Rating: 
Summary: He's not Grisham or Clancy--he's better!
Review: You can't read just one of these books, because you really want to absorb the whole series. They are a fascinating look at the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, accurate and detailed, using actual accounts and records as source material. Post Captain Jack Aubrey and his surgeon Stephen Maturin are realistic men, not Rambo-type heroes who can keep slugging and hanging from cliffs while suffering dire injuries. They have their human faults, but are wonderful companions in a wide variety of (mostly nautical) adventures. Okay, sometimes there's more talking and introspection than action. A lot more. Did you ever read "Moby Dick"? If you need to have the protagonist's life threatened every 10 pages, read some predictable male escapist fiction--there's plenty of that around. I don't have much patience with writers who keep cranking out the same book over and over, making money from the millions of readers who are slaves to an author's name on the cover. Like Harlequin romances and that ilk, the stuff you see in airport bookstores. O'Brian is different--his books are always new and interesting, and one story leads to the next in a very natural manner. The series is a protracted adventure on the high seas, with a couple of likable companions and the rest of their crew. The books are quick reads, easy to hold. Or you can do as I do and get the audio version, narrated by Patrick Tull, who interprets his characters wonderfully.
Rating: 
Summary: Not an original plot
Review: The plot of this novel is taken from the autobiography of Admiral Lord Cochrane, first published in 1860. The events included describe Cochrane's activities when he commanded the Speedy from 1800-1801 (see "the Autobiography of a Seaman," by Admiral Lord Cochrane, republished in 2000 by Lyons Press). O'Brien has replaced Cochrane with the fictional James Aubrey, giving him a similar personality. While O'Brien has given more color to the story, there is absolutely nothing significant that is original to the plot. I have to agree with a recent reviewer that the novel describes a lot of action without having a central plot. The second book in the series, "Post Captain," seems to be a more original story, but many of O'Brien's novels seem to have taken significant amounts of material from earlier writers (without acknowledging that fact).
Rating: 
Summary: Alas I had to run up the white flag
Review: I wanted to like this book, I really did. I was excited at the prospect of starting a 20 book series of swashbuckling adventure. Now I wouldn't read the remaining books if you made me walk the plank! I rarely cast aside a book before I finish it but when I reached page 280 and still hadn't come across a significant plot point it was time to run this ship aground. While it was interesting to read about life at sea in that age, an accomplished author would have found a way to do it and tell a story at the same time. Mr. O'Brian could have learned a thing or two from James Clavell.
Rating:
Summary: Master and Commander
Review: This series of books are all one could hope for. They provide an accurate in-depth, well written description of the world during Napoleons quest for dominance. They were a bit difficult for me to get into due to the unfamiliar language. Once I became familiar with the characters I was constantly reading, devouring book after book. Not only do these books offer a glimpse of the past, they describe the trials and tribulations which we face today in one form or another. Charactar development is superlative as is the storyline.
Rating:
Summary: If you like C. S. Forester, you will love O'Brian.
Review: Master and Commander is the first book in Patrick O'Brian's much lauded Aubrey/Maturin series. Like C.S. Forester, O'Brian sets this novel (along with the rest of the series) in the tumultuous years of the Nepoleonic Wars and likewise, O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin serve in Great Britian's Royal Navy. However, unlike Forester, O'Brian's frequent confrontation of the seemer side of naval warfare as well as Georgian society render his tales far more grittier and therefore, much more true to life. Furthermore, O'Brian's skillful combination of nineteenth century custom, language, and historical events makes these tales absolutely engaging in their overall sense of realism. You can taste the salt permiating the air, feel the cold sea spray blowing in your face, hear the thunderous roar and see the brilliant flash of cannon and smell the acrid powder smoke as it stings your nostrils.
As for the characters themselves, Jack Aubrey is the ingratiatingly sanguineous and impulsive Commander of H.M.S. Sophie who's impolitic and indiscrete shoreside antics continually taint his otherwise brilliant nautical career. Counterbalancing Aubrey is H.M.S. Sophie's surgeon, the eminent Dr. Steven Maturin who is possessed of a wonderfully melancholic and self-abusive nature. Both protaginists are made all the more fascinating for their individual peccadillos. In Master and Commander, Aubrey and Maturin embark on a series of lively adventures, which take place on both the land and the sea. The result of these increasingly enthralling encounters is the open revelation of their particular strengths along with the uncompromisng exposure of their peculiar weaknesses. Meanwhile, a solid foundation is laid for what becomes, in subsequent books, perhaps one of the most intriguing friendships in all of literature.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for land-lubbers
Review: I had heard a lot of good thing about O'Brian and his series of naval adventures, so on a whim, I decided to check him out, and appropriately, to start at book one. What I found was a book that has a lot to recommend it, but not one that appeals to my particular tastes. Master and Commander is an episodic tale that introduces Captain Jack Aubrey and the various people in his life. Aubrey, the main character, is not an easy person to like: he is a borderline mercenary and pirate, more ambitious than patriotic and not overly bright outside of naval matters. I suppose he matures as the series goes on, but I don't know if I'll stick around to find out. The essential flaw in the book is its reliance on naval terminology. While this adds an important level of verisimilitude, it also makes the story more inaccessible to those unfamiliar with these concepts. There is some explaining, but a lot is left for the reader to figure out. On the plus side, O'Brian does tell a good overall story, both simultaneously old-fashioned in style and modern in the things he depicts. Nonetheless, I cannot give this work more than three stars, as his weaknesses offset his strengths. For fans of naval adventure, I am sure that this story would rate higher, but for others, this book is likely to try your patience.
Rating:
Summary: Read The Whole Series.
