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So I recently started reading these after rewatching the movie for the first time since it was in cinemas and I'm loving it. I just finished up Post Captain, which felt a bit disjointed, how was the first book received? Post feels like a slight reset after the first one took off more than expected? Spoilers from here, although I don't think there isn't anything in here that isn't in the blurb for the book Anyway, my question is, how exactly did Aubrey end up in so much debt? I must have missed something important and I think I'm not entirely sure on how the prize agent system works. So when they take a ship, it goes to a naval court to be decided on how to be divided up, and your prize-agent lobbies on your behalf for the best share of that prize? How did he end up owing some other debtors if the prize-agent ran away with the money? Was it because he spent big on that estate before he'd actually received the money? Wouldn't the Cacafuego have covered for anything like that? I kind of read it in two big chunks on either side of the Christmas break so I may have forgotten an important detail over that period. Also, would a giant bear costume really have worked? Were the people that easily taken? How the hell do you get a bear costume in wartime France anyway? That whole scene, while fun, seemed really out of place to me. screaden fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Jan 25, 2023 |
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Jan 25, 2023 00:17
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Arglebargle III posted:and he was sued by neutral owners for monetary damages from seizing and condemning their ships which he had no right to do. Ah this was the part I must have overlooked somehow. Is it noted who the Cacafuego actually belonged to?
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Jan 25, 2023 00:51
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I wish I had a better understanding of the ship terminology and whatnot to fully understand how crappy the Polychrest was supposed to be
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Jan 25, 2023 01:01
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jazzyjay posted:Still on prize money, the distribution was fixed as such: The value of a prize’s cargo was divided into eighths, with the captain taking 3/8 (but losing one to the admiral, if any, under whose orders he was sailing), officers, chaplains, and surgeon sharing 2/8 between them, midshipmen, lower ranking warrant officers, and Marine Sergeants sharing 1/8, and the rest of the ship’s company, sometimes hundreds of men, sharing the final 2/8. The imgur link seems to be busted? Oh also thanks for the link to the Enterprize, I had no idea something like that existed so close to me, definitely going to have to check it out soon.
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Jan 25, 2023 03:17
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jazzyjay posted:Bah, I'm phone posting with the Imgur app and it's acting up. It was just a sailplan from wiki so added in the link I'm originally from Geelong so I got it easy by the looks of things
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Jan 25, 2023 04:11
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Pwnstar posted:Jack being incredulous that Stephen broke his promise not to consort with vampires and doesn't even have the decency to be embarrassed about it. Haha I just got up to this bit and had a little chuckle, also his insistence on being naked when returned to the ship.
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Feb 8, 2023 00:59
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 Have been trawling second hand bookshops lately to try and collect the series and came across these and just had to pick them up
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Apr 1, 2023 09:48
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Finished up Desolation Island last night, I think every new book becomes my favourite, with maybe swapping M&C and Post Captain around, I loved Mauritius Command but Desolation has taken it's place as my current favourite. I went straight on in to The Fortune of War and just lol at Stephen getting hurling and cricket mixed up and just destroying Jack's wicket. The description of the fielders knowing this guy doesn't know what he's doing and all coming in nice and close is absolutely spot on too, I've been in that position a few times because I'm not much of a batter, but at least I knew what game I was playing.
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Apr 4, 2023 02:03
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It's not fully explained because I'm assuming it's one of those things you'd probably know if you lived in that world, but what was Forshaw's punishment in relation to Jack's question about Abraham on the La Fléche? He mentions to Bonden about tying him to one of the cannons.
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Apr 7, 2023 11:27
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Oh it's really that simple huh
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Apr 7, 2023 11:42
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That was definitely my reading of it
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Apr 7, 2023 15:04
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Finished up The Surgeon's Mate last night and I think this might be the first book that hasn't supplanted the previous as my favourite, Fortune of War was great and it was refreshing to see Stephen in his element (in a way I guess) sneaking around Boston and loving the American's poo poo up. To me Surgeon's Mate felt it took a too similar line to Fortune of War with the second and third acts and having Duhamel spring them from jail felt a little anticlimactic after having Jack on the absolute verge of breaking them out, although it had some fun comedy with Jack basically being like "these fuckin' guys are useless" and Jagiello just inadvertently charming every woman he comes across. It also felt like the most light hearted of the books so far, I know they all have their moments but this definitely felt like the most sustained, especially with Jagiello seeming to be the comedic foil for just about every other character. Anyway, moving on to the next one tonight.
