After reading the entire Aubrey/Maturin series, I came to this, my first encounter with an audio version, with trepidation. Would it spoil my 'inner vision' of the remarkable naval world created by O'Brian?

However my fears were unfounded. Robert Hardy conveys the multi-faceted pleasures of O'Brian's writing with real enthusiasm, and his excellent vocal characterisations endow the Sophie's Captain and crew with an extra dimension (his Maturin is much better than my imagined one). I found myself enjoying the story almost as though I were experiencing it for the first time.

At 4.5 hours this is a long audio book, good value even if you have already read the book and a superb introduction to the series for anyone venturing aboard for the first time.