The fourth volume in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. Now married to the beautiful Sophie, Captain Jack Aubrey must cope with two extremely difficult colleagues--one a dissolute rake, the other a brutal martinet--on a mission to take the island of Mauritius from the French.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
"Book 4 in the Aubrey/Maturin series opens with a glimpse of a domesticated Aubrey, but before long, Aubrey is placed in command of a squadron of ships whose mission is to wrest two strategic islands from the French. There is a good amount of action, as well as naval strategy and also politics behind the scenes. And as always, O'Brian's vividly portrayed characters and lively dialogue. Excellent."
"This is my fourth O'Brian book and I guess I'm going to spend the summer reading all of them! The Mauritius Command follows Stephen Maturin and his friend, Captain Jack Aubrey, as they further advance their naval careers. Patrick O'Brian has done another brilliant job of recounting the life of British seaman and officers in nineteenth century conflicts. His characters, main and secondary, are maturing in a convincing way in both their professional and personal lives. This adventure finds Captain Aubrey commanding a fleet of ships in a complex battle and situation. Blood, guts and gore abound during the fights and there are double dealing politics as usual. O'Brian somehow manages to let the reader in on the managerial challenges facing Aubrey while the battle rages adding an extra dimension to the story. I've resorted to consulting a couple of web sites to get a better understanding of the various types of ships of the era as well and to improve my knowledge of the terminology. It is amazing to me how many nineteenth century British naval terms are still used regularly in our vernacular. Who knew?"
"I love Patrick O'Brian, and Jack Aubrey, and Stephen Maturin very much. This book just felt sort of in-between.... like a space holder with some character development and stuff. A way to move the characters from the end of HMS Surprise on to wherever they're going next. It didn't feel like a story by itself. Another problem was that I had this one on recorded book, and while the narrator was wonderful, I generally listened to it while I was doing something else, so it didn't get the undivided attention that I usually give this particular author. I'm going back to print for book 5."
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