Rating: 
Summary: Aubrey and Maturin in Late Middle Age: Still Great!
Review: "Come grow old with me / The best is yet to be..." Browning's lines from "Rabbi Ben Ezra" apply nicely to O'Brian's great Aubrey/Maturin series (although I understand that the last couple of volumes in the series are not quite up to the standard). Partly because so few writers can create vital and interesting characters any more, O'Brian stands out with his correct Tory Naval captain (Jack Aubrey) and his British intelligence agent/scientist friend (Stephen Maturin), who show here that they can age gracefully. But don't begin here. You have to have read the series in order to understand their tangled love and financial relationships and how the situation in THE COMMODORE came to be. If you have read the others through THE WINE DARK SEA, you are in for a real treat. Aubrey and Maturin combat pro-Napoleonic forces at home and abroad. In the process, they deliver crippling blows to the West African slave trade and prevent a French landing in support of Irish independence. Now that he has risen in the ranks, Aubrey must deal with issues raised by an incompetent spit-and-polish commander like Captain Thomas and by an otherwise talented sodomite in the person of Captain Duff whose officers rebel against favoritism shown to his catamites. Throughout the book, our heroes are uncertain of the welcome they will receive from their wives and families -- yet they are driven onward for King and Country.
Rating:
Summary: Aubrey and Maturin in Late Middle Age: Still Great!
Review:
"Come grow old with me / The best is yet to be..." Browning's lines from "Rabbi Ben Ezra" apply nicely to O'Brian's great Aubrey/Maturin series (although I understand that the last couple of volumes in the series are not quite up to the standard). Partly because so few writers can create vital and interesting characters any more, O'Brian stands out with his correct Tory Naval captain (Jack Aubrey) and his British intelligence agent/scientist friend (Stephen Maturin), who show here that they can age gracefully. But don't begin here. You have to have read the series in order to understand their tangled love and financial relationships and how the situation in THE COMMODORE came to be. If you have read the others through THE WINE DARK SEA, you are in for a real treat. Aubrey and Maturin combat pro-Napoleonic forces at home and abroad. In the process, they deliver crippling blows to the West African slave trade and prevent a French landing in support of Irish independence. Now that he has risen in the ranks, Aubrey must deal with issues raised by an incompetent spit-and-polish commander like Captain Thomas and by an otherwise talented sodomite in the person of Captain Duff whose officers rebel against favoritism shown to his catamites. Throughout the book, our heroes are uncertain of the welcome they will receive from their wives and families -- yet they are driven onward for King and Country.
Rating:
Summary: O'Brian's Exceptionaly Imagined Seagoing Tale Continues
Review: After finishing this seventeenth installation in the Aubrey/Maturin series, I found myself wishing that there were still another seventeen novels to read. Patrick O'Brien's weaves a wonderful tale - one so vivid and magical that it is so very difficult to put any of the irresistible Aubrey/Maturin novels down. The seagoing tale that Patrick O'Brien has crafted is filled with interesting characters and a consistently compelling story-line. It is also replete with accurate historical detail and fully captures the political intrigue of the British Navy's involvement in the Napoleonic wars of the nineteenth-century.
Even though Commodore Aubrey's mission is to suppress the slave trade off the west coast of Africa and later onto a secret mission on the Irish coast to prevent a French invasion, `The Commodore' is not filled with seagoing adventure. In fact, the main components of the tale take place ashore. Maturin and Aubrey find themselves home after a long and successful adventure. While Lucky Jack is promoted to Commodore of the First Class, not all is well at home. Both he and his wife suspect the other of infidelity. Dianne has run away leaving Stephen's autistic child with the widow Clarissa Oakes. Political intrigue forces Stephen to slip some of his fortune and his child to Spain.
At sea, Stephen battles his addition to coca leaves and a severe bout with Yellow Fever. Commodore Aubrey's leadership and seamanship are tested by two Captains under his command. One is more interested in polished brass and drives his crew hard with the whip. The other is a sodomite, whose favoritism to those young men among his crew that he beds disrupts discipline and the fighting efficacy of his vessel.
This is one of the more magnificent books in the series and I heartily recommend it, as I do with the rest of the books in the Aubrey/Maturin series.
Rating: 
Summary: A most excellent adventure!
Review: After reading this delightful volume , I wonder why I ever stopped the series in the first place. The recent film release caused me to return to the series after a brief hiatus , and I am now enjoying it more than ever!
