The Fortune of War: Aubrey/Maturin series, book 6
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Review
“Robert Hardy’s reading gives a real feel of salt spray, not to mention a taste of the lash.”
Times 6/12/97
‘Patrick O’Brian writes as brilliantly as ever. The Fortune of War is a marvellously full-flavoured, engrossing book, which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three-decker over a ship’s longboat.’
T.J. Binyon, Times Literary Supplement
‘No one else writing in the genre today can match his erudition, humour, inventiveness and flair. With his marvellous grasp of contemporary idiom and of the feeling of the period, he brings to the stories a power and authenticity that can never fail to captivate.’
Kevin Myers, Irish Sunday Independent
Review
“Robert Hardy’s reading gives a real feel of salt spray, not to mention a taste of the lash.”
Times 6/12/97
‘Patrick O’Brian writes as brilliantly as ever. The Fortune of War is a marvellously full-flavoured, engrossing book, which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three-decker over a ship’s longboat.’
T.J. Binyon, Times Literary Supplement
‘No one else writing in the genre today can match his erudition, humour, inventiveness and flair. With his marvellous grasp of contemporary idiom and of the feeling of the period, he brings to the stories a power and authenticity that can never fail to captivate.’
Kevin Myers, Irish Sunday Independent
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A year ago I read "Master and Commander" and was impressed. A month ago I read "Post Captain" and was hooked. Now I've read eleven of the installments of what has to be one of the great novels of the century.
"The Fortune of War" is an epic, moving installment that works on many levels. Although a Yankee, I can't help but feel for Jack and the Brits as they try to salvage some honor from the War of 1812, a rather dishonorable war for all concerned. Who could fail to be moved by the image of the Constitution holding its fire rather than destroy the helpless Java? Or Captain Lawrence tipping his hat to Jack from the deck of the Chesapeake, only to be killed immediately afterward (O'Brian doesn't mention that it was Lawrence who said "Don't give up the Ship"). The battle scenes are thrilling but tinged with regret.
In order to fit Jack and Stephen into actual historical events O'Brian has to put them into the background, and we share their anguish as one British ship after another falls victim to the tiny but tough American navy. Remember, this is during the Napoleonic wars, and the Americans were effectively allied with the Hitler of that day.
This book was apparently written with Homer in mind. Jack and Stephen are unwilling participants in historical events, when all they really want to do is to go home, Jack to a new command (so he can come back and whip the Americans) and Stephen to deliver an important message to Sir Joseph. In between battles, shipwreck, near starvation, and certain execution, O'Brian finds time to consider timeless notions of duty, honor, loyalty and freedom.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book translated in my language and i found it so interesting that i finished it in just one day. For one more time O'Brian's heroes act in land and sea and their adventures keep the interest of the reader up to the end of the book. The injury of the captain becomes the motive for a more detailed approach of the doctor's character and feelings, until action nails the reader again as is transferred from the foggy land to the open sea, where the writer unfolds for one more time his deep knowledge about seafights and battleships of the 19th century.
A very good book for a few pleasant hours of reading.
A very good book for a few pleasant hours of reading.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the sixth in the excellent series about a British Navy Captain and his friend the British Intelligence Agent but it is a little different from the previous novels. Steven Maturin the spy is definitely at center stage while Captain Aubrey mostly waits in the wings.
This book is therefore, by and large, a spy novel. After being captured with his friend by the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812, Maturin enveavours to keep the Americans from discovering that he is anything but a simple surgeon and naturalist. To make his life even more complicated, his lost love is also living in America and he struggles with his feelings toward her even as ruthless French agents seek him through the twisted streets of Boston.
But Captain Aubrey isn't entirely neglected. The English and American Navy are locked in a series of frigate battles and Aubrey and Maturin manage to be in the middle of two of them.
O'Brien upholds the outstanding reputation this series has garnered with another fine contribution.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great story, sloppy production on Kindle
I'm reading this at the moment, and have serious concerns about the product quality. In one section, two very different parts of a conversation are completely jumbled up. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Simon Gibbons
Peril at sea and on land
Ship's surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin takes an influential lead on political machinations in this volume, endangering his personal safety and bringing him into familiar circles -... Read more
Published 6 months ago by JoTownhead
Slow start - then - Bang!
Although it's something we all have to simply accept as it's a feature of many of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, this book goes absolutely nowhere for around 120 pages,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr. J. M. Haines
O' Brian charms me
A few years ago I read my first in this series, Master and Commander, I struggled a little with the depth of detail that O'Brian puts into his text. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Bigrog
brilliant
This novel continues from where the last left off - Jack and Stephen have arrived in Sumatra and are prepared for a leisurely trip home. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2008 by C. Harman
A lifeless tale masquerading as a naval epic!.
What is supposed to be a glorious story of adventure by land and sea turns out to be nothing but the personal, and very boring, misadventures of two totaly unheroic characters. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 1999
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