Rating: 
Summary: O'Brien hits the doldrums with the 13th in the series
Review: Hitting this novel after sailing on a bowline through the previous 12 was like suddenly hitting the doldrums. It was very slow moving ahead at times, as the dialogue and description of the intrigue and negotiations of the treaty became painfully dull and tedious. And Maturin's side trip to the monkey shrine seemed like a device for O'Brien to test his mettle writing about fauna and flora--a digression within a digression. I finally got through it (things pick up again once they get out to sea), and am enjoying the Nutmeg of Consolation.
Rating:
Summary: O'Brien hits the doldrums with the 13th in the series
Review: Hitting this novel after sailing on a bowline through the previous 12 was like suddenly hitting the doldrums. It was very slow moving ahead at times, as the dialogue and description of the intrigue and negotiations of the treaty became painfully dull and tedious. And Maturin's side trip to the monkey shrine seemed like a device for O'Brien to test his mettle writing about fauna and flora--a digression within a digression. I finally got through it (things pick up again once they get out to sea), and am enjoying the Nutmeg of Consolation.
Rating: 
Summary: The Thirteen-Gun Salute
Review: I have read every book in order and this was one of the best. I would suggest like all the other reviewers to read the series starting with 1 and working through it. I am a sailor myself and the sea jargon is hard and the sometimes too much but the thrust of the story more then keeps you going. I was glad in this book to see the eventual demise of Wray and Ledward, which not clearly explained, was done none the less. Also I thought that some of Stephen's observations of Fox to be an insightfull look at human character. I am anxiously waiting for book 14,15,and 16 to come but also realize that I am getting closer to the end of the series. Overall a very good series and one that will keep you interested from the first book to which ever one you happen to be on at the moment.
Rating:
Summary: The Thirteen-Gun Salute
Review: I have read every book in order and this was one of the best. I would suggest like all the other reviewers to read the series starting with 1 and working through it. I am a sailor myself and the sea jargon is hard and the sometimes too much but the thrust of the story more then keeps you going. I was glad in this book to see the eventual demise of Wray and Ledward, which not clearly explained, was done none the less. Also I thought that some of Stephen's observations of Fox to be an insightfull look at human character. I am anxiously waiting for book 14,15,and 16 to come but also realize that I am getting closer to the end of the series. Overall a very good series and one that will keep you interested from the first book to which ever one you happen to be on at the moment.
Rating:
Summary: Pass the spleen, please, Doctor
Review: In terms of delineation of character and pure description of the sea -- at both of which O'Brian excells -- this thirteenth novel in the series is one of his best yet. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are off, finally, on their quasi-diplomatic voyage to South America -- but wait! The Admiralty suddenly needs them for a mission in one of the Malayan sultanates! Jack gets his commission and seniority back, he's given the Diane (which he captured in the last book), and he takes aboard another envoy (who rates thirteen guns, hence the title). The French are in Pulo Prabang, too, in the persons of the traitors Wray and Ledward, and Maturin has his hands full, but they come to a delightfully bonechilling end under the doctor's scalpel. And then there's that uncharted reef. . . .
Rating:
Summary: Aubrey-Maturin: Always a Pleasure
Review: Let's face it, if you made it this far in the Aubrey-Maturin series, you will definitely love this one. If The Thirteen-Gun Salute is your first encounter with the series, good choice (but, actually, they are all good). For those new to the series, the first chapter serves as an excellent summary of what has already transpired, and for those returning, it's a good review, in case you forgot something. The novel contains the usual entertaining mix of espionage, naval history, human relationships, food, music and humor. As expected, The Thirteen-Gun Salute is a completely enjoyable work by a talented author. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Aubrey-Maturin: Always a Pleasure
Review: Let's face it, if you made it this far in the Aubrey-Maturin series, you will definitely love this one. If The Thirteen-Gun Salute is your first encounter with the series, good choice (but, actually, they are all good). For those new to the series, the first chapter serves as an excellent summary of what has already transpired, and for those returning, it's a good review, in case you forgot something. The novel contains the usual entertaining mix of espionage, naval history, human relationships, food, music and humor. As expected, The Thirteen-Gun Salute is a completely enjoyable work by a talented author. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Diplomatic Mission
Review: O'Brian's fans, and surely it is his loyal fans who are reading this the thirteenth in his wonderful twenty-volume nautical series, will not be disappointed. "The Thirteen Gun Salute" makes, with its successor "The Nutmeg of Consolation", a nice two-volume subset within the larger series --not unlike "Treason's Harbour" / "Far Side of the World" the ninth and tenth in the series. For "Salute" is an extended diplomatic mission to present-day Indonesia that ends in a precarious position that will only be resolved in the next book. Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin take an ambassador in the HMS Diane, which readers will remember they took from the French in the preceding volume, to sign a treaty with a Malayan sultan. Along the way Maturin finds and satisfyingly deals with Ledward and Wray. (To the reviewer who doesn't quite understand what happened to the pair of traitors, suffice to recall that Ambassador Fox is an expert marksman.)O'Brian's intelligent and intimate prose is as strong as ever. His delightful dry humor and observations of human nature are perfectly insightful. Another excellent story.
Rating:
Summary: #3 on my All-Time Top 10
Review: One thing about the adventures of Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin: they're rich and strange, and none in the entire 20-book series is richer or stranger than this #13. After a false start, Aubrey and Maturin voyage to the island of Pulo Prabang in the East Indies, with intrigues, sea fights, cyclones, espionage, madness, and strange creatures abounding. My favorite episode occurs when Maturin takes a break from lethal political maneuvers against French agents to climb the 10,000 steps to the Buddhist shrine in the island's interior, and meets the orangutans who inhabit the area. Weird? You have no idea. . . But it's terrific fun, especially when the round-the-world voyage continues in the three books that follow, THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION, THE TRUELOVE (aka CLARISSA OAKES), and THE WINE-DARK SEA. Great, strange adventures, written in graceful 18th-century style prose with a ton of humor, wit, and insight.
Rating:
Summary: #3 on my All-Time Top 10
Review: One thing about the adventures of Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin: they're rich and strange, and none in the entire 20-book series is richer or stranger than this #13. After a false start, Aubrey and Maturin voyage to the island of Pulo Prabang in the East Indies, with intrigues, sea fights, cyclones, espionage, madness, and strange creatures abounding. My favorite episode occurs when Maturin takes a break from lethal political maneuvers against French agents to climb the 10,000 steps to the Buddhist shrine in the island's interior, and meets the orangutans who inhabit the area. Weird? You have no idea. . . But it's terrific fun, especially when the round-the-world voyage continues in the three books that follow, THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION, THE TRUELOVE (aka CLARISSA OAKES), and THE WINE-DARK SEA. Great, strange adventures, written in graceful 18th-century style prose with a ton of humor, wit, and insight.
|
