Master and Commander

Written by Patrick O'Brian

Narrated by Simon Vance

This first novel in the series establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon and intelligence agent, in the thrilling setting of a British man-of-war engaged in the Napoleonic wars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Jun 26, 2005
• ISBN: 9780786126699

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist, biographer and translator from French. His translations include Henri Charrière’s Papillon, Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle and many of Simone de Beauvoir’s later works, including Les Belles Images, All Said and Done and A Very Easy Death.

Reviews for Master and Commander

[jenson_aka_dl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this is one of the most difficult books I've read through to the end. The nautical terminology used was like reading a foreign language. I did pick up a companion guide called "A Sea of Words" which was helpful, but really, there was so much I didn't understand I would have had to stop reading every sentence to look stuff up. Basically this is a story of Jack Aubrey of the English Royal Navy in the 1800s during the war with France and his adventures in being commander of the good ship (sloop, maybe?) Sophie. Overall, I thought the story, when I could understand what was going on, was pretty interesting. There is a lot of interaction with a lot of different sorts of people. Jack seemed to come off as bit of a ruffian sort, kind of thick when it comes to everything other than commanding and sailing. In those respects, Jack excels immensely. On the personal side, he feels set apart from everyone else, and has bad taste in women (or mainly one particular woman, but he doesn't seem too fussy). Even his newly made best friend, Stephen Maturin, feels set apart from Jack on occasion. I did watch the movie of this once I was over 3/4 of the way through the book, thinking that if I didn't get what was going on in the book, the movie could offer some enlightenment. Boy was I soooo very wrong. The movie, which barely followed the book in any respect, was even more incomprehensible. I was really very disappointed because I think if a movie of this story was done correctly, it would be very interesting indeed.Overall, I'm glad to have read the book, despite how difficult I found it. If you enjoy adventure stories and don't fear having to have a guide to get you through (unless you're fluent in nautical terminology already), I'd recommend this book.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For starters, Master and Commander is an excellent lesson in naval warships. The dense nautical terminology will make your eyes go dry if you let it. There are many areas where the plot and dialogue altogether cease making it an arid read. Amidst the didactic seagoing vessel lesson 19th century Britain is at war with France's brash Napoleon. Young Jack Aubrey has been promoted to commander of the sloop Sophie. Along as his right hand man is Doctor Stephen Maturin. He acts as ship medic and surgeon and together they fight enemies on the high seas. Aubrey and Maturin are as different as they come but they balance each other out and truly need one another. Their relationship is the cornerstone of the whole series.For every adventurer Master and Commander is a must read. Every battle is played out in stunning detail. Life on a man-of-war could not be any more vivid.

[ron18-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My 4 stars are a rounded 3.5

I've long been interested in reading Aubrey/Maturin, ever since having learned that it was a primary influence on Gene Roddenberry for the creation of Star Trek. This feeling pervades the book and is a delight to consider retroactively.

The style is a bit difficult because it isn't really comparable to contemporary literature that I'm familiar with - but anyone who can read Moby Dick for pleasure will be *more than* right at home. A solid 3/4 of the details and plotting are directly related to the composition of warships of the time period, and their hierarchy and disciplines. This can be dry, and whole pages can go by without ample context to translate the nautical terminology... and yet, it's a good read.

This is a series that is beloved by far too many for the considerate reader to dismiss. I imagine that it only gets better - because now I know my way around a sloop (or frigate, or man-of-war for that matter), and more importantly: because now we know our cast of characters.

The main two are Aubrey (Commander) and Maturin (Ships Medic... unofficial surgeon). Aubrey is so refreshingly NOT a Captain Kirk... in the sense that Zap Brannigan is Captain Kirk... but an imperfect temper-prone horndog whose judgement is clouded from time to time, but whose character is solid enough that you like him more for it. Maturin is your Spock (while technically being Bones - - or visa versa) - - he might as well be a different species from the other crew members (though he's blending well as time goes by). He's a science officer philosopher, the Laurel to Aubrey's Hardy. He manages to be far beyond the reader, and our entry point to seeing life aboard the vessel at the same time.

I look forward to reading more, as first books in beloved series that span decades are often a mere shadow of the goodness you find once the ball really gets rolling.

I found the main death of the novel (withheld to prevent spoiler) to be downplayed and under-explored.. and felt there were some serious loose ends that were never tied w/ relation to it - but that's life.

