Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin Novels

Onomea

Onomea

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Any other fans out there?

The novels are about an English Royal Navy sea captain and his friend, a medical doctor and intelligence agent, during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. The navy battles depicted are all based on actual sea battles. The depiction of naval life at the time, the manners and customs of the day, even the language spoken, are very accurate, being extensively researched.

O’Brian, deceased these twenty years or so, has a devoted readership. I have been a fan since the 1990s, and recently had the good fortune to acquire a boxed set of five hardbound volumes of the complete series at a good price, so have spent the summer rereading them.

I find the series very relaxing, even soothing, reading. The descriptions of the ships, and how they are sailed, remind me of an extremely beautiful but equally complicated Swiss watch, one that must be, and always is, adjusted in accord with the myriad constantly changing conditions it faces. The sailing ships of the day were extremely sophisticated, intricate machines. The men who sailed and fought them were prodigiously talented and skilled.

The novels are their own, self contained world, which, I think, is always a great pleasure for the reader. One does not need to be a sailor to appreciate the novels, although many sailors do.

(I tried to paste some links in here, too, to WSJ and NYT — “the greatest historical novels ever written” — reviews, as well as a Wikipedia article, but, for reasons that escape me, doing so, when posted, renders my apostrophes into gobbledegook. For those with interest, I encourage you to Google the many reviews and articles about the series.)
 
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I enjoy those novels as well.

I began with the Horatio Hornblower series and, when I’d finished all of them, I was fortunate enough to stumble on O’Brian’s works— all before Amazon or the internet!
 
I have done a lot of sailing and I really like the series.
Captain Aubrey is a brave and intelligent sailor at sea, and a fool when at shore.
Dr. Maturin is brilliant everywhere.
My wife likes Jane Austin novels, which took place at the approximate time.
A lot of history.
I also like the Hornblower stories. The same era.
Naval ships would keep fighting after peace was declared, due to not knowing the news. Any news and orders that the Captains received was delivered by Picket boats, if they could find the fleets.

Best,
Rick
 
Me too! :)

I started with the Hornblower series, then discovered Alexander Kent’s Richard Bolitho novels, then moved onto land with Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels, and finally discovered the charms of O’Brien after the “Master and Commander” movie.

So I’ve got the Napoleonic Wars fictionally well-covered. Haven’t made it through “War and Peace” yet, though ... ;)
 
Oddly, I have never read C.S. Forester’s Hornblower series. Until looking them up just now, I had always assumed they were written primarily for children.

For those who have read both O’Brian and Forester’s seagoing sagas, how do they compare? And, would you recommend beginning with the first written or reading them chronologically?
 
You’ll love the Hornblower novels.

Among other things, they provide a much better picture of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic wars than O’Brien does.
 
Onomea said:
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For those who have read both O’Brian and Forester’s seagoing sagas, how do they compare? And, would you recommend beginning with the first written or reading them chronologically?
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It’s been several years so I’m not up to detailed comparisons between Forester and O’Brian. Style-wise, I actually remember liking Alexander Kent’s books best; he was really Douglas Reeman, a Royal Navy officer who served in WW II and Korea and wrote quite a few books about that era too under his real name.

I think it definitely makes sense to read Forester’s novels in chronological sequence of Hornblower’s career.

And for a giggle, check out the Hornblower made-for-TV films from about 20 years ago, starring Ioan Gruffudd. The episode “Frogs and Lobsters” is a real hoot, mostly unintentionally, but good fun ;)

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYhly8c1GME[/ame]
 
Thoroughly enjoyed O’Brien’s Master and Commander series. Read all 20 plus the unfinished number 21. That one was a challenge to read as it was unfinished and hand written, but it was O’Brien, so good enough. His writing style was as enjoyable as the stories themselves. A Winters night with a good fire going, a fine Bourbon to sip and “HMS Surprise”, “The Reverse of the Medal” or “Clarissa Oakes (the Truelove in the US). What a fine evening that can be. I’ll be starting a re-read of the series since it’s been a couple of years now that I finished my first pass thru them.
I’ve read some of C.S. Forster work (The Good Shepherd, The African Queen to name a few) and enjoyed them but have not made it to his Hornblower series. Should give them a try.
 