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Apr 26, 2023 02:20
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Genghis Cohen posted:An interesting one on that - the broad strokes of the denouement you found anticlimactic (I don't know about the details) are directly taken from the life of Sir Sidney Smith. I did see that on the wiki, but yeah it felt a little odd after so much time and words dedicated to their escape attempts, an extremely minor complaint over all though and the interceding passages of the French trying to break Stephen were really good. Anyway, got started on Ionian Mission last night and once again loling at Stephen loving up a game in his attempt at playing pool/billiards.
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Apr 28, 2023 01:43
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Double posting but I'm halfway through Ionian Mission at the moment and it's a bit of an odd duck. I get that it's kind of the point to show the boredom of the blockade assignment by having not a whole lot happen but the minutiae of being in the service out at sea. Luckily it still manages to remain interesting with all the cultural and social descriptions of life on board a ship though, like them getting ready to perform Hamlet, Jack worrying it might be too difficult for them, Jack getting a bunch of instruments for the hands, the cooks reserving the blood from the animals for prop work...but now I'm itching for something to happen.
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May 4, 2023 01:28
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Took a little break from reading these but finished up Ionian Mission the other day. Probably my least favourite of them so far, it really just felt oddly paced to me, like there is a lot of meandering until the last quarter? the last fifth even where it felt like the main meat of the story got crammed in, and it ends so abruptly, so much so I had to double check to make sure my copy wasn't missing some pages or something. It felt weirdly unfinished to me. Anyway I still enjoyed it because even the worst day O'Brian'ing is miles ahead of most other writers. I read the first part of the Lord of the Rings in the meantime and remembered how much I loathe poetry and lyrics in books, and every time I see that centre justified italics in LotR I have to steel myself to get through to the stuff I give a poo poo about (I'm going to assume this is heresy to some), yet ironically the part I came back to after my little break was the poetry competition between the captains and I was completely absorbed by it the whole time. Anyway I rolled straight in to Treason's Harbour and already the setup tells me I'm going to enjoy this one as it seems like it's going to follow the feel of Fortune of War.
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Jun 5, 2023 02:29
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Huggybear posted:Oh I didn't realize you were the Grand Arbiter of Takes on on fantasy football twitter and therefore your opinion is automatically superior to mine. Congratulations, you seem both arrogant and, to borrow one of Stephen's favorite descriptors, "deeply stupid" at the same time. He had zero patience for people like that, interestingly. Have you ever had your nose wrung by a diminutive, yellowish, Irish-Catalanian bastard physician? Wowzers
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Jun 8, 2023 03:42
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Finished up Far Side of the World, this one really felt like Desolation Island redux but not quite as good, I very much enjoyed marooned Jack and Stephen (although I wish it went on a bit more) and the further development of Martin's character and then the tension between them and the Americans, and going back to a more Jack/ship sailing focused story compared to Treason's Harbour. I also love his descriptions of ships trying to weather a storm, captures that feeling (or what I imagine it would be like) so well. Now I just have to wait for my copy of Reverse of the Medal to arrive so I can crack on to the next few.
screaden fucked around with this message at 06:18 on Jul 3, 2023 |
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Jul 3, 2023 06:16
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Finished up Reverse of the Medal last night, this was a drat good one. I know a lot attention is given to the sailing side of the books and that reputation is well deserved but he's also so drat good at the spycraft stuff, and most of the time it's just Stephen's internal monologue or chatting with Blaine, but I love it, Fortune of War so far has my favourite Stephen moments when he gets a chance to really let loose so this one was a nice little detour from the sailing stuff. All the sailors from all over the country coming out to support Jack was a great moment too, a perfect capper to that whole story. I've been reading https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426215.The_Command_of_the_Ocean in chunks in between books and learning about the history of the Navy and it's provided some neat context to some of the stuff in the books, like in Reverse it absolutely tracks that the government severely misjudged the feelings of the people when it came to the service. Seeing Jack's unwavering resolve and belief in the service being completely shattered was kinda depressing though.
