The Yellow Admiral (Aubrey-Maturin (Audio))

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: 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 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.