Aubrey and Maturin (The Thirteen Gun Salute, p. 496; The Surgeon's
Mate - see below) sail again. This time it's to The Meal to
blockade the French fleet in Toulon. Fickle westerlies, however,
blow them to the Aegean, and political currents put them in the
middle of Ottoman affairs. Sinking into debt (thanks to his idiotic
investments) and out of favor with their Lords of the Admiralty
(thanks to his politically rash father), Captain Jack Aubrey misses
the chance for a top-rate new ship and has to settle for H.M.S.
Worcester, an ancient, leaky man-of-war. Undignified as the
assignment may be, Aubrey is quite pleased to be able to sail away
from Britain. He can't get things right on shore, but he is quick
enough to put Worcester to trim, taking slack out of the sails and
the crew until Worcester is the ablest ship in the line bottling up
Napoleon's navy in Toulon. Meanwhile, of course, Aubrey's old
friend Stephen Maturin, at last married to the woman he has
followed to numerous hemispheres, is with him. The French toy with
the English, trying to sneak through the blockade, but there are no
conclusive actions. Maturin is eventually assigned a little
espionage duty, and there is a hair-raising infiltration of the
enemy coast. When Worcester at last gives up the ghost after one
too many skirmishes, Aubrey transfers his pennant to the smaller,
swifter Surprise and follows orders to sail to the Greek islands to
tinker with the balance of power at the fringes of the Turkish
empire. Splendid adventures at a stately pace. (Kirkus Reviews)
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, veterans of many battles, return in this novel to the seas where they first sailed as shipmates. But Jack is now a senior Captain commanding a line-of-battle ship sent out to reinforce the squadron blockading Toulon, and this is a longer, harder, colder war than the dashing frigate action of his early days.
A sudden turn of events takes him and Stephen off on a hazardous mission to the Greek islands. All his old skills of seamanship, and his proverbial luck when fighting against odds, come triumphantly into their own. The book ends with as fierce and thrilling an action as any in this magnificent series of novels.
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Thu, 18 Aug 2022 | Review
by: Eddie W.
Good read as always
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