and then-current politics demonstrate that he had performed painstaking research in numerous disciplines to flesh out this (and his other) books.

Extremely well written, O'Brian uses several techniques that make the books more interesting to the reader than standard, straightforward prose presented in a chronologically correct manner. He effectively uses flashbacks (principally through the entries in Mataurin's journals and Aubrey's letters), and period langauge that makes the reader think (or look up vocabulary). If you get hooked on O'Brian's books (as I did), you will no doubt want to invest in one of the several available companion reference books (such as A Sea of Words [King]; Jack Aubrey Commands [Lavery] or Patrick O'Brian's navy [O'Neill])that help explain the numerous English words and phrases of the Naploenic era (nautical and otherwise) to 21st century readers who may be unfamiliar with them.

What makes the books especially riveting is that O'Brian used actual ships' logs and other primary historical resource documents to help him create his stories - substituting in the Jack Aubrey character for the actual Captains and officers who lived the actual (or similar) events.

Readers who fail to gain a thorough understanding about life in Nelson's navy, British warships, the men sho sailed them (from all classes) and their hard life, have only themselves to blame. If you read Master and Commander, you'll likely get caught up in the series as I did. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A towering accomplishment, not just a good genre book
Review: First, let me say that this review is really more about the entire Aubrey-Maturn series than this particular book. But it really must be so; you would be missing out on a fantastic experience if you read only this first book. You wouldn't read just the first book of The Lord of the Rings, would you? Then don't even consider just reading this book without reading at least a few others in the series (this is really just a clever subterfuge on my part; once you read 2 or 3 of the books, you won't be able to stop until you've read the entire series!).

There are lots of literary niches, or genres. Spy novels, horror novels, romances, detective stories, etc. It would be damning this series with faint praise to extol it simply in terms of it being about naval warfare in the early 1800's.

In fact, when I first saw this series (an intimidating 20 volumes), I thought "how many ways are there of describing a broadside?" Oh, how little I knew...

It's true that this series features rollicking adventure, but it includes so much more: a deep, complex relationship between the two main characters, political intrigue, espionage, and so much more. It is so much richer and more wonderfully complex even than Forester's much-beloved Horatio Hornblower series.

Some authors find success with a particular style of book, and basically crank out volume after volume of basically the same story. How ironic it is, then, that in this long series featuring the same characters that there is such variety!

One warning: there is a lot of naval jargon in the books. It can be off-putting at first, but don't let it discourage you. It is really just the "background noise" of the story, much like the legal jargon in a courtroom drama. That said, I strongly recommend the purchase of "A Sea of Words" by Dean King as a companion book. I have found that it enhanced my enjoyment of this series.

Be warned: after experiencing the incredible character development, rich detail, and brilliant plots of this series, you will be less tolerant of much of the drivel that passes for good writing nowadays.

One final comment: even if O'Brian had simply made up the historical events and details of daily shipboard life, it would be a terrific read. The fact that he did painstaking research worthy of a world-class historian, and that he often dropped his fictional characters smack-dab in the middle of historically accurate events just adds an extral layer of amazement and wonder to my appreciation of these superb stories.