Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am very disappointed with Dean King's efforts here. Where is this great prodigy of maps that the book seems to promise? Much of the book is taken up with summaries of PO'B's novels. If I want to know what happened in the books I will read them, I don't need to pay 21 American dollars for that. And most of the content that is not summary is written descriptions entitled 'Here and There'. Can Mr. King possibly think his accounts will succeed in enabling we hopeless lubbers to comprehend intricate harbors and locations where the great O'Brian's have not? In the Post Captain chapter, do we find a map of Chaulieu where Aubrey fights the Polychrest until she sinks under him? No we do not. This book should be filled cover to cover with detailed charts and maps. It falls far and sadly short of expectations. I urge anyone not having been duped into purchasing it already to refrain from doing so.
Rating: 
Summary: An Amazing Guide to the Aubrey/Maturin Series
Review: I just loved this companion to the Aubrey/Maturin series. I loved the quick and informative discussions of winds and currents and ships and the historical context. Nothing to do with ships and sails is familiar to me. I love the series for its human historicity and Patrick O'Brian's prose, among the most graceful ever written. While reading the first few books, I went back time and again to figure out which sails went where and lees from larboards. I take the point of some reviewers that they could have done with a few more maps and a bit more historical and technical material instead of the plot summaries, but I disagree. Because I chose not to rush through the series in a couple of months, but instead read them slowly over several years, I enjoyed going back and reading through the summaries before I began each installment. "Harbors and High Seas" added immeasurably to my enjoyment of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Bravo to Dean King for the research and the passion that he clearly has for the novels.
Rating: 
Summary: In search of Ashgrove cottage.
Review: I recently visited the village of Buriton in England. If you will recall, Stephen Maturin takes the London post-chaise here and walks over the downs to Ashgrove Cottage. Unlike Maturin, before setting out, I ate a ñfull-cookedî English breakfast--two eggs sunny side up, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, ham and toast and two plump sausages, in addition to a pot of tea--at the Master RobertsÍ Inn. After visiting the flint-walled Norman church, I climbed a narrow, muddy lane--flushing a covey of quail as I walked
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible Companion
Review: I'm now on book 7 of the Aubrey-Maturin series, and have only had my Companion for the last 2...how much it adds to the joy and the education. The best part of the companion is the maps, with clearly marked routes taken by Lucky Jack's vessels. O'Brian's description of Aubrey passing by Elsinore while Jack describes his role in Hamlet as a young midshipman comes alive with both the map and the picture of Elsinore. As well, eliminating the frustration of trying to determine what is fiction (Grimsholm) from what is not (Admiral Suamarez) greatly adds to the historical learnings.The only downside to having this companion is the irresistable temptation to read ahead...the plot lines of the first 17 books are all given in general outline. As O'Brian readers know, however, much of the joy is as much in the characterization and writing as in the plot line. So, even if you do look ahead, it in all likelihood only will increase your desire to move on to the next book....I personally can hardly wait to get to Treason's Harbour and the mood that O'Brian will create around historic Malta. If you love maps, though, and have always used them to add a visual learning dimension and reference to the words, you can't possibly read the books without it. In closing, I guess I should add the warning that as addictive as these books are, they become even more addictive with the companion. Beware!
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent companion to the Aubrey-Martin books
Review: If you enjoy the Aubrey-Maturin books as I did (and I read almost nothing else for several months), you will find this book an excellent reference aid. At times I found the geography in the books difficult to follow. The maps in Dean King's companion set forth with excellent clarity where Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin have been and when they were there. Although I found Dean King's lexicon (his other book) more helpful, I would nonetheless recommend this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Companion to the Canon
Review: If you're like most Americans, you have trouble finding London on an unlabeled map, let alone Pula Prabang. Dean King's book will give you the lowdown on each and every historical locale our two heroes visit.
