Not up to usual standard
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Keeping my review short, Patrick O'Brien has simply not put enough action into this book. It also leaves us in the middle of no where. Aubrey promoted to the Blue but no follow up book? I suppose I just like to see a completion to each book rather than being left in the air. Come on, more action please!
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Not as enjoyable as earlier novels in the series
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I agree to a certain extent with the comments of the other reviewers - the novel does not have the power of earlier books in the series. I found the South American setting rather uninteresting, and somewhat forced, as though the restrictions of the time frame of the series finally caught up with the author. I also missed the genuine humour to be found in the earlier novels. Not for nothing are readers of O'Brian likely to be readers of Wodehouse.
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Not one of the authers best, but still a good read.
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Having read all of the series this last book is not up to earlier standards. It is still a good read and for followers of Aubrey and Maturin, it is an essential. It does not have the spark that first enticed me to the series, nor the exitement of the younger years. But like life, the series progressed through to a fitting conclusion with this book.
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Very disappointing conclusion to a fantastic series
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I read all of the Patrick O'Brien books over the space of three months. Some of the early ones were truly outstanding; many of the later ones were a little more formulaic, but still mostly gripping and written with a real feel for the period and the subject. By the time we get to this book, the well has run dry. This is a pedestrian, disjointed and disappointing addition to one of the (or even THE) most satisfying collections of stories of its type in the English language. Unexciting, unimaginitive, boring.
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Middle age sets in...
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In "Blue at the Mizzen" O'Brian has continued to do what he started to do at the beginning of his series. He has portrayed two men passing through their lives from first youth to the end of their careers. The heroes are shown from their own points of view. In "Master and Commander", at the beginning of their friendship, Maturin asks himself what Aubrey will be like when the habit of command, and the inflexibility of age has corrupted him. In this book I suspect that we are getting the answer. That answer applies to both men, not just Aubrey. So what does the book show? Two rather selfish, insensible late middle aged men. They aren't wicked, and they are both very competent, but they are both completely mired in their own conceit. Neither has very much time for other people, or for novelty of any kind. Maturin succeeds in his quest for Mrs. Wood, and then promptly despatches her to England to get on well with his daughter. It is only to be hoped that both women are as insensible as he is! At only one point does reality break through, when Aubrey breaks down in tears over his wife's loyalty and perseverance . This small glimmer of life is soon submerged in the run of his more interesting career. The careers themselves have also worn their way into their grooves. From reading these books you would never guess that steamboats were afloat at the time. Aubrey doesn't even begin to consider the lives of the people under his command. Maturin is still convinced that everyone loves him for his surgical abilities, but he hardly ever demonstrates these. Perhaps O'Brian might shatter their world, and reveal them as the dinosaurs they are becoming. Perhaps he intends to, but not yet...
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