Fortune Of War #6 [Paperback]

 

 

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The previous volume ended with the orchestrated escape of Mrs. Wogan and Michael Herapath from Desolation Island in an American whaler, and the reader knew that "the horrible old LEOPARD" was about to forge on, too, having managed to replace her destroyed rudder. This volume begins in late 1812, with the LEOPARD limping into harbor in the East Indies, with only a sentence or two given to the fate of Gov. William Bligh in Australia -- which didn't strike me as quite fair. The historical Bligh is a very interesting personality. However. The LEOPARD is good now only as a transport, and Jack Aubrey has been told of a nice frigate awaiting his command on his return to England, so he and Dr. Maturin and their followers take homebound passage with an old acquaintance of Jack's. It's a lovely voyage as far as the mid-Atlantic, but then events catch up with them, and they find themselves in a small boat struggling to reach the coast of Brazil. They're rescued by the JAVA -- which is then taken by the CONSTITUTION, the third British frigate to fall to the small U.S. Navy in a very short time. Very depressing for our heroes, but O'Brian doesn't hesitate to laud the abilities of the American seamen and commanders. Maturin and the wounded Jack end up as prisoners of war in Boston, where Stephen Maturin's intelligence activities against Napoleonic France come back to haunt him, and where he joins up again with Diana Villiers, Herapath (father and son), and Louisa Wogan. The focus is more on Maturin in this book than in most of the others (so far), and he shows himself to be quite cold-blooded when necessary in pursuit of his covert objectives. Escape from Boston becomes necessary when it becomes obvious that no exchange is contemplated for them, and they make their way to the SHANNON, which is maintaining the blockade of Boston Harbor, and which sends in a gentlemanly challenge to the CHESAPEAKE to come out and fight -- all of which is historically accurate, though strange to modern notions of warfare. And that brief but epic engagement is where this volume ends, with an obvious segue into the next. The earlier volumes were generally self-contained narratives, with a period of unremarked time passing between them, but the present novels cover too great a series of events to be dealt with properly in a single volume. And the greater the impact they have on history, the more Jack tends to recede into a secondary position -- which is only fair, since O'Brian didn't want to perturb the historical record too greatly. I enjoyed this volume in the series rather more than the last one, perhaps because I'm more knowledgeable than most about the early National period in the U.S. and the War of 1812 in particular. O'Brian does an excellent, balanced job of describing the local political situation in New England, and his powers of characterization are as strong as ever.

An excellent book, though no less could be expected from O'Brian. I took a considerable amount of time off between Desolation Island and this book so the characters and the nautical terms were a little unfamiliar to me. After the first twenty pages or so the characters, terms and myself came together like three old friends laughing and remembering our past adventures.

O'Brian re-introduces characters from his previous books (Diana Villiers, Michael Herapath and Louisa Wogan) which I found tiresome from his previous works. In this book, however, O'Brian uses these three characters to great effect. To see my old friend Stephen Maturin become the ruthless spy I always wanted him to be was exhilirating.

This is an excellent book and should be read by anyone who professes a liking for sea stories or historical fiction. Any bibliophile who is aimlessly scanning these reviews and has not read this series should start as soon as possible. Any O'Brian fan who wants to know if this tale is as good as the others in the Aubrey-Maturin series, let not your heart be troubled, it is excellent.

As an American I found it extremely interesting to read "The Fortune of War." Fourth grade history books always gloss over the second war with Britain, now here's a book that brings it to life. My only problem: whom should I root for, our British heroes or my American countrymen?

O'Brian has managed to inject his characters into several real historical battles without allowing them to have any influence on the outcome. If the main characters don't have an influence on the outcome, what's to keep a gal reading? A lot, it turns out. Subterfuge, espionage, romance, danger, and exploration of "the human condition" made this a page-turner for me. (Though not as much as the last book, "Desolation Island.")

I recommend this book. If you liked the others, you should enjoy this one too.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Best in the series to date!
The Aubrey/Maturin series seems to get even better with each installment. The Fortune of War begins with Lucky Jack bringing his ship into port after the events of Desolation... Read more

Published on Mar 22 2001 by Bill Mac

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging
"Fortune of War" is the sixth installment in Patrick O'Brian's monumental 20-volume 19th-century maritime series. Read more

Published on Feb 24 2001 by richard_t

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazingly good novel
If you have read the first five in this series you won't need any encouragement from me for you to read this one too, but this book is just so fantastic that I just have to share... Read more

Published on Jan 16 2001 by Roger Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars Excitement by land and by sea...
In "The Fortune of War" Patrick O'Brian cranks up the action & never lets it falter. This, the 7th installment of the Aubrey/ Maturin series, starts in Java &... Read more

Published on Aug 27 2000 by L. Alper

5.0 out of 5 stars High Point
A worthy addition to the life-changing Aubrey-Maturin opus, chiefly distinguished for this reader by its heart-stopping description of an attempted assasination attempt on Maturin... Read more

Published on April 29 2000 by DAJ27@COLUMBIA.EDU

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Addition to a Great Series
A year ago I read "Master and Commander" and was impressed. A month ago I read "Post Captain" and was hooked. Read more

Published on Jun 30 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not just naval fiction, it's also a spy novel
This is the sixth in the excellent series about a British Navy Captain and his friend the British Intelligence Agent but it is a little different from the previous novels. Read more

Published on Oct 23 1997

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