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Jul 21, 2023 00:46
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Mulaney Power Move posted:You might even like The Letter of Marque better. Very good Stephen moments and you get to read about Aubrey coping with being a privateer/putting pride before politics. Plus we are introduced to the Sethians and Shelmerston. I won't spoil anything else. Tace is Latin for a candlestick. Yep, I moved straight on to that one but it was a busy weekend so I'm only 30 or so pages in but I can already feel that side of Jack coming out. I think it was a few pages back where someone pointed out how the stories get separated in to loose series, but to me it feels like Master and Commander and Post Captain make up an entry series, then HMS Surprise through to Surgeon's Mate make up a second series, and then Ionian Mission through to Reverse of the Medal make up a third and now Letter of Marque is starting up a new one, even the structure of Reverse of the Medal felt much more final than the books that came before it, and so far it feels like Letter of Marque is starting up a bit more traditionally. Anyway, my last lot of books have come, I'm so very close to finishing up the set. 
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Jul 24, 2023 01:22
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I feel like Post Captain is kind of integral in setting up a lot of very long and very important storyb and character threads that continue on though the stories that you shouldn't skip it. Also I don't know why the other person said it was the shortest, I think it might actually be the longest of the entire series which works against it.
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Sep 9, 2023 18:14
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Yeah Post Captain wasn't my favourite but I'm already planning to basically start the series again the second I've finished Blue at the Mizzen and I am actually really looking forward to getting back to Post Captain. Was it that one that had Jack say of Stephen, "watch out, my man is deadly"? Because what a great line.Kylaer posted:It's definitely the longest in the series but that's because all the other ones are really short Alright that's fair.
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Sep 11, 2023 02:18
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AngusPodgorny posted:There must be something wrong with me, because I just finished The Far Side of the World and was thinking it needed more non-ship sections. I also like Jane Austen, so that might be why I apparently appreciated Post Captain more than most people. I mentioned this a little while ago, because while the sailing aspect is the thing everyone talks about in these books I think he is equally as skilled with writing spycraft stuff on shore. Fortune of War is my favourite because of how much we get to see of Stephen being a spy in Boston. I finished up Nutmeg over the weekend, I feel like Patrick O'Brian must really loving hate Australia because drat every character just shits all over it, but it was fun to read about Stephen trekking through areas I know quite well and have visited. Stephens reunion with Padeen in the hospital was very sweet and touching, and I like how after dropping off the Islander girls at the orphanage he recognises Jemmy Ducks' distress and is like, "here's some money, the pub is over there and I'll see you tomorrow"
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Sep 18, 2023 04:15
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skasion posted:O’Brian says in one of these that his vision of early Australia (very early, the colony was like 20 years old when they showed up) is based on the nonfiction book The Fatal Shore. which is itself an interesting read, makes it seem pretty much unbearably bleak and oppressive existence at that stage, with a tiny population who almost all didn’t want to be there. Actually I've heard of that, I might have to add it to the list.
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Sep 18, 2023 05:09
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Sax Solo posted:Diana deserves better than the average POB-reader's opinion, I think. I'd say it's mostly Stephen's fault for pursuing her unreasonably, but she should see they are a terrible match. She uses Stephen, but Stephen begs to be used. I like to think that he sees her too much through his naturalist eyes; she is a perfect creature he wants to witness and in some abstract sense capture and own. Ultimately, she is the hero in her own story, which we don't really get to see. I like this reading, it makes sense to me, I'm still on my first read through of the series so haven't really had a chance to dig in to it on many more levels than surface, I just like her because she does what the gently caress she wants, the antithesis of Jack who is so beholden to the service and it's rules and the routine of the ship. Strong and capable and a leader, but who would actually let him potter around and take all the time he wants on the islands they visit.
