Speak of hard-to-rate books! Aubrey and Maturin is a very beloved series, and I’m fond of at least two offshoot series – and yet, I don’t think I’ll go back for more of this. Or maybe I will, if and when I’m in a very specific mood. The whole gallant-himbo-captain, brainy-sidekick usually works really well for me, but I think O’Brian is just a bit too much for me in most moods and circumstances. It did directly recall similar German books I enjoyed as a boy, though, when I had to somehow muddle through all the incomprehensible naval terms and honour system. Good times!
Also, as I won’t read more books in the series, I looked at plot summaries online, and want to highlight this absolute unit of a sentence:
“Aubrey and Maturin escape over the Pyrenees to Maturin’s property with Maturin disguised as an itinerant bear trainer and Aubrey as the bear, Flora.”
This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.