Aubrey?Maturin series better known as Master and Commander

[djheater]

Guy at work has been prodding me about it for the last couple of years.
Now I firmly believe it's great, even though I haven't read it, due to his persistent brainwashing.

I'm in the market for a fiction series, and I'm a big fan of 17th 18th century period stuff anyway, so this seems right up my alley.

My only exposure to nautical works of the period are Moby Dick and Two Years Before the Mast, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Anybody read it? Thoughts?

 

[Tuktuk]

arrrrrrrrrrrrr matey

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: Tuktuk
arrrrrrrrrrrrr matey

heh.

This might be latent pastafanarianism rearing it's head. I can't deny it.

 

[K1052]

Didn't read the book but I saw the movie and am aware of the historical aspects.

Only in English fiction does a beat up Royal Navy Brig go up against an American 44 gun frigate and come out on top.




Ok, to be fair the Suprise was supposed to be a frigate.

 

[Gibsons]

I've heard they're very good, but haven't read any yet.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: K1052
Didn't read the book but I saw the movie and am aware of the historical aspects.

Only in English fiction does a beat up Royal Navy Brig go up against an American 44 gun frigate and come out on top.

We all know that when Americans won it was by taking advantage of circumstance and Britain's tendency to stick to protocol.

Not that I'm taking disputing what you're saying, it's just your jingoist tone.

The British had the superior military at the time, no dispute.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: K1052
Didn't read the book but I saw the movie and am aware of the historical aspects.

Only in English fiction does a beat up Royal Navy Brig go up against an American 44 gun frigate and come out on top.

We all know that when Americans won it was by taking advantage of circumstance and Britain's tendency to stick to protocol.

Not that I'm taking disputing what you're saying, it's just your jingoist tone.

The British had the superior military at the time, no dispute.

In the War of 1812 the US navy was but a flyspeck to the Royal Navy in numbers and perceived quality. It was generally considered that the Royal Navy couldn't be beaten buy any American ship which they considered to be of inferior design/manning.

Enter the six 44 gun frigates of Joshua Humphreys. When manned and commanded by a decent crew in a state of readiness they proved themselves more than a match for any Royal Navy frigate. The British Admiralty in fact quietly issued orders to their frigate commanders that they were forbidden to engage the American 44 gunners in single combat after they started losing ships to them. This was almost unthinkable to the vaunted RN and the English people.

 

[GasX]

I am on the 5th or 6th book. I enjoy them immensely (big fan of historical fiction), but they can get a bit bogged down in period language - especialy in regard to Dr Maturin's character.

I also recomend Horatio Hornblower series and the Fox series (starts with a book entitled Fox: The Press Gang)

 

[Apathetic]

If you like 18th century naval books, you'll probably love the series (I do).

Which reminds me, I need to order the 12th book soon.

Dave

 

[GasX]

I just checked my bookshelf as I knew there was another series. If you like the action aspect of Napoleonic naval warfare, I highly recommend Dewey Lambdin's books - The Alan Lewrie series.

It starts with The King's Coat and there are about 13 books in all. I am up to number 5 in that series.

 

[joecool]

funny you should post this, i was about to troll for aubrey-maturin fans myself. i started reading the books before christmas and am now on #17 - the commodore. simply put, i LOVE these books! obrian does a fantastic job of pulling the reader in to the time period - from the naval settings and language, to the food and dress, to the world view of someone living in that era (well, and english someone, anyway). at this point i truly feel like jack and stephen are good friends, and eager tho i am to keep reading to see how their lives end up, i shall miss them when i finally finish 21 in a few weeks.

as far as how easy/hard they are to read, despite my sailors background, i still struggle with some of the naval terms, and some of the longer descriptions of stephens naturalist adventures can get dull (i'm definitely NOT a naturalist!). i will admit to skimming some passages. that said, i think when i'm done i'll probably read them all again, more slowly, with a naval dictionary close at hand, to better appreciate the details of the narrative.

enjoy!

btw, while the surprise may only be a 28 gun frigate, she is lead by a crack captain with a crack crew, most lively at the guns, and can bring three broadsides in three minutes, a feat not equaled by any other ship in his majesties navy. the 44 gun american frigates may have been tough to crack, but if anybody could do it, lucky jack could! (tho, parenthetically he never did - they cheated in the movie. In reality Jack took the Cagafuego, a 32 gun xebec, with the Sophie - also a great naval feat, but not really comparable to taking a 44 gun frigate!)