Review: A few years ago, after the New York Times Book Review article on Patrick O'Brian and his Aubrey/Maturin series, I picked up Master and Commander and decided to give it a try. I found it difficult but fascinating. Unfortunately, the difficult part was greater than the fascinating part. I was constantly trying to figure out what sail he was talking about and wishing I understood nautical terms better. I made it through the book, felt it was worth the effort, but lacked the will to move on. A couple of years later, I read HMS Surprise and found it a bit easier and increasingly fulfilling. Over the next couple of years, I read a few more. Early this year, I decided to start over again and read Master and Commander in conjunction with listening to it in the Patrick Tull audio version. I read more than listened, but found the combination to be compelling. I've sat in my garage many times after coming home and listened till the end of a chapter. Today, I'm in the midst of no. 19 in the series, with only Blue at the Mizzen waiting. It has been one of the most rewarding literary exercises of my life. While the battle scenes are brilliant, they're really the backdrop for a much greater story. The real story of this series is the friendship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. And in reality, O'Brian didn't write twenty novels, he wrote one long one--he merely broke them up so that mere mortals would be willing to read them. The plots are often ingenious, but the Aubrey/Maturin series is far more focused on the characters, beginning of course with Aubrey and Maturin. But each other character is sui generis--absolutely unique, as real humans are. There's not a stick figure in the bunch. Some of my favorites: Preserved Killick (the only manservants with greater claims to fame may be Jeeves and Sam Weller), Barrett Bonden, Diana Villiers, Sophie, Mrs. Williams, etc. etc. But in the end, the story comes down to the love of two good friends for each other. Read the whole series in order and you'll be greatly rewarded.
Rating:
Summary: A very human sort of hero . . .
Review: It's interesting to compare Commander Jack Aubrey to Horatio Hornblower and Richard Bolitho, whom I have long considered the most successful fictional naval heroes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Actually, Aubrey is only nominally a "hero," being a much more human individual than the other two. In fact, while a notable seaman and a resourceful tactician, in many other respects he can be a thoughtless and blundering dunderhead, down on Whigs and Catholics, and with a tendency to be led by his own bowsprit where the ladies are concerned. But O'Brian certainly has invented a fully rounded character and put the reader inside his head. Even more interesting, though, is Dr. Stephen Maturin, a creature of the Enlightenment, reared in Catalonia -- physician, natural scientist, Irish ex-revolutionary, and, in the later books, secret intelligence agent for the British government. Maturin is worldly, liberal, and fearless in expressing his opinion, though he also has his narrownesses. He also is an absolute naif when it comes to marine matters, which makes him an excellent foil for whose benefit (as well as the reader's) everything must be explained. The greatest difference between O'Brian and his predecessors, perhaps, is this author's narrative style which (not even counting the nautical jargon) makes much heavier use than most of the idiom and cant of the day. It never becomes un-understandable, though. But I do have a small complaint: Now that O'Brian is gone, we shall never know the details of Aubrey's earlier career, to which some fascinating and intriguing references are made here.
Rating:
Summary: SImply Outstanding
Review: Some years ago George Will wrote a column on this series, highly recommending it. I read this book, the first in the series, and I was hooked. A few months later I had finished all twenty books, though I admit I did not read much else in that time. A few months ago started rereading the series, and again found this novel to be a great read. Last week I read the first few paragraphs to my wife, and completed the book a third time a few days later. I really have little interest in the historical period, it's the characters and stories (typically based on real events) that drew me in. The technical terms are really unnecessary to grasping the story, you can be as much of a lubber as Stephen Maturin himself and enjoy all of the book. The characters are memorable, the book is rich in humor and the writing is superb. I read all but the first book (this one) compliments of the local library, but I now own the entire series in hardcover. Try the series. This is the place to start. If you don't enjoy it you've wasted one book. If you fail to read this, however, you risk missing out on the most enjoyable series you can find.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazingly detailed and realistic
Review: I first saw mention of this faux historical series by Patrick O'Brian in the Common Reader catalog. Faux historical? I guess that's what to call it. O'Brian is historically realistic while using entirely fictional main characters, who may meet and interact with real historical figures. This is different from novels such as Robert Graves' I, Claudius or the Alexander novels of Mary Renault. While O'Brian's characters may not have the basis that Graves' or Renault's do, I wonder if he perhaps is the more realistic. This may be because O'Brian has much more historical documentation to work with. We simply know much more about the period of sailing ships and kings than we do about triremes and emperors. Graves' Claudius, although a reed in the wind of Roman politics, is still a very heroic figure; O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, although heroic, seem much more like real people. This is the opening book in the series (the sixteenth, The Wine-Dark Sea, just came out in hardcover) and sets the characters and stage. The title refers to Jack Aubrey, who is named Master and Commander (a step below Captain, yet in charge of a single ship) of the sloop Sophie as the story opens. Aubrey has a few character flaws, including being hot-headed and slightly indiscrete, and this has made for him a few enemies. The other main character is Stephen Maturin, who becomes the Sophie's ship surgeon, even though he is over-qualified for the job (as he is an actual doctor, and most ship surgeons of the time weren't). He shares with Aubrey some basic characteristics--a sense of honor, a love of fine food and music, and a real need for money. Maturin also has a past that, like Aubrey's, contributes a few enemies as well. But the character stuff, as good as it is and necessary to make this book work, is just icing on the cake. The fun here, and what got me interested in it when it recently became a topic of discussion on rec.arts.books, is the sea. The description of life aboard and off ship, in a land filled with merchantmen and warships, where loyalty to country is primary, but taking a heavy prize can make your name, the strategy of sea battles and the lonliness of like aboard ship. I've always been a sucker for pirate stories, and this is just the more honor-filled side. Needless to say, I expect I'll be reading the next fifteen books in the series and looking forward to O'Brian writing even more (I wrote this originally back in 1993; O'Brian wrote four more in this series before his death).
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