A brief synopsis of the tale--Captain Aubrey is given a task of suppression of the West African slave trade , with a hidden secondary mission: prevention of Napoleon's invasion of Ireland. To this end , Jack is given a small squadron of warships and is rated as the Commodore in command of the mission , with the clever and covert assistance of Doctor Maturin. Maturin's lovely wife Diana appears to have run away leaving a deeply troubled child in the care of others . In Freetown , the Doctor makes the acquaintance of the wife of the local governer , a beautiful young naturalist , and sets the stage for a future relationship in "Blue at the Mizzen". Along the way ,in the course of the tale , we gain a further glimpse of 19th century life of an English gentleman at Captain Aubrey's home. I particularly delighted in the description of the astronomical observatory and Caroline Herschel's help. As an amateur astronomer myself , I couldn't help but smile at this inclusion. Stephen Maturin's interaction with his young daughter is lovely and heartwarming , bringing yet another dimension to this already complex character. Padeen , the Doctor's manservant , manages to establish a relationship with the young girl and bring her out from apparent autism. Commodore Aubrey fairly well crushes the slave trade and manages to make his rendevous with the French fleet on the coast of Ireland , as usual winning a striking victory. All said , this is one of the best volumes in an excellent series. I enjoyed it tremendously and recommend it highly. Unfortunately the abbreviated battle scene only took a couple of pages ; otherwise it would have been 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Commodore Aubrey takes on the slave trade
Review: After returning from years at sea, in the East Indies, Botany Bay, the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, the Peruvian coast and Cape Horn--during which Aubrey freed an old servant of Dr. Maturin from imprisonment and unwittingly took on a stowaway from Botany Bay, frustrated an attempt by a prototypical communist to set up an "ideal" government which would have been inimical to British interests in the Sandwich Islands, and a failed attempt by Dr. Maturin (a British intelligence agent) to free Peru from the Spanish influence--as well as encountering terminal storms, volcanic eruptions, encounters with icebergs, pirates and other enemy ships, in the last book (The Wine Dark Sea); our heroes, Dr, Stephen Maturin and Captain Jack Aubrey finally arrive back in England in this, the 17th book of the 20 book Aubrey/Maturin series. However, all is not well. Aubrey's wife, Sophie, suspects him of having an affair with the stowaway, Mrs. Oakes, although he is innocent. He, in turn, suspects her of having an affair with the local parson, who pursued her before their marriage. Stephen finds his wife, Diana, gone to parts unknown, and his girl child whom he has never seen, is suspected of being an idiot. Jack is given a new command, promoted to Commodore, and embarks on an effort to stop the slave trade out of Africa, as well as to frustrate a French squadron from interfering in Ireland. No one knows square-rigged ships as well as the late Patrick O'Brian, the author. His 19th century sea battles are often taken directly from British Admiralty records, but more than that his dialogues are replete with period expressions and turns of phrase that add greatly to his stories. What magnificent stories! The newcomer to the series should start with the first book, Master and Commander, and take them in order. I envy you the hours of pleasure that await you. Joseph H. Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity
Rating:
Summary: Beware, addiction lies within. . .
Review: Don't read this book unless you have read the previous sixteen in the series. It's not that this book is bad on its own but simply that you will miss so much by not having grown with Aubrey and Maturin as they make their way through the shoals and lee shores of war and peace, marriage and separation, famine and feast. These books have been compared with the Hornblower series but this damns them with faint praise. They are, in every respect, far superior, truly works of great literature. The research and the depth of character development are staggering achievements on their own but these are no stuffy historical tracts; the pages are filled with sly humour. There are great acts of courage and infamy and sweeping tragedy. There is the story, which threads its way through all the books, of a lasting, deep friendship between two disparate personalities. The scenes of battle, winning and losing are among the best writing of this century. Think I exaggerate? Buy the first three books in the series and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: An Insight Into Male Friendship
Review: Heads up: I'm a devoted fan of the series. It has been a particular delight to read about a lifelong friendship between two men with fully developed characters. Do NOT read this book if you have not read the preceding entries into the series (that's why the publishers put numbers on the spines!) -- you will be confused and irritated by the numerous references to previous events. If you HAVE read the series up to this point, you will enjoy the more lengthy glimpse into homeward cares and events. As is usual, the actual combat descriptions are curiously shortened but do not detract from the essence of the story itself.
Rating:
Summary: "Behold, the Queen of the May!"
Review: Jack Aubrey has had experience of high command before, in the Mauritius campaign, but this time he's a commodore of the first class, with a post captain under him and a rear admiral's hat. The other themes here are slavery and sodomy -- the first because he has been sent to clean out the prohibited slave trade on the West African coast, and the second because one of the other captains in the squadron under his command has completely disrupted the discipline of his ship with favoritism based on his personal sexual preferences. Stephen's joy at being able to explore the fauna and flora of Dahomey are interrupted by a bout of yellow fever, but, as Jack notes, it would take more than that to do the doctor in. Jack and Stephen also both have domestic problems to deal with. All in all, however, this is one of the less satisfying in this otherwise magnificent epic series, less of an adventure novel and more of an opportunity for the author to moralize.
Rating:
Summary: No. 17 in a classic series about the Royal Navy
Review: Patrick O'Brian is a master at his craft: creating a vibrant, living world within the bounds of literature. The Commodore is the 17th book in O'Brian's series about two seafaring men. Jack Aubrey is a captain in the Royal Navy. Jack's best friend is Stephen Maturin, a surgeon in the Royal Navy as well as an intelligence agent working against the forces of Napoleon in the early 19th century. Even if you are not immediately attracted to tales of seagoing adventurers, the warmth, spirit and wealth of detail in O'Brian's prose is more than enough to delight even the most cynical reader. The Commodore is not the very best book in the series, but O'Brian is always, consistently excellent. I recommend this series most highly, and if you haven't begun the first book (Master and Commander), I envy you and your voyage ahead. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Aubrey and Maturin Off To West Africa and Ireland
Review: Patrick O'Brian's 17th volume in his critically acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series of Royal Navy novels set during the Napoleonic wars has our intrepid heroes Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin sent by the Admiralty to the Gulf of Guinea to suppress the slave trade and then, to Ireland's Bantry Bay, to intercept yet another French attempt to forment rebellion in Ireland. Aubrey assumes command of a squadron, as a Commodore first class, with his old shipmate and first officer, Captain Thomas Pullings, as the captain of his flagship, the 74 gun two decker ship-of-the-line Bellona. Meanwhile Maturin must contend with the unexpected disappearance of his wife Diana, who has abandoned their autistic daughter Brigid, leaving them with Maturin's servant Padeen and Clarissa Oakes.
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