false 24521 17 The year is 1815, and Europe's most unpopular (not to mention tiniest) empire-builder has escaped from Elba. In <I>The Hundred Days</I>, it's up to Jack Aubrey--and surgeon-cum-spymaster Stephen Maturin--to stop Napoleon in his tracks. How? For starters, Aubrey and his squadron have been dispatched to the Adriatic coast, to keep Bonapartist shipbuilders from beefing up the French navy. Meanwhile, one Sheik Ibn Hazm is fomenting an Islamic uprising against the Allies. The only way to halt this maneuver is to intercept the sheik's shipment of gold--because in the Napoleonic era, as in our own, even the most ardent of mercenaries requires a salary. <p> <I>The Hundred Days</I> is the 19th (and, we are told, the penultimate) installment of O'Brian's epic. Like many of its predecessors, it features a fairly swashbuckling plot, complete with cannon fire, exotic disguises, and Aubrey's suspenseful, slow-motion pursuit of an Algerian <I>xebek</I>. Yet it never turns into a mere exercise in Hornblowerism. Partly this is due to O'Brian's delicate touch with character--the relationship between extroverted Aubrey and introverted Maturin has deepened with each book, and even Aubrey's reunion with his childhood companion Queenie Keith is full of novelistic nuance: "They sat smiling at one another. An odd pair: handsome creatures both, but they might have been of the same sex or neither." Nor does the author focus too exclusively on his dynamic duo. Indeed, <I>The Hundred Days</I> is very much a chronicle of a floating <I>community</I>, which Maturin describes as "his own village, his own ship's company, that complex entity so much more easily sensed than described: part of his natural habitat." <p> Finally, O'Brian shows his usual expertise in balancing the great events with the most minuscule ones. Other authors have written about battles at sea, and still others have recorded the rapid rise and fall of Napoleon's fortunes after his escape from confinement. But who else would give equal time--and an equal charge of delight--to Maturin's discovery of an anomalous nuthatch? <I>--James Marcus</I> 1384120 1998 The Hundred Days (Aubrey/Maturin Book 19) total:652|5:300|4:226|3:112|2:13|1:1| 652 2767 858 23 3 0 false false Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 18:32:58 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 18:54:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 23:48:35 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 23:56:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 19 12:16:18 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 14:47:17 -0700 2009
That Patrick O'Brian chose to place his characters on the sea in the not so distant past just raised the hurdle I had to leap to get to know this wonderful author.

I had never been enamored with sea stories, didn't much care for European history, ...more...]]> 5 0 false true Wed Jan 16 07:42:24 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 16 02:26:59 -0700 2008 1
Warning: heavy spoilers!

Do you know what the best remedy is for post-mooting depression? Preserved Killick. God, that man cracks me up. I'm about page 150 in The Hundred Days.
And have just reached Stephen's little adventur...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 30 18:11:32 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 30 18:11:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 18 05:29:32 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 05:31:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 20:18:13 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 20:20:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 04 12:31:19 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 04 12:32:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 25 17:25:40 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 17:26:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 13:31:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 10:11:43 -0700 2009 ]]> 0 0 false false Wed Apr 15 15:57:31 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 15:57:31 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Mar 10 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Thu Jul 16 09:56:06 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 09:56:41 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 05 13:03:18 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 13:03:32 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 25 20:19:22 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 20:19:33 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Oct 13 03:41:07 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 13 03:41:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 04 12:08:20 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 10:50:35 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 12:08:20 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 21 10:36:51 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 07:32:20 -0700 2007
There are still pieces to enjoy, but events that should have had much more emotional resonance with the characters were glossed over, which was disappointing.]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 16 05:45:01 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 01 02:23:40 -0700 2009
Present.]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 27 21:24:06 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 21:25:09 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Thu Feb 14 11:07:03 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 11:08:36 -0800 2008