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Title: The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0-393-30820-0 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Two for One
Comment: This is the seventh in O'Brian's 20-volume series. It follows the now well-established formula, as Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin sail smoothly from one book to the next. This book is really two tales, two unconnected sea voyages, split by an interlude in England that feels more like an intermission. Picking up where the previous volume left off, the two find themselves in Canada where Aubrey's behavior may surprise you. The first voyage brings them home for the first time in many months (and three volumes). The heart of the story is the second voyage that takes them to the Baltic for the first time (both for them and for readers) on an intelligence mission. As the voyage ends, they find themselves in France and Maturin at his most interesting in extricating them from a dilemma and in reconnecting with Diana Villiers.
O'Brian is simply a great writer. This series is not for everyone, for the prose is spare and sophisticated, the plotting both delicate enough to sustain readers for many volumes on end, yet bold enough to satisfy fans of adventure tales. The nautical terms are easily mastered, this is not a book for sailors, but for readers who enjoy good adventure stories.
Rating: 5
Summary: Can I give it 6 stars?
Comment: The Surgeon's Mate picks up where The Fortune of War left off. In the previous installment our boys had escaped from Boston just in time to participate in the epic battle between the Chesapeake and the Shannon. Victorious they arrive in Halifax and more trouble begins. Aubrey's lack of land sense and Maturin's unrequited love for Diana continue to cause them problems. In fact they are the underlying tensions that follow them through each episode in the novel. Along the way we are treated to O'Brian's philosophical discussions between his two quirky heroes and among their assorted friends and associates. Like the others in the series The Surgeon's Mate is a gem.
Unlike earlier novels the action in The Surgeon's Mate is non-stop. O'Brian, always excellent in his characterization and use of language, has considerably improved the pacing from the earliest series entries. The reader is treated to the heroes travelling from Halifax to England to the Baltic to Paris and back to England in a rousing tour-de-force. Does O'Brian lose anything with the faster pace of The Surgeon's Mate? Absolutely not, he still has the strengths of the earlier books.
One aspect of the series that has made it great is the ability of O'Brian to set some of the thorny discussions of our times in the context of the early 19th century. In The Surgeon's Mate, the abortion issue creates a marvelous balanced tension. O'Brian's presentation is even handed, airing both sides of the debate but ultimately not choosing sides. O'Brian has moderated some of the great debates of the last 30 years in his Aubrey Maturin series while providing great naval action along the way.
Perhaps it's time to put O'Brian's novels in a special category- six stars.
Rating: 5
Summary: Among The Most Suspenseful in the Aubrey/Maturin series
Comment: Patrick O'Brian evokes John Le Carre in "The Surgeon's Mate", the 7th volume in the splendid Aubrey/Maturin series. Having fled their American captors, Aubrey and Maturin endure a perilous chase by American privateers before arriving safely back in England, with Maturin renewing his relationship with Diana Villiers. Maturin journeys to Paris, ostensibly to lecture on natural history, while on yet another secret mission for Sir Joseph Blaine, inspite of the fact that he's become well known to French authorities for his intelligence activities in the New World. Aubrey is temporarily given command of a sloop, HMS Ariel, and sets out on an intelligence mission with Maturin to the Danish coast. Eventually the ship founders off the coast of France; both Aubrey and Maturin are sent to Paris' infamous Temple prison.
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Title: The Reverse of the Medal by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393309606 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey-Maturin (Paperback)) by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393307611 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Far Side of the World (Aubrey-Maturin (Paperback)) by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393308626 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393309053 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 039330907X Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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