Review by Booklist Review
In this intriguing sequel to his best-seller The Commodore, O'Brian once again reunites Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, surgeon Stephen Maturin. As the novel opens, Maturin returns from the Continent on an intelligence mission to find Aubrey in trouble on several fronts. Now a member of Parliament, Aubrey is resented by former friends who have been disappointed with votes he has cast. Debts and a land squabble nag at him. But his worst difficulties concern a possible promotion. Past exploits have made him a sailor of note, but naval politics and the threat of imminent peace may work to make him a dreaded "yellowed" admiral: he'll hold the rank but won't actually command a ship. Meanwhile, he and Maturin are sent out to battle the French, at which point a new round of personal and professional troubles descends. Fans of O'Brian's previous novels will find themselves well rewarded. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1996)0393040445Brian McCombie
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The 18th volume in the Aubrey/Maturin historical adventure series "is splendid storytelling from a true master," said PW in a starred review. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In this sequel to The Commodore, Jack Aubrey gratefully leaves behind his messy life ashore to pursue Napoleon, who has escaped from Gibraltar. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The 18th voyage for Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, stormy- petrel protagonists of O'Brian's utterly addictive series on life in the service of His Britannic Majesty's navy during the Napoleonic Wars (The Commodore, 1995, etc.). Having returned from a distasteful mission in West African waters, where he commanded a squadron with orders to suppress the slave trade, Aubrey is fending off a welter of lawsuits filed by aggrieved ship-owners whose vessels he seized. Abandoned by his superiors, the aging ex-captain fears he may be passed over for promotion or, worse yet, yellowed (elevated and then retired on half pay). Obliged to play country squire, the cash-strapped Aubrey (a Tory MP) makes new enemies when (as lord of the manor) he opposes enclosure of a common abutting his Dorset estate. Finally sent back to sea with his steadfast shipmate Maturin, the polymath physician who doubles as a spy for the Admiralty, the embattled mariner encounters even tougher going. Assigned to wearisome blockade duty off of Brest, he captures a French privateer laden with treasure but is charged with leaving his assigned station. Aubrey is further dispirited by a letter from his usually complaisant wife who accuses him of adultery with a Canadian lass whose billets-doux he has unwisely left about the house. Meantime, the Corsican usurper suffers a crushing defeat at Leipzig, and in anticipation of peace the Royal Navy launches the Georgian era's equivalent of a downsizing campaign. Back in England after a successful intelligence-gathering sojourn on the Continent, Maturin arranges for his old friend to assume a training command in rebellious Chile's fledgling navy. As the two sail off for South America, however, word reaches them that Napoleon has escaped from Elba and Aubrey is to head a task force patrolling the Straits of Gibraltar. Another excellent adventure, complete with period-piece arcana, for oceanic literature's oddest and arguably most appealing couple.
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