The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels

Rating:
Summary: One of the very best reads of my life
Review: A truly astonishing and engrossing literary experience. I read the twenty Aubrey-Maturin novels straight through over the last eight months. The characters are so richly drawn, the writing so mellifulous, the sense of time and period so illuminating that its fair to consider O'Brian's work in the same class as War & Peace (which, like the O'Brian series, is an extremely enjoyable read). I would never have imagined reading a twenty-book series. Now I can't imagine not reading the series again at some point in the future. It's that good.

Rating:
Summary: Great novels in a fine format, but BEWARE OF BAD EDITING
Review: Ardent fans of Patrick O'Brian know that he is one of the best kept secrets of English literature. His ability to project the complex, at times contradictory inner life of his characters -- and Aubrey and Maturin are certainly among the most fascinating ever to be inked upon paper -- allow this 20-novel cycle to transcend the usual narrow focus of the Traditional Sea Novel. O'Brian is not content with narratives merely devoted to warfare or adventure (although there's plenty to be had here): he also delights in portraying the conventions of English society, the developments in early 19th-century science (through Maturin's incessant experimentation), and various scenes of amateur music-making.

An omnibus edition of the series is a welcome notion, given the shelf space required by 20 volumes (even in paperback)! While I am no connoisseur of typefaces, the font used in re-setting the text is 'cleaner' and more attractive than the one used previously -- which is extremely important if you plan to traverse the 6500-plus pages of the omnibus edition!

But I have a major reservation with Norton's omnibus edition: there is little evidence that the publishers bothered to proofread their newly re-set text. Not only are there the usual, minor misspellings (like 'sorpething' instead of 'something'), but some far more problematic ones -- the kind that leave you with the nagging feeling: "surely O'Brian didn't write that." My favorite (so far) is in Book Two (Post Captain), which describes Canning's "great delighted laugh, a crowing noise that rose from a deep ass..." (see page 738). Checking the text of the previous hardback and paperback edition confirmed that O'Brian referred to Canning's vocal range ("bass"), not his nether regions.

Another serious problem with the omnibus text is the recurring omission of paragraph breaks used to mark alternating voices. Including more than one speaker within the same paragraph makes for some very confusing, even misleading passages. One should know that Norton's previous editions laid out the dialogue much more clearly (and consistently).

So, in a certain sense, this new edition is probably not the best introduction to O'Brian's multi-volume masterpiece. Newcomers should, if possible, go back to the previous edition which, after all, is still in print. Cheaper too, if you don't mind getting paperbacks.

Rating:
Summary: Quite the Set!
Review: Assuming that the majority reading this are already assured of these books literary relevance, this review is based around the physical condition of the books themselves.
The entire set weighs about 7 pounds, I'd say, bound as promised in 5 volumes. The set itself is not too big at all: the height is a tad shorter than your ordinary paperback. The slipcase is quite nice, though the glossiness will probably fade quickly and the fit is a bit tight around the books. The largest side of the box has a beautiful piece of Hunt work, HMS Agamemnon, which I am not recognizing as a previous cover image at the moment. The other sides have a picture of Mr. O'Brian and some reviews.
The books themselves appear to be quite solidly made, bound in blue with gold print on the spine and with a slipcover, the latter featuring the usual portrait of Mr. O'Brian (the spine images form the same Hunt painting as the outside of the box). The inside of each cover has a teaser for each book within. They vary in width as well; surprisingly to me at least, the first volume (M&C through Mauritius Command) is the thickest by far. A ribbon marker is provided as well, while the end papers are a facsimile of the manuscript copy of the opening page of Master and Commander. There is continuous page numbering throughout, including 21. The print is quite reasonable in fact, looking to be about a 12 pt, but the pages themselves are definitely thinner than most; perhaps I am far too accustomed to heavy-weight hardcovers, but these are translucent to an extent. Taking a quick look through, perhaps someone with more familiarity with the books could take a look at the maps,as the print strikes me as being a different from before.
Each volume does include a table of contents listing each book, though there is no chapter listing (as I believe is true of the paperbacks). Our usual diagram of The sails of a square rigged ship, hung out to dry in a calm is featured at the beginning of each volume, portrait fashioned (no need to turn the book this round).
I read through 21 at the bookstore before receiving this set, and thus can compare to the Norton edition at least. Here, the typed pages are presented without the accompanying manuscript; in other words, it appears to be just like the other finished works in the series with no notes. The final untyped pages are included as well, copied in a fashion so that the outline of the writing paper can be clearly seen on the page. The Afterword by Richard Snow is also included as the only editorial comment throughout the set, save for O'Brian's author notes.

