false 77427 0393307611 9780393307610 1319 78 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255923714m/77427.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77427.H_M_S_Surprise_ 5600 Patrick O'Brian 22018 1531 5 2 false Sat Nov 15 15:32:14 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 15:56:32 -0800 2008
This book includes some extremely harrowing as well as uplifting sections, as well as O'Brian's usual streak of humor. We have more of Maturin the secret agent, and more of his pursuit of the beautiful and willful Diana. Aubrey in his turn is still hoping for an early marriage to Miss Williams, with the approval of her grasping mother, who Maturin warmly describes as "the most unromantic beast that ever urged its squat,thick bulk across the face of the protesting earth."

For most of the book time and great distance separate them and what letters that are brought out by the odd ship are few and far between. Indeed, there's plenty of distance in this story where Aubrey travels farther afield than in any of the previous volumes, out to the Indian Ocean on a diplomatic mission, wherein much of the book's charm lies.
O'Brian uses his same eye for detail to describe the exotic locations and people living there as he does to bring to world of his 'wooden walls' to life.
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