Book 12 in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, which I've just gotten back to after a bit of a hiatus. I suppose it features Captain Jack Aubrey on a bit of a hiatus of his own, come to think of it: having lost his commission in the Royal Navy thanks to a false accusation, he has turned instead to a stint in command of a privateer-- Oh, excuse me. A letter of marque. Apparently we don't much like the p-word.

I can't say it's a favorite installment of the series. It feels, perhaps, as if having set up a shocking reversal of Jack's fortunes at the end of the previous volume, O'Brian then had to spend the length of this one just writing his way back out of it again, making it feel more like an odd little interlude than anything. And I did have an issue with it that I sometimes have with these books, in that for maybe the first third of it I frequently had no idea what was even going on. Someone would explain a complicated naval situation and end it with the equivalent of "you understand what I'm getting at here, right?" and while the person they were talking to always did, well, your humble land-lubbing reader here, not so much.

Fortunately, though, after a while either I finally got my sea-legs back, so to speak, or O'Brian started putting things more simply for me, and after that I did enjoy it more. Character-wise Jack feels very consistent, although there's nothing that feels like it adds much insight into him: basically he takes the whole matter pretty much exactly as you would expect. But there's some very nice stuff with Stephen towards the end, and one or two of O'Brian's typical moments of delightful humor. So not bad, in the end, but still not exactly a standout. ( )

En esta entrega de la serie, después de ser apartado de la marina por un delito que no ha cometido, Jack Aubrey acepta la oferta de su amigo Maturin, enriquecido al recibir una herencia, de ponerse al mando de la mítica Surprise para hacer al corso por el canal de la Mancha. Tras unos extraordinarios éxitos en la lucha contra los franceses, Aubrey parece en una posición inmejorable para que su cargo le sea restituido, y para conseguirlo acepta entrar en política. Pero una parte importante de la novela se centra en Maturin, quien parece a punto de conseguir reflotar su matrimonio, aunque para ello deberá viajar a Suecia donde, según sus últimas noticias, su esposa tiene un nuevo amante. El tema de la droga (Maturin ha estado experimentando con el láudano y la hoja de coca) es otro de los puntos centrales del relato, así como la música, en este caso las oberturas operísticas italianas.

Me resulta más simpatico matrin que Aubrey. Pero ya son un poco previsibles. ahora luego de ser apartado de la marina en un barco corsario sigue haciendo maravillas, y mientras tanto Maturin quiere reconquistar a su mujer ( )

O'Brian is consistently brilliant. ( )

In Vol.XI of Robert's Adventures in Napoleonic Naval Literature, the protagonist found himself wearied and despondant, wondering whether it was "worth it" to go on.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

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