Rating: 
Summary: DEFINITELY A GREAT BOOK
Review: This was the first book of this kind I ever read, and I loved it. The characters were real and you become a part of the story. Great job! If you want to read another book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for someone who started college late in life, fell in love too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to understand a loved one who is. . .A gift to be cherished forever.
Rating: 
Summary: So disappointed after waiting so eagerly.
Review: I have read (and re-read) as well as listened to Patrick Tull's narrations of all the previous 19 volumes in the series and still find excitement, drama, and humor that makes me laugh out loud or say Huzzay! However this book was a great disppointment. It lacked the full involvement of many characters, the humor and the light-hearted exchanges between Aubrey and Maturin. Too much was conveyed through Stephen's over long letters to Christine. Without the war, the battle scenes were boring. I'm sorry to say that after skipping through page after page I finally put the book down and can't bring myself to finish it. But I still gave it 3 stars - O'Brian is the best writer of historical fiction to date and the first 19 novels will always be my favorites. I would love to see PBS do these stories in a television series.
Rating:
Summary: A return to form.
Review: O'Brian can still weave his magic and #20 is one of his best in many years.
Rating: 
Summary: O'Brian is back from the Hundred Days but 75%
Review: The Hundred days read like a ghost-written book based on O'Brian's notes. The scene in the desert listening to lions was O'Brian's voice, pure and sweet. The rest was cloudy. I advised friends -don't waste your money.Blue at the Mizzen (an Adm of the Blue broad flag flying at the mizzen - a squadron commander -as opposed to a "Yellow Adm " a passed over reject) is a saga worth buying. The sweet digressions are closely edited and battle scenes longer - this book sounds more like Alexander Kent than O'Brian. From the wretched Hundred Days, a glow remains in the hearth. At his worst - and this certainly isn't - O'Brian is miles ahead of the competition. The grief over a lost friend and (a little bit) a wife gets a mention here - response to the astonished reaction to the blaise reaction in the previous book? I hope this is the last, before the embers die out completely. This is still O'Brian - not at his best - but still in the game. The jacket cover picture is the best of the series
Rating:
Summary: Well, O'Brian's done it again.
Review: Amazon's 5 star rating system doesn't do justice to O'Brian's works. The best of them can easily earn 8.745 stars, and the poorest better than 6. "Blue at the Mizzen" is a solid reflective work, yet with flaws. The plot is inconsistent, and full of holes. Vast assumptions are made. Without having read the previous Aubrey/Maturin books, it would be a difficult read. Yet, a less than excellent O'Brian is still head and shoulders above anything else in this genre. On Amazon's 5 star system, I would give it a 6.73. Let's hope that O'Brian has a magnum opus to conclude the series.
Rating:
Summary: A great series and author
Review: Book number 20 in the series. You best get the other 19, if you liked this one.If you already read the first 20 or so, you can expect the same high sort of book. Still comparabe to the master CS Forester's Hornblower series. Would love to see This series turned into a movie!
Rating:
Summary: The Best Yet
Review: Confession: I have not finished it. I have cherished every word. But based on the first hundred pages, it is magnificent. The best yet. O'Brian has taken his voice to new heights (a statement I grieve to make, given how much I have enjoyed his voice so far), and it is truly beautiful. He began the last one as though it was the last in the series, and he has produced a book which is so elegant that it eclipses all the volumes which have gone before. Plot? Doesn't matter, though the accident at sea at the beginning has both drama and pathos. Characters? More developed than ever. He even introduces a new one, a midshipman who will, I trust, not be killed off by the end. A truly beautiful work (so far), with an elegance not seen often before in this monumental series. I'll finish it and go again in a week or so. A long(er) life and fair winds to Mr. O'Brian. May we please see another dozen volumes.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy end to the series
Review: Regretably Amazon only offers 5 stars. All of O'Brian's work hit 5 stars without breathing hard. Unfortunately this series is winding down, and it shows. Poor and careless editing, and careless ploting are beginning to show. If some of O'Brian's early works can reach 11 or 12 stars (on the Amazon scale) "Blue" only hits about 6 or 7. Having said that, a weak O'Brian is head and shoulders above anyone else's best. He is clearly in a league of his own.
Rating:
Summary: Splendidly written, rich detail and characters.
Review: Aubrey and Maturin at sea once again in the beloved ship, Surprise. Aubrey seeks his Admiral's Flag and Maturin, endless new species, a Chilean political embroglio, and, a new wife. As always, a fascinating and addictive read; this is a true credit to the series.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing end? to a superb series
Review: Even though I believe that the Aubrey-Maturin series is one of the great works of prose fiction of the 20th century, the latest (and 20th) book in the series, Blue at the Mizzen, is a disappointment. Indeed the last few books in the series (starting with the Wine-Dark Sea, have gotten progressively weaker, but even they have always had many compelling pages. The great humor, the exciting naval action, the lovely historical feel, but above all the wonderful language and psychological acuity are missing here. The female characters are, no surprise, mere plot devices. (Both Sophie and Clarissa barely figure, and the smart and beautiful Mrs. Wood, who Maturin falls for, makes little sense as a character.) But the subordinate characters in general lack interest, even the prominently featured midshipman Hansen, the bastard son of the Duke of Clarence. The local color in early 19th century Chile seems washed out, insubstantial. Worst of all, the two principals are presented pro forma, as if O'Brian is just tired of them. While there is a satisfying (finally) move up to Admiral for Aubrey, the story (with no more Napoleonic foes, and no more money worries) has run out of gas. Is this the last of the novels? Aubrey-Maturin fans will be disappointed that we have lost track of Pullings, Babbington, Mowett, and Martin completely-what happened to them? Where oh where is to Aubrey's illegitimate son, Sam Panda, last seen in nesrby Peru-and why do Jack's thoughts never run to him? This is, of course, a must-read for Aubrey-Maturin fans, but compared to the invigorating, full-blooded novels in the series, this one reads like the weak, lukewarm tea that Jack and Stephen so detest.
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