I do think that this was quite worth the price charged by Amazon (alas, I bought it earlier, and had to pay $102!), particularly since I only own the first 3 books (which I now will be shipping off to various friends to introduce them to the series). For previous readers, there's nothing new as far as I can see from the original editions. But, nonetheless, a handsome set to be treasured!

Rating:
Summary: Poor Proof Reading
Review: For those that are familiar with them, the books in this set are similar to The Library Of America editions of the American classics (both are printed and bound by the same company, R.R. Donnelly & Sons). Although the paper is necessarily thin these editions are much better quality than the British individual hardbacks.

The reason for the poor rating is not for the quality of the books, nor of course for what they contain, but for the very poor type-setting and proof reading. I picked up a re-reading of the novels at 'The Mauritius Command' and it has numerous misprints, sometimes two or three a page, and is simply the worst book have read for type-setting errors. Subsequent novels are better but still may have half a dozen or more misprints.

Those wishing to replace their paperbacks with this set would probably be wise to wait for a second edition; maybe this won't be long coming, as W.W. Norton should be embarrassed by this one.

Rating:
Summary: you get what you pay for
Review: I agree that this is a great way to get your hands on the entire set of books for a very reasonable price. However, the quality of these volumes is a little suspect. The covers of these "hardback" books are only slightly more stiff than the softcover versions. I'm not sure if I would have purchased these books if I would have had a chance to touch them before hand. Caveat emptor!

Rating:
Summary: Great Series!
Review: I can't comment on this edition, but the 20 novels are some of the best stuff I've ever read. Three thumbs up!

Rating:
Summary: Typographical eye-strain
Review: I'll rate this collection at three stars because the story is amazing. The books appear to be well constructed and solid. I'm convinced they will last longer than I will! However, the appalling amount of typographical errors is really annoying! Just about the time I get myself thoroughly transported through time to another world my eye skips over another typo and trips my suspension of disbelief. I've only read through the first two volumes of this set and I can't even begin to count the glaring errors. I certainly hope the publishers will re-issue this set of books after some careful editing.

Rating:
Summary: Not just great historical fiction, but great fiction.
Review: In 1987 I'd never heard of Patrick O'Brian or his Aubrey Maturin series. One of my friends, however, a professor of British History who specialized in military history, insisted that I read one of the books. He said they were the most accurate works of historical fiction he'd ever read and a hell of a good story.

Though the first book took me a while to get into, by the end of it I was hooked. Since then I've read the entire series three times. Here's why.

Beyond the obvious attention to historical detail that O'Brian brought to Jack Aubrey's and Stephen Maturin's world, he also brought an astonishing depth of psychological understanding into the nature of friendship, especially the nature of friendship between men. Both of his main characters, moreover, show an intellectual and emotional complexity that one seldom finds in other recent fiction. The fun part of this is that O'Brian reveals their characters almost solely through their actions rather than a ham handed third person omniscient monologue.

One often hears the Aubrey Maturin series compared to Hornblower, but that does a disservice to O'Brian. These are beautifully written novels which not only tell great stories, but informs the reader about such central literary themes as the nature of friendship, honor, love and duty. Ripping good yarns that are not only good, but good for you.

Rating:
Summary: This is what you were waiting for.
Review: This is, as noted by another reviewer, a "beautiful set."
As the title informs, this is a complete presentation of the 20 Aubrey/Maturin novels, adding the incomplete fragment of #21. There are some reproductions of some handwritten pages as a coda.

Each volume contains four "novels", yet the entire series is continuously numbered as if one single story. Once you get started, there will be over 6500 pages to go.

Each volume is slightly larger than a paperback book, with a generic dust jacket. The book comes in blue boards, with a sewn-in red bookmark. Some may complain about the size, but I find them just fine. Remember, you're going to be holding these up for a while.

They come in a nicely illustrated slipcase. This is an excellent omnibus set, amazingly priced and of high quality.

If you've read this far, I don't think you're interested in my opinion about the subject matter. You already know this is considered one of the great literature series of our time...

An excellent buy, for yourself or as a gift. Other book publishers should look to this as a model for future sets...

Rating:
Summary: great series, ridiculous number of typos
Review: wonderful stories to be sure, but i think the editors were either illiterate or blind, because the number of typos is ridiculous and also consistent, throughout the latter half of the books, the butler at woolcombe is called mnason, ive never heard of an english name like that... or someone being called horner at one point and homer at another, they mix up rn and m quite frequently... still, despite its shortcomings, its cheaper to decode it and have htem all than buy them all seperately.