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For Kindle readers, C.S. Forester’s The Happy Return (AKA Beat to Quarters) is available for free, and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower for $2.99 on Amazon just now. (The former is the first published and the latter the first chronologically.)
 
I have read both series of books at least twice. I prefer the Aubrey books to Hornblower. Both are worth a read.

C.S. Forester's The General is an excellent insight into the changes wrought by WWI. The General of the title goes to France with a cavalry unit expecting a glorious war. Eventually asks for barbed wire and more machine guns.
 
i read all of Forester's Hornblower series as a young adult. I have read all of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books as an older adult. I enjoyed both very much.

Another author with a large number of historical fiction books is Bernard Cornwell. The Sharpe's Rifles books, set in the Peninsular Campaign, are also very good, but Cornwell branches out to many other areas of history.
 
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Another one here who had difficulty reading the unpublished 21. While it was a wonderful insight into the process used it wasn't easily read.
 
The Master and Commander series is truly a masterpiece. One of the very few series of books that can enjoyably be read far more often than once. I greatly enjoyed the insight into the customs of the times, such as the "sponging houses for the indebted" and many more. Maturin's character is truly a renaissance man and a terrific counterpoint to the Captain. The series surely should be read in sequence so you can follow Aubrey's progress (and lack of!) through the Navy.
 
Sistema1927 said:
i read all of Forester's Hornblower series as a young adult. I have read all of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books as an older adult. I enjoyed both very much.

Another author with a large number of historical fiction books is Bernard Cornwell. The Sharpe's Rifles books, set in the Peninsular Campaign, are also very good, but Cornwell branches out to many other areas of history.
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I have read nearly all of the Aubrey-Maturin series and have just started Foresters Hornblower series. I have read nearly everything Bernard Cornwell has ever written. He is one of my all-time favorite authors. The Netflix series The Last Kingdom, based on his books, is what my wife and I are currently watching. It seems that Cornwell is actually a descendant of the main character.
 
bigolddave said:
The only problem with the series is the same one that dogs the Cornwell Sharpe's Rifles series. Eventually the Napoleonic Wars had to end!
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That was one of the nice things about Kent’s Bolitho series. While Forester and O’Brian stick to the Revolutionary/Napoleonic War period, Midshipman Bolitho starts out in 1772 in the first book and gets to experience the entire American Revolutionary period; he has already got about a dozen novels in by the time he joins the time Hornblower’s and Aubrey/Maturin’s adventures start. And after Admiral Bolitho is killed in battle in 1815, his nephew, also a Navy officer, takes over in a few final novels, for a total of 30.

Bernard Cornwell did take a different approach. When Sharpe’s Napoleonic career approached its chronological end, he jumped back with prequels about Sharpe’s service in India. I found those particularly interesting. I considered myself reasonably well-read in military history, but that whole era of the Mysore and Mahrata Wars and the battles of Seringapatam and Assaye was largely unknown to me.
 
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Any Flashman fans? A series by [FONT=&quot]George MacDonald Fraser featuring an abject coward who seems to come up a hero. Good period detail and wry, cynical humor.[/FONT]
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I read the Patrick O’Brian series start to finish, long before the movie came out. I found them addictive and compelling. What stood out for me was the language, and the light shed on the origins of so many contemporary idiomatic expressions. I had no idea....
 
This time around, I was more aware of the many subtle puns, hilarious malapropisms, and other wordplay that O’Brian weaves into the conversations of the characters, sometimes in foreign languages, usually French. He was quite a linguist, translating Simone de Beauvoire, for example. Also, early on, published a biography of Picasso.

He was an erudite man, and also a deliberately mysterious one, who obscured his background from journalists and curious public, creating his own “legend,” to use an intelligence term.

Quite an interesting character.

I read, back in the 1990s, some of the Flashman books. Pretty funny stuff!
 
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