The Yellow Admiral

Rating:
Summary: O'Brian is running out of steam. So what?
Review: There is an awful lot of recycling going on in this book. The research is still prodigious, but I suspect at this point O'Brian has the topography and culture of early 19th Century Europe so much a part of him that he is now on automatic pilot. Well, he's entitled at this point. As usual, situations and characters are introduced, then never heard from or of again. Maturin's naivete is a more than a bit tiresome at this point. Nonetheless, I look forward to the next one and see how Jack deals with Napoleon.

Rating:
Summary: Plush often leads to folly . . .
Review: This eighteenth volume in the Aubrey-Mathurin saga is relatively action-less. For once, Jack has been assigned to routine post-captain's duty in the Brest blockade squadron, sailing back and forth for weeks on end. I don't believe the great guns are ever once fired in anger in this book. But, however (as they say), there's a lot here for the faithful reader of the series -- mostly domestic, with Jack being caught in an old adultery, as he says, "without a leg to stand on," but getting back with Sophie eventually. It's 1814, and with peace about to break out, Jack is very worried about his lack of a professional future, wholly expecting to be "yellowed" -- being made admiral in time but given no command -- having unfortunately crossed his admiral, whose nephew wants to enclose the common on Jack's manor. (Think agribusiness and economies of scale vs. the family farm). Perhaps he can increase his professional stock by hiring out to develop a new navy for revolutionary Chile. . . . Stephen spends a good deal of time ashore in France tending to intelligence matters, but we get no details. ...

Rating:
Summary: O'Brian's cruising here, but still very enjoyable.
Review: This is another "land-based" book in the series, which is a good thing. Jack Aubry's troubles dealing with land lubbers (whose dishonesty and unstructured ways mystify him to no end) and the often tumultuous relationship between Stephen and Diana are always entertaining. Less exciting than previous books in the series, the characters are definitely slowing down as they get older. Also, not much new happens here; the characters are not really developed further. Despite these shortcomings, is there any writer whose prose is more enjoyable? O'Brian's polished writing, his sly wit, his eye for fascinating detail, his descriptive powers: they're all here in full force. Another caveat: the jacket description reveals almost every plot point in the book. It would have been much more enjoyable not knowing many of these events were going to happen

Rating:
Summary: Five Stars, as Usual
Review: This is the eighteenth in O'Brian's intelligent 20-volume naval series. True to form, the "Yellow Admiral" finds Captain Jack and sidekick Stephen Maturin on shore in England, where they have domestic troubles, win and lose their fortunes, and finally set to sea in the Bellona. Assigned to duty on the blockade of the French city of Brest, Jack Aubrey manages to capture a French privateer while Stephen carries out his usual intelligence activities after a nighttime landing in France. But peace breaks out. Napoleon is defeated on the continent and exiled to Elba, meaning that the British Navy will be demobilized and Jack's prospects for promotion to Rear Admiral are diminished. Just as Jack and Stephen are about to set sail for an intelligence mission in Chile, word comes that Napoleon is again on the loose. A cliffhanger ending that builds towards Napoleon's last hurrah --the Hundred Days. O'Brian's prose is as spare and intelligent as ever. The Yellow Admiral is a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Not a pleasant experience
Review: While a more than adequate insight into everyday life in the England of George III, this book serves the uninitiated reader of O'Brian's work poorly. Nothing much takes place during the story, and what little as does, takes place offstage, as it were. Characters and events are introduced that lead no where and serve no purpose other than to fill the page. While the real world is often like that, works of art are not the real world, and novels are not documentaries. I was grossly disappointed in this book, as I had read such wonderful things about this series, and I will give O'Brian another chance, but I did not find any charcters other than Aubrey and Maturin to be given any definition, and their characters were more described than shown. Reading The Yellow Admiral (a pretentious title providing no insight into the plot nor encouragement to the reader) was not a pleasant experience.

Rating:
Summary: Not so much action, but still satisfying.
Review: Yes, it's true there is a bit more description of the rights of English landlords in the nineteenth century than I would have liked. There is less actual sailing than in previous books, so this volume doesn't have the sense of motion that O'Brian portrays so well. Yet this remains a fascinating book. True to form, O'Brian describes life in it's nitty-gritty detail, whether it's the horrendous personal violence of Bonden's boxing match, or the consequences of Jack's infidelity, yet the eloquence of his description and the sympathy for the characters that O'Brian evokes keeps the reader deeply involved. It's not as much of an adventure story as previous books, yet there is an agreeable sense of community and familiarity when all the characters are staying with one another on land. And of course the ending makes you want to read the next one immediately.