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 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.
Rating:
Summary: Not to be read unless you've read all the others
Review: I am a confirmed Forrester/Hornblower fan, and received this book for Christmas. I'd read the reviews about wonderful characterization and historical accuracy, and expected a treat. Not so. Although I had read Master and Commander years ago, this was my first O'Brian in recent memory. I did not find his characters especially detailed, nor the narrative very well done. It was a good adventure story, but much of the time I was lost as to why such and such a thing was done, or who this or that person was. I'm sure having read the books in order would help greatly, and I imagine some day I will do that. At the moment, though, this book doesn't come close to Forrester for characterization, detail, and true nautical enjoyment. There is too much skipping of key points, few sensible transitions, and a giant question left unanswered at the end of the book. If you haven't read Forrester's Hornblower books, I recommend them instead. At the very least, don't start with this one, but with Master and Commander, and continue in order from there!
Rating:
Summary: Not to be read unless you've read all the others
Review: I am a confirmed Forrester/Hornblower fan, and received this book for Christmas. I'd read the reviews about wonderful characterization and historical accuracy, and expected a treat. Not so. Although I had read Master and Commander years ago, this was my first O'Brian in recent memory. I did not find his characters especially detailed, nor the narrative very well done. It was a good adventure story, but much of the time I was lost as to why such and such a thing was done, or who this or that person was. I'm sure having read the books in order would help greatly, and I imagine some day I will do that. At the moment, though, this book doesn't come close to Forrester for characterization, detail, and true nautical enjoyment. There is too much skipping of key points, few sensible transitions, and a giant question left unanswered at the end of the book. If you haven't read Forrester's Hornblower books, I recommend them instead. At the very least, don't start with this one, but with Master and Commander, and continue in order from there!
Rating: 
Summary: Another really good one of course.
Review: I am now anxious for the next one to come out. In the mean time I highly recommend Henry Holt & Company's Heart of Oak series one of the best seafaring British Naval novels, particularly the ones by Frederick Marryat.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent but with some gaps
Review: I deeply loved what is now the last book in the series. I was overjoyed to read Aubrey get his flag but the story line of this seemed a little disjointed at times with some event occurring with little explaination or connection. Patrick O'Brian will be sorely missed but his series of novels will live on forever.
Rating:
Summary: Did O'Brian truly write the whole thing?
Review: I don't know about this one--many of the earlier chapters felt to me as if someone listed all the O'Brian quirks and twists of language and then trotted out the characters and pasted them in here and there. It did not truly sing of Patrick O'Brian. I was disappointed that while Maturin seemingly narrates throughout the book, his usual curmudgeonly and unkempt personality rarely showed. It was "Stephen Lite", especially considering losing Diana and dealing with a very distant Jack.(No matter how tired a contrivance it was, I always enjoyed Jack's roaring bad puns, red face and passion for puddings!) The last few books have been less engaging, too, but I heard O'Brian's voice much less in Blue at the Mizzen than in any of them. I realize the trials of age may dim that creativity we have come to expect. I faithfully finished the book (it improved later). I wish Mr. O'Brian well.
Rating:
Summary: A solid continuation of a great historical fiction series
Review: I don't know whether I would recommend "Blue at the Mizzen" to someone unfamiliar with Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of nautical novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin because, I believe, much of the pleasure to be derived in reading the book comes from our acquaintance with the main characters from previous novels. But I would have no hesititation at all at recommending it to any Aubrey-Maturin fan. A significant number of readers (not including me) of the previous book in the series, "The Hundred Days", were disappointed in the somber tone of that novel -- an atmosphere fully justified, in my opinion, by the central subject matter. Those readers need not fear a repetition in "Blue at the Mizzen." Stephen Maturin has recovered his interest in the natural world and is once again a fully engaged participant in the events around him. It has been said that this novel might be the final volume in the series (I hope not) but if it is, then the series will end on a high note. The book is full of typical O'Brian touches of elegantly described scenes and subtle characterizations. If it is not quite the equal of "Post Captain" or "Desolation Island" (but what is?) there is still much in "Blue at the Mizzen" to make longtime fans of the series smile with satisfaction. And if it is not the final volume, then I shall look forward with great pleasure to the next book.
Rating:
Summary: A solid continuation of a great historical fiction series
Review: I don't know whether I would recommend "Blue at the Mizzen" to someone unfamiliar with Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of nautical novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin because, I believe, much of the pleasure to be derived in reading the book comes from our acquaintance with the main characters from previous novels. But I would have no hesititation at all at recommending it to any Aubrey-Maturin fan. A significant number of readers (not including me) of the previous book in the series, "The Hundred Days", were disappointed in the somber tone of that novel -- an atmosphere fully justified, in my opinion, by the central subject matter. Those readers need not fear a repetition in "Blue at the Mizzen." Stephen Maturin has recovered his interest in the natural world and is once again a fully engaged participant in the events around him. It has been said that this novel might be the final volume in the series (I hope not) but if it is, then the series will end on a high note. The book is full of typical O'Brian touches of elegantly described scenes and subtle characterizations. If it is not quite the equal of "Post Captain" or "Desolation Island" (but what is?) there is still much in "Blue at the Mizzen" to make longtime fans of the series smile with satisfaction. And if it is not the final volume, then I shall look forward with great pleasure to the next book.
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