H.M.S. Surprise: Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 3
4.7 | 4,778 ratings
Price: 19.56
Last update: 12-09-2025
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- ChavahEnchanting seriesLove these characters and the wonderful sea stories. So historically accurate as well! Great read ; pure pleasure.
- Andrew Updegroveone of the better books in the seriesA fine read, as usual encumbered with more existential amatory anguish on the part of Maturin than most readers would likely prefer, but not too much to get in the way of the story. Some lovely writing as well as O’Brian’s remarkable period voice throughout, graced as usual by a vocabulary that would force an Oxford don run to their dictionary - great fun if you’re reading in ebook form and can easily consult the Wikipedia for context as well as definition.
- Richard W HarrisA great story and a great reader.Yes, O'brian's rich language is very enjoyable listening. I have no problem listening to it over and over just because the the language and stories are so engaging. There are two audio versions I know of. One narrated by Patrick Tull and the one I have, narrated by Simon Vance. Both are enjoyable to me. I like Tull's version of Stephen better; he does Stephen with a refined but recognizable Irish accent, whereas Vance does Stephen with an essentially English accent. Given that Stephen is a polyglot living in London and the Royal Navy where Irish accents are a liability, either is believable. Killick is the other interesting study. Since O'brian describes his voice as a mixture of a "Unusually rough, tarpaulin-hatted foremast jack" with "A whining, long ill-used nursemaid," you can imagine a lot of variation. Tull's version is very enjoyable to listen to, but he focuses on the first description. I think Vance gets Killick more accurate to the mixture.
The way O'brian weaves small and large parts of the story together is fantastic. Little events at home are metaphors for larger parts of Jack's career in subtle ways that you might well miss in the first listen (or read, if you read quickly rather than carefully).
Anyway, I love the text and listening to O'brian on a long car trip makes me want to go for a long drive just to listen. The only reason I give it four stars is so that I can save the superlative rating for the ones I love the most: HMS Surprise, Desolation Island, The Far Side of the World, and a few others. - SueBobGreat book seriesCan't stop reading the O'Brien "Master & Commander" series, and fortunately there's lots more to go.
- Anthony CookNo Surprise HereThe Aubrey/Maturin novels have given me a lot of pleasure since my first exposure to them. I can think of no pleasanter way of spending Saturday afternoon after church than sitting in a quiet (internet) café, with just a low level of café noises and easy listening, if any, music in the background, and slowly reading one of these books, pausing from time to time to consult Wikipedia or Google Earth to flesh out some of O’Brian’s fascinating references.
All of them are 5-star reads as far as I’m concerned, such is the richness of the author’s writing, the historical, political, nautical, botanical, biological detail, the clever, economical depiction of his characters and relationships, the wry humour, his utterly convincing portrayal of a storm at sea …...
I suppose some of the books might be marginally better than others but, compared to any other authors' novels I can recall reading, they’re all worth 5 stars.
Having said all that though, they may not be to everyone’s taste. I’m 66 years old and male, and I suspect those two demographics might explain much of my enamourment. Someone of a different generation or gender may not be as entranced by the 18th century language, the naval-historical themes, the authenticity of description of things of that era (at least I presume it’s authentic, I wouldn’t know, maybe some of O'Brian's apparent erudition is bluff). I know my 15yo son read a paragraph of “Surprise” at random and wasn’t tempted to read on. His loss I say. - neurotomeJust gets better with the yearsI own all 20 of the Aubrey/Maturin novels, including the incomplete one. Lots of genre fiction I sell to a used bookstore or keep in piles somewhere out of the way; but these books have pride of place on my bookshelf, and I find I reread them every 2 or 3 years or so, just for sheer pleasure.
Well, I am on the fourth read through of the cycle now, and HMS Surprise - book 3 - has captivated my interest like never before. The book is almost wholly concerned with Maturin; Aubrey and his sea escapades this time provide a backdrop, a cyclorama against which the true drama unfolds. Maturin the character is really introduced in this book; the circus-sideshow character developed in Master and Commander and Post Captain is fleshed out, and we learn that behind that entirely self-unaware facade of the absent-minded natural philosopher, there stands a man of uncommon mental acuity; a secret agent; a man of incredibly strong will; a heart torn by unrequited love; and above all, a man of honor.
The first time I read through these novels I was only peripherally aware of the code of duello, and the several ways of giving the lie, including the lie direct. Maturin's honor is offended twice in this book, and the final duel is the climax, with its aftermath providing a satisfying anticlimax.
Honor in the early 18th century was a peculiar and interesting concept, and as we watch Maturin negotiate the challenges of his walled-off and secretive life, we see it explained - by demonstration, in its highest form. As I read through again, I came to feel that I perhaps came to this book too young; what seemed like pointless maundering takes on greater gravity if you have lived a little before you come to it.
Of course, there is a downside; the language in which these books are written is infectious, and I find that for weeks after I complain that I have been "utterly brought by the lee," and when someone says something truly offensively stupid I have been known to state "I prefer it otherwise," a remark which in those days might have led to pistols at dawn. Nowadays my drooling interlocutors barely realize that a remark has passed, much less its significance. I, personally, would prefer it otherwise; which is why I so greatly treasure the hours I have spent in these magnificent time-machines, these novels.
I hope you may do likewise, and profit by it as I have.