Patrick O'Brian - The Yellow Admiral

Rating: 5/5

Review:
The eighteenth in a brilliant series

This is now my third time reading through this brilliant series and I am reminded again how beautifully written and how wonderfully, addictively enjoyable they are.

In The Yellow Admiral, there is both trouble and satisfaction for Jack and Steven on land, but a grave worry for Jack as enmities in the Service and in politics threaten to end his career as a shorebound “yellow” admiral or even to be passed over altogether. A period on the blockade of Brest doesn’t help his spirits and he begins to consider options outside the Royal Navy as peace approaches. In spite of the slightly unpromising-sounding subject matter, this is another wholly absorbing and enjoyable instalment in the Aubrey Maturin saga.

Patrick O'Brian is steeped in the period of the early 19th Century and his knowledge of the language, manners, politics, social mores and naval matters of the time is deep and wide. Combined with a magnificent gift for both prose and storytelling, it makes something very special indeed. The books are so perfectly paced, with some calmer, quieter but still engrossing passages and some quite thrilling action sequences. O'Brian's handling of language is masterly, with the dialogue being especially brilliant, but also things like the way his sentences become shorter and more staccato in the action passages, making them heart-poundingly exciting. There are also laugh-out-loud moments and an overall sense of sheer involvement and pleasure in reading.

I cannot recommend these books too highly. They are that rare thing; fine literature which are also books which I can't wait to read more of. Wonderful stuff.