Master and Commander

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun
Review: If you can read English and have your heart where it should be, there's no reason why you shouldn't like this book. In fact, you will probably love it, and the whole series that follows too. Smooth sailing all the way - unputdownable. Good story, wonderful characters and true "feel" for the times and places. O'Brian's use of language is pure joy and often very funny, like when he makes some of his characters talk in their own special way. Go on, read them all.

Rating:
Summary: A bit of work, but it's worth it
Review: This book is the first of the Aubrey-Maturin series and is the logical place to start if you're hoping to jump into their world. The plot is not, however, the plot of the movie by the same name. The movie draws bits and pieces from several books, mostly later in the series.

Master and Commander (heck, the whole series) is not light reading. O'Brien challenges you with realistic nautical terminology and speech patterns and word choices of the time. The terminology may throw you a bit at first. Just the names of the sails takes thought initially. Little by little, though, you get the names of the masts and the sails (whose names are linked to their location) come right along. It's like learning a new language. Without realizing it one day, you're reading along following a rollicking scene without once pausing to figure out a word. A lot of the colloquialisms can actually be worked out from context.

Ok, that said, Master and Commander (and the subsequent books) are WONDERFUL stories. The characters are vivid and feel real. O'Brien's writing is rich - you can almost smell the salt and tar. Aubrey isn't a one dimensional hero, this guy makes mistakes. He's confident and capable when at the helm, but on land it's a whole other ball game.

Invest a bit of time and get into this series. It's worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Reading
Review: I recieved this book on Friday afternoon and finished it on Sunday morning. Patrick O'Brian's writing is superb. His characters and there relationships held me spellbound. Especially the secret of Dr. Mauratin and Lt. Dillon. Well rounded and exciting reading. I read Captain Blood and Lord Johnny when I was a boy and thought nothing could ever capture my imagination like that again, I was wrong. I cannot wait to finish Post Captain the next book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly written, a must-read for everyone!
Review: Outstanding plot, excellent characters, and a historical accuracy make this first Aubrey/Maturin novel (not to mention the other 19) a favorite in my collection. A true MUST-READ for anyone!

Rating:
Summary: A Master Writer
Review: I was lent this book by a friend and struggled to get into it. `Not my type of book I thought' but I persevered and by the end of book two, Post Captain I was well and truly hooked. The period writing is stunning in it's realism, the characters with all their human traits and failings are so real you feel that he is writing about people that actually extisted. I used to eagerly await each book and was really diappointed when I finally came to the last page of the last book. I plan on buying my own set of the Aubrey-Maturin books and to start reading them all over again. If you struggle with the first book - do yourself a favour and stick with it.

Rating:
Summary: Engrossing but difficult
Review: Master & Commander, the first in Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series, on which the movie loosley based, is an excellenet book. It is, however, not the easiest reading and not the kind most people will breeze through. In order to maintain authenticity, O'Brien tried to follow the actual speech of the day, which means that he uses a lot of vocabulary not used in modern English. Add in all the nautical terms, and it can be daunting, even for a well-read person (O'Brien tries to alleviate this problem partially by having a nautically-ignorant doctor ask a series of questions the answers to which explain some of the terms relating to parts of the ship).

The popularity of these books is due to O'Brien's rare talent for writing the way he does. When you read through narratives discussing the thoughts, actions or conversations of the main characters, you really feel you are there with them, on the ship (or wherever), in their early 19th century. And because there are relatively few fiction works dealing with the subject matter, O'Brien's writing is quite singular.

So this is not an easy read, but I suggest you try it.

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.