Post Captain
Ratings26
Average rating4.1
“If Jane Austen had written rousing sea yarns, she would have produced something very close to the prose of Patrick O'Brian.” —Time It’s 1802. The Treaty of Amiens has brought an end to the hostilities between Great Britain and France. Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, naval surgeon Stephen Maturin, are enjoying the respite in the English countryside, besotted with two beautiful cousins, Sophie Williams and Diana Villiers—until Aubrey loses his fortune and they flee to France to escape his creditors. While in France, Napoleon smashes the Peace of Amiens and war begins anew. Aubrey and Maturin, now finding themselves behind enemy lines, make their way back to England. Maturin is sent to Spain on an intelligence-gathering mission and the now-solvent Aubrey assumes command of a strange warship, pursuing his quarry straight into the mouth of a French-held harbor. Amidst the rollicking adventures at sea and mishaps on land, Aubrey and Maturin’s friendship is tested by their romantic entanglements with the cousins in this brilliant second installment of the epic series.
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Still good on a re-read. I started my second time through in audio but gave up on that at about the 20% mark and switched to text. I found that the early 19th century English and nautical terminology were sometimes difficult to follow aurally. YMMV.
This book reads like about 50% swashbuckling sea adventure and 50% historical romance. Some parts are quite humorous, especially when Jack is evading the “Bums” who are aiming to take him by force and put him in debtor's prison. And Jack's and Stephen's various entanglements and adventures with the ladies are reminiscent of Jane Austin romances – but from the male side.
As the title implies, this is the book where Jack finally makes Post. (But not without difficulty.) It is also the story where Stephen comes into his own as a special agent (can we say “secret”?) for the Admiralty.
Solid four stars.
In which Patrick O'Brian starts with a hard swerve into Jane Austen territory, which took some getting used to. It does finally get back into the more familiar Life On The High Seas, but it had me concerned for a while. It appears O'Brian decided that he needed to expand his world-building to setup the ongoing series, so I'm going with it. As the series progresses, this is beginning to feel more like the story of Stephen Maturin, which I am perfectly happy about because frankly he has the far more interesting character development and storyline. Jack Aubrey, on the other hand, feels more like a big kid who just loves messing about on boats. Looking forward to the next one...
