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Amazon.com: 4.2 out of 5 stars (104 customer reviews)

882 of 893 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great novels in a fine format, but BEWARE OF BAD EDITING, Dec 23 2004

By R L Rodolfo-Sioson - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

Ardent fans of Patrick O'Brian know that he is one of the best kept secrets of English literature. His ability to project the complex, at times contradictory inner life of his characters -- and Aubrey and Maturin are certainly among the most fascinating ever to be inked upon paper -- allow this 20-novel cycle to transcend the usual narrow focus of the Traditional Sea Novel. O'Brian is not content with narratives merely devoted to warfare or adventure (although there's plenty to be had here): he also delights in portraying the conventions of English society, the developments in early 19th-century science (through Maturin's incessant experimentation), and various scenes of amateur music-making.

An omnibus edition of the series is a welcome notion, given the shelf space required by 20 volumes (even in paperback)! While I am no connoisseur of typefaces, the font used in re-setting the text is 'cleaner' and more attractive than the one used previously -- which is extremely important if you plan to traverse the 6500-plus pages of the omnibus edition!

But I have a major reservation with Norton's omnibus edition: there is little evidence that the publishers bothered to proofread their newly re-set text. Not only are there the usual, minor misspellings (like 'sorpething' instead of 'something'), but some far more problematic ones -- the kind that leave you with the nagging feeling: "surely O'Brian didn't write that." My favorite (so far) is in Book Two (Post Captain), which describes Canning's "great delighted laugh, a crowing noise that rose from a deep ass..." (see page 738). Checking the text of the previous hardback and paperback edition confirmed that O'Brian referred to Canning's vocal range ("bass"), not his nether regions.

Another serious problem with the omnibus text is the recurring omission of paragraph breaks used to mark alternating voices. Including more than one speaker within the same paragraph makes for some very confusing, even misleading passages. One should know that Norton's previous editions laid out the dialogue much more clearly (and consistently).

So, in a certain sense, this new edition is probably not the best introduction to O'Brian's multi-volume masterpiece. Newcomers should, if possible, go back to the previous edition which, after all, is still in print. Cheaper too, if you don't mind getting paperbacks.

344 of 350 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Living Work of Genius Assassinated, May 21 2006

By Ted Insul - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

Norton's compilation of O'Brian's masterly Aubrey/Maturin novels is an affront to every O'Brian fan, every reader or writer of good English, and every publisher of integrity and worth. This set of volumes is a sad example of publishing for profit with no thought to quality.

What passed for galleys were obviously scanned and digitized by a pack of non-caring, barely English-speaking pinchpennies. It is obvious that little or no effort was made to proof pages once the scanners had done their worst, turning words like "home" into "horne" and phrases like "not sail or spar" into "not sailor spar." Almost every page is sprinkled with nonsensical punctuation, the obvious and predictable result of detritus that any self-respecting digitizer would have cleaned from equipment or copy before beginning each scan. Worse, paragraphs are wrongly divided, so that O'Brian's lively dialogue becomes difficult -- at times impossible -- to follow.

In their original form, O'Brian's finely crafted phrases read as if one were hearing a tale spoken aloud by a master storyteller. In Norton's compilation, O'Brian's magic is turned to clunkery at best and gibberish at worst.

O'Brian is a genius. Read his work. But not in this edition. If you know people who work at Norton, teach your dog to lift his leg on their shoes.

140 of 141 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Typographical eye-strain, Dec 5 2004

By Chili - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Hardcover)

I'll rate this collection at three stars because the story is amazing. The books appear to be well constructed and solid. I'm convinced they will last longer than I will! However, the appalling amount of typographical errors is really annoying! Just about the time I get myself thoroughly transported through time to another world my eye skips over another typo and trips my suspension of disbelief. I've only read through the first two volumes of this set and I can't even begin to count the glaring errors. I certainly hope the publishers will re-issue this set of books after some careful editing.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 104 reviews 4.2 out of 5 stars