The Hundred Days: Aubrey/Maturin series, book 19
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The year is 1815, and Europe's most unpopular (not to mention tiniest) empire-builder has escaped from Elba. In The Hundred Days, it's up to Jack Aubrey--and surgeon-cum-spymaster Stephen Maturin--to stop Napoleon in his tracks. How? For starters, Aubrey and his squadron have been dispatched to the Adriatic coast, to keep Bonapartist shipbuilders from beefing up the French navy. Meanwhile, one Sheik Ibn Hazm is fomenting an Islamic uprising against the Allies. The only way to halt this manoeuvre is to intercept the sheikh's shipment of gold--because in the Napoleonic era, as in our own, even the most ardent of mercenaries requires a salary.
The Hundred Days is the 19th (and, we are told, the penultimate) instalment of O'Brian's epic. Like many of its predecessors, it features a swashbuckling plot, complete with cannon fire, exotic disguises and Aubrey's suspenseful, slow-motion pursuit of an Algerian xebek. Yet it never turns into a mere exercise in Hornblowerism. In part, this is due to O'Brian's delicate touch with character--the relationship between extroverted Aubrey and introverted Maturin has deepened with each book, and even Aubrey's reunion with his childhood companion Queenie Keith is full of novelistic nuance: "They sat smiling at one another. An odd pair: handsome creatures both, but they might have been of the same sex or neither." Nor does the author focus too exclusively on his dynamic duo. Indeed, The Hundred Days is very much a chronicle of a floating community, which Maturin describes as "his own village, his own ship's company, that complex entity so much more easily sensed than described: part of his natural habitat."
Finally, O'Brian shows his usual expertise in balancing the great events with the most minuscule ones. Other authors have written about battles at sea, and still others have recorded the rapid rise and fall of Napoleon's fortunes after his escape from confinement. But who else would give equal time--and an equal charge of delight--to Maturin's discovery of an anomalous nuthatch? --James Marcus --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Read with his customary salty zest by Robert Hardy”
Guardian 12/12/98
“Robert Hardy is just right as the narrator of this well-abridged audio book.”
Home and Country January 1999
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Captain Aubrey leads a small squadron in the Mediterranean, with orders to sabotage new French ships a-building along the Dalmatian coast, and to intercept a treasure on the way from North Africa to the French. There are some momentous personal experiences (which I obviously don't tell you, not wanting to spoil the story).
If you're new to the Aubrey/Maturin stories, DO NOT START WITH THIS BOOK: go right to the beginning, Master and Commander, and begin there. You have the treat of a lifetime ahead of you, you lucky thing! But this is the 19th in a series, and it pays to know the personalities, the backstory, the authorial foibles. Yes, I agree with other reviewers, this is not the strongest book in the series, and there are some really sad moments; but there is nothing, nothing, to persuade me to give fewer than five stars (and I do not give five stars easily!). For the admirer, there is much to enjoy in this story; for the comparer, there are none to touch O'Brian and his heroes.
If you're new to the Aubrey/Maturin stories, DO NOT START WITH THIS BOOK: go right to the beginning, Master and Commander, and begin there. You have the treat of a lifetime ahead of you, you lucky thing! But this is the 19th in a series, and it pays to know the personalities, the backstory, the authorial foibles. Yes, I agree with other reviewers, this is not the strongest book in the series, and there are some really sad moments; but there is nothing, nothing, to persuade me to give fewer than five stars (and I do not give five stars easily!). For the admirer, there is much to enjoy in this story; for the comparer, there are none to touch O'Brian and his heroes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Once again a triumph for a wonderful author in every respect. He brings not only his characters to life but injects into his stories a wonderful sense of humour using the language of the period. As always a thoroughly good read.The Hundred Days
Format:Paperback
Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin's latest mission sees them entangled in swifly-changing politics in foreign parts - stretching their respective problem-solving skills to the limit. The loss of a family member and familiar crew members is deeply felt, but humourous episodes lift the narrative as usual. Increasingly, Jack's concerns centre on his future career progression.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian
I'm a big fan of historical novels, and if they are sea stories so much the better. 'The Hundred Days' is yet another gem in a glittering series. Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. J. Cooper
?
Book arrived quickly and in good condition, have not read it yet, it is to make up a set and have not got that far in the series yet. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Michael Grifffiths
Aubrey and Maturin bring a new slant to Napoleon's return
Aubrey and Maturin return to the Mediterranean in this adventure. Their Ionian experience is made use of to intervene in an attempt by the Corsair States of North Africa to fund... Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2000
A disappointing, disjointed continuation of a superb series
The Aubrey-Maturin books are absolutely wonderful, but the Hundred Days isn't. Maybe the author is getting old and lazy. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 1999
Sad stuff?
This is a terribly disappointing book. I've long admired O'Brian and think him the finest writer of his generation. Read more
Published on 3 April 1999
..in which the author meets his Waterloo
I ploughed on, in ever-fading hope that somehow Mr O'Brian might break the surface from the sunken depths of 'The Far Side of the World' (the last 3 words of that title should... Read more
Published on 24 Nov 1998
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