[virago77 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is the beginning of Jack Aubrey's captaincy, and the start of physician Stephen Maturin's tenor as a naval surgeon.Jack is made captain of the Sloop, Sophie. In his excitement at finally being made captain, Aubrey seeks out Maturin, with whom he had an unpleasant meeting with the previous evening, to apologize and invite to share a meal. During this time he learns that Stephen is a physician in need of employment as his current patient had recently died. Jack was in the market for a ship surgeon. It was kismet.The Sophie engages in several battles, takes several prizes and Jack begins to make a name for himself; especially with what he has accomplished with such a small ship. We see the start of the Aubrey/Maturin great friendship, and meet fun characters that will stick with him through his captaincy like Pullings, Bondin and Mowett. All-in-all it was an interesting start to the long story f Aubrey/Maturin and I look forward to seeing how many books it takes for Jack to inherit the Surprise.

[lindoula-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story is OK, I guess, but it doesn't really capture my attention. I kept getting distracted, and then when I tried to get back into it, the chapters were so similar that I couldn't tell where I'd been.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this first in the famous series about Aubrey and Maturin but not as much as I expected. Based on the many reviews of people I respect, I thought I would fall in love with this series. It is truly in my sweet spot in terms of books I love, but for some reason, I found it more difficult to read than I thought I would. With that said, I still enjoyed the read. O'Brian certainly makes the reader feel as if he is on the ship with these early 19th century English sailors. The passages with all of the sailing terms didn't bother me at all. I enjoyed the novel as a trip through time more than as a novel that makes me want to keep turning pages. Well worth the read, and I will certainly keep working through the series.

[globulon-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't get through it. I didn't really like any of the characters. The captain didn't seem to me that interesting. He's kind of a stereotype of a man of action. I liked the doctor even less. He also seems to be kind of a stereotype of an intellectual. I also didn't really like the way the plot is handled. It's really episodic and jumps around.

[amerynth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's always weird when people recommend books to me. In this particular instance, I was reading "Paradise of the Blind" when someone said I should read "Master and Commander." I'm not sure why I decided to read it, as it's not really my kind of book and I'm not at all into sailing.I can see why people who are into sailing would love Patrick O'Brian's series.... it was a lot of boat talk. Once the book really got going on the sailing part, it was pretty good. At any rate, this really isn't my kind of book but I can see how others might enjoy it.

[thesmellofbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have wanted to dip into this series for a while, and finally stumbled across the first title. It is dense, rich, and very human fiction. For a landlubber, the nautical terms get a tad confusing at times, but like travelling in a foreign land, the lilt of the accent and the slight sense of uncertainty is all part of the enjoyment. Loved it.<>When a key character dies late in the book, I was left with a kind of flat feeling for the rest of the book. This is because of the way it was handled, that he was so very there and then so very gone. He goes so quickly, off stage, and we see so little of the impact on his mates. Clearly, they mourn him, but more weight is given to their irritations earlier in the book than to this devastating loss. Still, an excellent book.

[ansate · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

MAN BABIES AT SEA

[wayneclark-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read the entire series and loved each and every one. No one better captures the sea and the age. And what a wonderful pairing of characters, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. I wish they would hurry up and fade from memory so I could start the series all over again.

[altheaann · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I picked this nautical adventure up after seeing the movie, which I thought was quite entertaining (and had Excellent sea battle scenes). It's the first of a very long series of similar adventures by the author. After reading it, I could see how the series could stretch on - it doesn't really have a tightly crafted plot, but is more of a realistic account of events at sea: "this happened, and then this happened and then we met this ship, and then this battle happened, and then we went somewhere else, and then..." etc.
O'Brian definitely did his research - the life at sea seems believably detailed, and he says that all the battles he describes, etc, are based on actual incidents of the time period.
However, to me, the style of the novel was a bit lacking in, well, romance and adventure. And emotional interaction. Things will happen, but you don't really see them happening, or ever find out about how the people involved felt about it. Some of the incidents are quite, umm, salty. (Including whoring, venereal disease and even bestiality (death penalty for that one!)) But it all happens off-screen as it were, and the reader feels very removed from it.
Perhaps this is why (to be stereotypical) these books have traditionally been more popular with male readers? I don't know.
Glad I read this, but I don't feel the need to seek out the rest of the series.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not in love with this book, but it was rather relaxing to just sit back and let the words wash over me. The action and characters were bland, but the language and the setting and culture of the time was rather interesting to read about. I don't know if I'll continue the series, but at least I don't feel my time has been wasted.