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Sep 19, 2023 01:59
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buffalo all day posted:The number one example of this that springs to my mind is what happens after they get shipwrecked toward the beginning of…uh…the fortune of war? cannibalism????! If you want to try and find the passage, http://www.singularityfps.com/pob/
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Sep 22, 2023 00:14
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Finished up Clarissa Oakes/The Truelove last night, felt a bit light on to be honest but keen to see where it heads next, the biggest thing was the revelation about the higher placed spy from Clarissa, but I'm surprised more wasn't made about the way Stephen received that information, it just feels waaaay too fortuitous to have such important information just fall in to his lap like that but I don't see how anyone could have planned that in advance so I guess we'll see
screaden fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Oct 2, 2023 |
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Oct 2, 2023 22:52
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Just started on The Commodore and Stephen's return to his home and daughter  . I hope Padeen and Brigid have a long and beneficial friendship? That one tiny little reference to her looking in his eyes gives me some hope. The whole build up to that scene is incredible, I've never read something where I've had that palpable sense of dread through such lean writing, an extremely effective beginning. This feels like it's about to break a bit of a dry spell of the past few books which is nice, and the return of Clarissa Oakes is very welcome
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Nov 1, 2023 08:58
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Coming to the end of The Commodore and man this one is kind of sad? Everything to do with the slave ships (the description of them throwing the children overboard to be torn apart by the sharks was rough), the realisation of their aging, pretty much everything to do with Stephen's life and health, Jack being disappointed with his supposed promotion and his marriage, I have a horrible feeling none of this will end well in the next 30 or so pages. I did really like that passage where Stephen overhears Jack playing outside at Ashgrove and realises he has been moderating his playing in order to play alongside Stephen and his damaged hands.
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Nov 15, 2023 00:49
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So I just finished The Yellow Admiral and I have a question about Stranraer, did Stephen kill him? Either by the digitalis itself or knowing that his own surgeon, Sherman, would be unable to get Stranraer to reduce his dosage?
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Dec 30, 2023 08:55
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Did I miss something in The Hundred Days or is Geoghegan somehow alive again?
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Jan 3, 2024 04:34
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Genghis Cohen posted:Could be a slight continuity error, there are one or two such things across the series, typically with minor characters reappearing after they've left the ship in one way or another. Can you quote the passage in question? Reddit seems to think that this was just after his wife died who was his proof reader and would type up his handwritten manuscripts and so slipped through. The Yellow Admiral posted:Stephen had been walking aft to meet Jack as he came from talking to the master by the wheel. At the general cry he turned, and calling out ‘Do not move him’ he ran to Geoghegan hoping that there might not be too much damage – that taken below with great care he might be recovered. After a moment’s examination he could only report instant death. The Hundred Days posted:Stephen bowed to the inevitable and said, ‘Killick, please do me another kindness and take these children to Poll with my compliments – beg her to wash, brush and rig them in a suitable manner, feed them on whatever is appropriate, and above all be very kind and gentle with them. They do not speak any English yet, but Geoghegan will interpret.’
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Jan 3, 2024 20:22
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Genghis Cohen posted:I think that's quite likely, alternatively, he might just have picked an Irish name, meaning to refer to some Irish-speaking member of the crew. Which I think is a trick he pulls with Jack and other officers' lines sometimes? "Smith will accompany you to the boat" where Smith is not really a character who ever crops up again, and that's fairly realistic to how a ship's company would work, not everything is done by our old friends. I've definitely noticed this and is how I just hand waved it away, but he gets referenced a few pages later again as being in the tops and looking out for tunny-boats. It felt like he was referring to the same Geoghegan, but whatever, a minor quibble. Anyway Hundred Days was really good, and really fast paced compared to the previous books, I burned through it so quickly. The death of Diana felt oddly tossed aside though, I know he generally likes to let those things happen "off screen" but for such a major character it felt strangely detached. Even Bonden got more of a reflexion from the characters than she did. Also about Bonden I'm through the first chapter of Blue at the Mizzen and I'm starting to get sad, I'm not ready to read the 21st book yet, and I'm going to force myself to read something else instead of just immediately restarting the entire series again, I'm keen to read the first three with more experienced eyes and thoughts than my first time through
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Jan 5, 2024 00:59
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evilfunkyogi posted:Just finished my third re-read of the series, what a perfect ending. I finished it for the first time a couple of days ago, it's taking a lot of my willpower to try reading something else instead of starting again straight away. It took me a bit over a year to read the full series. I loved every second of it, it rekindled my love of reading.
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Jan 11, 2024 06:20
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