The Far Side of the World: Aubrey/Maturin series, book 10
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for Cape Horn, determined to intercept an American frigate before it can wreak havoc on the British whaling trade. As always, he is accompanied by intelligence operative Stephen Maturin, and as always, Aubrey has no idea of what his companion is up to. Another impeccably written adventure, by the end of which you should be able to identify a mizzen topsail in your sleep.
Review
'…full of the energy that comes from a writer having struck a vein… Patrick O'Brian is unquestionably the Homer of the Napoleonic wars.' James Hamilton- Paterson
'You are in for the treat of your lives. Thank God for Patrick O'Brian: his genius illuminates the literature of the English language, and lightens the lives of those who read him.' Kevin Myers, Irish Times
'In a highly competitive field it goes straight to the top. A real first-rater.' Mary Renault
'I never enjoyed a novel about the sea more. It is not only that the author describes the handling of a ship of 1800 with an accuracy that is as comprehensible as it is detailed, a remarkable feat in itself. Mr O'Brian's three chief characters are drawn with no less depth of sympathy than the vessels he describes, a rare achievement save in the greatest writers of this genre. It deserves the widest readership.' Irish Times
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First Sentence
'PASS THE WORD for Captain Aubrey, pass the word for Captain Aubrey,' cried a sequence of voices, at first dim and muffled far aft on the flagship's maindeck, then growing louder and more distinct as the call wafted up to the quarterdeck and so along the gangway to the forecastle, where Captain Aubrey stood by the starboard thirty-two-pounder carronade contemplating the Emperor of Morocco's purple galley as it lay off Jumper's Bastion with the vast grey and tawny Rock of Gibraltar soaring behind it, while Mr Blake, once a puny member of his midshipman's berth but now a tall, stout lieutenant almost as massive as his former captain, explained the new carriage he had invented, a carriage that should enable carronades to fire twice as fast, with no fear of oversetting, twice as far, and with perfect accuracy, thus virtually putting an end to war. Read the first page
Front Cover | Excerpt | Back Cover
'PASS THE WORD for Captain Aubrey, pass the word for Captain Aubrey,' cried a sequence of voices, at first dim and muffled far aft on the flagship's maindeck, then growing louder and more distinct as the call wafted up to the quarterdeck and so along the gangway to the forecastle, where Captain Aubrey stood by the starboard thirty-two-pounder carronade contemplating the Emperor of Morocco's purple galley as it lay off Jumper's Bastion with the vast grey and tawny Rock of Gibraltar soaring behind it, while Mr Blake, once a puny member of his midshipman's berth but now a tall, stout lieutenant almost as massive as his former captain, explained the new carriage he had invented, a carriage that should enable carronades to fire twice as fast, with no fear of oversetting, twice as far, and with perfect accuracy, thus virtually putting an end to war. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A truly stunning work from Patrick O'Brian. From reading this work, the central thrust of which follows the two main characters (Dr Steven Maturin, ships surgeon, naturalist and intelligence agent) and Captain Jack Aubrey RN (a genius at sea, a loser on land) onto the frigate HMS Surprise during the war of 1812, as they persue a powerful American frigate into the Pacific to prtect British whalers. O'Brian describes the characters so vividly, the surroundings and action so well that you could swear he'd lived it all. To cap it all off, there's a great supporting cast of characters that add more depth than other writers in this field ever seem capable of concocting, and at times the interractions of the men on board the ship had me laughing outloud.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What's actually very interesting is the disparity of opinion here on O'Brien's writing and, of course, of the "Master and Commander" series especially. "Verbose" says one critic "Meaningless waffle" says another, as he recommends "Hornblower" as the real stuff. Of course it's easy for people like me who adore O'Brien's work to dismiss these critics as being insensitive to nuance or even plain ignorant, but, no, I don't believe that. Some people just don't take to O'Brien and, sure, I could see how some could think they see verbosity and waffle when they open these pages. But verbosity is a superfluity of words: words expended without any purpose and contributing nothing - mere waffle indeed. In reality there's nowhere that I can think of in O'Brien where such an accusation is deserved. Sure you need to read (and often to re-read) most carefully