[librarycin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

1.5 starsI can't write a summary, except for the bits I read on Wikipedia and/or other reviews. Apparently, this was set during the Napoleonic Wars. A friendship develops over music and a captain(?) and a doctor end up on a ship together? Something along those lines, anyway. Obviously, I wasn't interested. I listened to the audio, and it was lucky if I paid attention to more than a couple sentences at a time. I liked the movie when I saw it years ago, and I did know that it was based on either later book(s) or a combination of books in the series, but this book? Not even a little bit interesting to me; at least not the audio. Boring.

[gayla.bassham · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wish I'd loved it but I didn't.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was a slow-moving book, but the incredibly slashy subtext between the captain and his doctor made up for it all.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin met quite by accident and not under the best of circumstances: Maturin, annoyed with Aubrey's unconscious antics during a concert, elbowed him in the side. Despite this inauspicious beginning, they soon became fast friends and when Aubrey is given command of the Sophie, a brig sailing the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars, he asks Dr. Maturin along as ship's surgeon.I've had this first in a long and well-loved series on my to be read list for some time now, and finally did start reading the book this week, prompted by needing to read an "adventure" title for a librarian workshop this month. I've been cautioned that this is not the best in the series but that it sets much of the groundwork for the rest of the series, and I can see how that would be the case. There are some hints of the characters' pasts which I would love to see delved into more fully, and I did like the friendship between Jack and Stephen and the respect of the sailing men on board the Sophie. The book is chockablock full of naval terms and details, some of which I surprisingly learned and retained and others which I just ignored for the time being. Capturing prizes and fighting the Spanish and French make for exciting storytelling, and I enjoyed the historical details as well. The ending felt a bit rushed, but still there's enough here that I'd be more than happy to continue reading the series.

[sadiesforsythe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5
This is a serious case of not the right reader for the book. The writing is wonderful and undoubtedly a ton of research must have gone into it. And if you're a person who is interested in naval fiction, especially naval fiction of the time, I imagine you will LOVE this book. I am not such a read and as such, I was bored.

The first half of the book is VERY HEAVY in naval/ship/sailing terminology (plus the cant of the time) and I literally read it with a dictionary on hand. This severely compromised my enjoyment of it. And I'll acknowledge that, as there are 20 books in the series, 200 pages to set up the tone and terminology of the series isn't unbearable. But as half of a single book, it's interminable. I likened it to the ~100 pages of whale anatomy in Moby Dick, something you just have to get through to get on with the story.

The second half of the book is far more readable, but it still fell flat for me. I think the problem was that I expected a sprawling sea adventure and instead the story is a series of small everyday adventures of a particular ship and crew. Meaning that there is no single challenge to overcome or adversary to engage or peak in the plot. It's just one random naval encounter after another. It really wasn't enough to truly grab me, even if I did like the characters.

I didn't dislike the book and I'd probably read another, but it's one of those books I'm glad to have read but also glad to no longer be reading.

[sumik_18 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm currently re-reading and so far enjoying it.

[pondlife_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and accurate nautical details, but a bit too "boy's own" for my liking. It reminded me of a nautical version of a Sharpe novel.I didn't really get on with the writing style, and I would have much preferred the book to have covered the real events that a lot of the action is based on, rather than fitting it into a fictional story.

[kwarizmi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my stars and garters! What a ride! Thank you, Patrick O'Brian, gods rest your soul.

"Master and Commander" has nothing to do with the synonymous movie starring Russell Crowe. It has the same grittiness, the same smell of the sea and the sound of snapping canvas, but the book is vastly superior in every way.

This book is the first of a TWENTY BOOK SERIES (all caps so you Harry Potter/Wheel of Time maniacs can wrap your mind around a single work of fiction spanning 5000 pages) called by fans "The Aubrey-Maturin books", after the co-protagonists, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and a more delightful, fully-realized buddy team you will not easily find in fiction. Aubrey is a blusterous, reckless, jovial Epicure who happens to know how to fight a brigantine. Maturin is a gentle, introspective, meticulous scientist with a taste for books. Neither are perfect, but both are good company for each other and their conversations make for great tension and reading.

