Reading: The Surgeon's Mate

[white_hart]

The seventh of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels opens with Jack and Stephen sailing into Halifax following their escape from captivity Boston at the end of The Fortune of War, and follows them home again, and then on to a mission in the Baltic. To be honest, I'm starting to feel that there's a certain arbitrariness to the divisions between books in the series; like the last couple, this isn't a self-contained narrative of a particular mission so much as an instalment of an ongoing story. Which isn't to say that they're any the less enjoyable for that; like the others, this one has its share of seafaring thrills and spying interspersed with delightful social comedy, and despite the lack of tropical latitudes in this one it was the perfect thing to spend a dreary February weekend reading.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm starting to feel that there's a certain arbitrariness to the divisions between books in the series;

I think that's fair!

[white_hart]

Excellent icon!

[tree_and_leaf]

Thanks! I feel it captures a surprising amount of the series :)

[coughingbear]

Definitely! I think the Mauritius Command is the only one that feels very self-contained, and it's one of my least favourites. I love the sense of plunging back into the flow of Stephen and Jack's lives. Treason's Harbour is one I particularly love, and is full of lines following on from previous books and setting others up for the future.

[white_hart]

Yes, I like it a lot, though it makes reviewing individual books quite hard! (And I note that you also have an excellent POB icon.)