what he is saying, but if you have the time, the purpose of each and every single word is very clear and, in fact, O'Brien is extremely economical with his verbage, and he always, always sets out to convey exactly what he means to say! How refreshing that is when so often today a writer uses grand-sounding sentences and leaves you and me open mouthed in misunderstanding (and certain critics with the chance to say that the meaning is different according to the reader - but evidently deeply profound)! That's not O'Brien's style - the meaning is always unambiguously there for those with the perseverance to retrieve it. And that's the point: to put across complex (and often very novel) ideas about human nature,humanity, historical events, philosophy and classical learning and much more, you NEED quite a lot of words. The wisdom of O'Brien is extraordinarily deep. That he did not receive the Nobel prize is the pity of the world!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This, the tenth book of the Aubrey/Maturin series, is one of my favourites because there are far fewer sea battles than in some of the books; these tend to confuse me. Though the recent film was called "Master and Commander" its plot is closest, but not identical to this book. It does, however, describe what it was like to travel around Cape Horn in a sailing ship in the foulest and most frightening conditions. One of the reasons why many people read these books so avidly is the way O'Brian includes the results of his meticulous historical research without ever making the story less interesting or formulaic. Here he includes a detailed account of whaling the days of sail and anyone interested in the history of medicine would be fascinated by the various treatments meted out to the sick and injured. But the characters never become subservient to the facts; they have all the contradictory traits of real people cooped up in the small space of the ship with a lot of others for months on end. O'Brian's enthusiasm for his subject is tremendous but he never becomes mushy or sentimental; the reader is spared nothing as O'Brian describes the hard, repetive work, the privations and the dangers of life at sea but somehow he makes us understand why, for men like Jack Aubrey, it was the situation in which they were most happy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not the film
I bought this along with Master and Commander, after someone raved about Patick O'Brian's books on a Usenet newsgroup, and I enjoyed the film very much. Read more
Published 3 months ago by gbzrope
Entertaining but far from the best of the series
Although not as action-packed, tense or involving as the best books of the series, 'Far Side' still mostly entertains and shows a fascinating glimpse of the period. Read more
Published 6 months ago by James_kat
Style and skill
Peril at sea for Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, with Stephen's espionage activity playing a less prominent part in their adventures. Read more
Published 6 months ago by JoTownhead
Wonderful read
I loved the film based on it and i love the book even more. There is some techical words that are used which i did not understand but that is to be expected i suppose! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Zoe Mitchell
The far side of the world, P O'Brian
O'Brian at his best.
Typical sea-faring story of sail, fair and foul weather.
Trade wind, Pacific and 'round the horn' sailing, allways human, allways... Read more
Typical sea-faring story of sail, fair and foul weather.
Trade wind, Pacific and 'round the horn' sailing, allways human, allways... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by Mr. Robert J. Craig
Far Side of the World - Another triumph!
I was initially going to award 4 stars because superficially nothing much happens in this, the 10th of the Aubrey /Maturin series. Read more
Published on 13 May 2007 by D. J. Matthews
Not worth the time
I had never read any of the O'Brian books before (nor had I seen the film) so I was unsure of what to expect when I started out to read this book. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2005 by Ger
Enjoyable but not as good as the film
Having thoroughly enjoyedthe film, I was anxious to read the book, particularly as the other Amazon reviews were largely so positive. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2004 by Ian Thumwood
Only one thing missing
I had been unreservedly enjoying this effectively abridged and beautifully read audio version of The Far Side of the World until it struck me that one thing had been abridged out,... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2004 by Francois Jackman
Read it!
If you like subtle multi-layered well researched stories with a naval background then these are amongst the best. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2004
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