Rating:
Summary: Harbors and Hgh Seas
Review: It's a great book and the maps are a huge help in following the details of the stories, as well as for general reference of the period. However, I would give it five stars if it were in hardback. Too many of the charts and maps are split down the middle and the soft cover type of binding used (it is called a "perfect binding" in bookbinder's jargon, although it really isn't) makes the center portion of the split maps and charts quite impossible to read. This is extremely frustrating
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars!- absolutely!
Review: My hat goes off to Dean King for Harbours. It is an excellent book that is extremely helpful when navigating Patrick O'Brian's novels. Keep them coming Dean!
Rating:
Summary: A superb sidekick for Aubrey/Maturin prettied to the nines
Review: My previous review of Harbors and High Seas, found a couple of reviews below this one, was for the 1996 edition. So if you want my opinion of it, just scroll down a short way. This 1999 update is well worth buying even if you have the first one. Of course, it embraces more titles of the series. But King and cohorts have spent some worthy time enlarging what was already there. For just one example, the new edition has a biographical sketch of Lord Cochrane, the real fighting captain that Aubrey is patterned after. It was Cochrane, as captain of the little 16-gun Speedy, who captured the 36-gun Spanish ship that is the Cacafuego in the novel. Cochrane believed that anything shocking, out of the ordinary, was a valuable battle strategy. So he had his men blacken their faces and swarmed aboard the superior ship screaming bloody murder, exactly as Aubrey did. Cochrane, like Aubrey, fell afoul of real-life jealousies and suffered the considerable consequences. It seems that military commanders with blood and guts run chills of jealousy up the spines of their more timid counterparts, and so find themselves in hot water. A modern example is Gen. George Patton -- he made too many other generals (Viscount Montgomery for one) appear hung up on dead center while he blasted full-speed ahead. The new version of Harbors etc. bears a fine original cover painting by Geoff Hunt, who illustrated all the covers of the O'Brian sea stories. Aubrey/Maturin fans who already have the 1966 version will find this a worthy addition. Those who don't -- well, how are you to learn what o'clock it is, Mate?
Rating:
Summary: A splendid sidekick to have along with Aubrey & Maturin
Review: Once in awhile just the right writer comes along for a critical assignment, and this time it is Dean King, accompanied by some other worthy contributors. A globe isn't nearly enough when you're sailing, fighting, surviving and adventuring with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and it mattered not to me that King had to wait until there were sufficient chapters in O'Brian's incredible series (one that I look upon as one great, great book with 19 chapters) to form an adequate foundation for Harbors and High Seas, for I read them over and over and King's guide makes the repeat servings even more delightful. Now as I travel the world in the O'Brian series I know where I am and where I've been -- and often where I'm going. The maps are outstanding (I always thought a map here and there in the novels themselves was called for), and King's narrative takes me ashore in places all over the aquatic world to round out my adventures with my favorite literary characters. The old pictures from The Naval Chronicle are worthy -- and thoughtful -- additions to the whole fine work. I guess I'll be reading Aubrey/Maturin books forever, and with Harbors and High Seas right at hand. Too bad the guide had to end with The Commodore but, hey, I'm not complaining. I'm happy for what's here. Thanks to King, too, for his lexicon, A Sea of Words. That was the finishing touch for the O'Brian addict that I am -- I want to KNOW what a studding sail is, a snow (for I, like Maturin, thought a "snow" must be a white ship), the mainchains (not "chains" at all), the messenger (definitely not a means by which you might get a message to Garcia) . . . A tip of the hat and a warm thank you to Dean King and his cohorts: John B. Hattendorf, J. Worth Estes, and mapmakers William Clipson and Adam Merton Cooper. It is truly wonderful that this incredible series of historical novels has inspired these indispensible accompaniments. There is also the volume edited by A.E. Cunningham, "Patrick O'Brian: Critical Essays and a Bibliography" which belongs on the shelf with every O'Brian fan's collection. These books about O'Brian's books are a further testimony to the greatness of them -- they stood tall on their own, it's only that they're even more robust now. Doug Briggs
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