HMS Surprise

After starting The Aubrey/Maturin Series by listening to the book on CD, I realized two things: 1) the library did not have the complete collection on CDs and 2) I found myself often doing other things while listening to the CD. And while that is not a problem in and of itself, I guess I wasn't getting as much out of the books as I wanted.

So I decided to start over and read them in large print this time around. I am glad I did. Not only am I picking up on all sorts of things that I missed, but I feel like I'm getting a better sense for Patrick O'Brian's style.

I can't say that HMS Surprise had me on the edge of me seat the way parts of the prior Master and Commander and Post Captain did, but it wasn't a complete waste of time either. Of course I find the whole 'bunch of guys on a boat' thing pretty interesting and that special friendship between the main characters - well, one wonders if these two were buddies today if they might not even bother with those silly old women. Ah, but that's just some hopeful thinking, still, in terms of friendship, it doesn't get much deeper or stronger than this.

I also really like the different settings. A great thing about a naval story in the Napoleonic Wars is all the world is within reach of the sailing ship and with Maturin's insatiable quest for flora and fauna, there is plenty to explore and even more to fascinate!

Needless to say, I've put the next installment The Mauritius Command on hold, but I'll have to wait a week until I get it from Multnomah County since it's not available at the Washington County Libraries in large print.

Rating: 8 out of 10 Buy from Amazon.com