The author does absolutely nothing to spare the reader from the ins and outs of a Napoleonic Era fighting ship. By page twenty your head will be swimming with unfamiliar nautical terms, but much to O'Brian's credit, by the end of the book you will know your stun'suls from your maintopmast gallants, your xebecs from your feluccas and your chasers from your twelve-pounders. The characters sound real and they exchange zingers that will have you chortling for days.

You can bet your flying jib I will be reading each and every single one of these books, and so should you.

[davido1103 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

whole series of 20 books make it as one to my top 5 all-time favorite. The character development and friendship between Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin alone make these rip-roaring tales whole the price of purchase

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought it would be good to read an account from the Napoleonic Wars that was based on reality unlike the fantasy series by Naomi Novik that involves dragons. Although I usually don't care for fantasy in this case I'll take it over the reality. Judging from the rating for this book I am in the minority.The book centres on Jack Aubrey, a navy captain, and Stephen Maturin, a physician who has never been to sea before. Aubrey is given command of the brig Sophie and he persuades Maturin to sign on as ship's surgeon. Maturin is a man of many talents including musical ability and scientific method. Aubrey is rather crass but he and Maturin discover a joint love of music which makes them fast friends. The Sophie, in Aubrey's hands, becomes an excellent fighting ship and the crew takes many prizes. If you ever wanted to know more about various types of sails and ships this is the book for you. For me, it became rather boring after a while.

[rosenstern · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the most elegant novels I've read on old ships. Old ships, in my opinion, are considerably more awesome than the newer yachts. Not only are they beautiful, but the functioning is magnificent. O'Brian gives us detailed descriptions. Worth the read if only for the ships.

[leslie398 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although I love this story & Simon Vance is a marvelous narrator, I did find that there were a few places where I had to rewind because my attention had drifted away.

[swampygirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After many failed attempts over the years, I finally finished listening to this book on tape. I would recommend the audio version to anyone who is (like me) not particularly interested in digging through all the nautical terms as it lets you mentally at least skip over those sections. I am told that there is a little less shipness in at least the next book, so I might actually continue with this series, not sure yet though.

I had very mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed Patrick O'Brian's writing style, and the way he brings his character's to life is simply amazing. I really really really can't stand Jack though, which is probably why I've had a hard time getting through the start of the book; as you go along however the narrative becomes less Jack-centric and you realize that most of the other characters don't like him either, so it becomes much easier to get through. On the other hand I really enjoy all the parts from Maturin's pov. The three star rating reflects the fact that there were points of five star delights and points of one star disgust.

[kirstie_innes7will · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't get through the rest of this series but didn't mind the first volume.

[tlockney_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just as good on the re-read.

[hredwards · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Different then I expected. More humorous with a satirical bent.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I have a preference in my reading it is that I enjoy historical novels, not necessarily Kings, Queens, battles etc but also social history and in many ways this book fulfills both. Some years ago I read and enjoyed most of the Alexander Kent Richard Bolitho series of books so felt that I had left enough time to tackle these without making too many comparisons. This is the first in a series of 20 which charts the friendship of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin and takes place when Aubrey is given a sloop HMS Sophie to command in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic War employing Maturin as his ship's surgeon. There is also an interesting sub-plot with the relationship of both men with Sophie's First Lieutenant James Dillon.Now the book is in many respects one of two halves. The first half Maturin is portrayed as a novice to the sea and through him O'Brien tries to explain some of the terminology that will be used (a fact not helped by an unhelpful diagram at the beginning which shows a 3 masted ship whilst the Sophie only has the 2). We also get a view of the harsh and sometimes brutal reality of life on a warship in that age. Whereas the second half is more like what I was expecting at the outset as the Sophie and her crew have various skirmishes with French and Spanish shipping and is therefore more swashbuckling in its nature. That said the fact that both sides of the war captured and then reused their enemies boats made the final portion of the book a little confusing and you had to really concentrate to work who was on who's side.O'Brien tries to display Aubrey's and Maturin's characters warts and all and whilst I realise that this is only the first book of a long series but personally I felt that the characters were all a bit too sketchy for my personal taste and the descriptions of the ship etc in the first half of the book were a little overdone for exactly the same reason. That said I did enjoy the book overall and am about to embark on the next in the series 'Post Captain'.