Customer Reviews

The Road to Samarcand (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Given O'Brian's cult status, I'm surprised not to see any reviews of this early work up. Briefly, it is a "Boy's Own" type adventure set in Central Asia. Some of the adult character were featured in some of O'Brian's early short stories. I can't prove it, but I'm inclined to think it owes something to Fritz Muhlenweg's "Big Tiger and Christian," which I read as a teenager. I guess I would have to look at the respective dates to build a solid case. The other related fact which springs to mind is that O'Brian's translated "The Horsemen", Joseph Kessel's novel set in Afghanistan, which I suppose is some kind of indication of O'Brian's ongoing interest in Central Asia. "The Horsemen" was later made into a film (1970), starring Omar Sharif. If you enjoy the "The Road to Samarcand", I am pretty sure you'd enjoy "The Horsemen" and "Big Tiger", too.
I think O'Brian was adept at reading something like "Big Tiger and Christian" for background and then being able to write something with a similar setting, which as a result of his background reading, coupled with his writing ability, conveyed great authority. There are some marvellous throw away lines which serve to deliniate the charcters, such as the brief mention of a barroom brawl in which an ear was bitten off and a lasting friendship formed. I see the character of the professor in "The Road to Samarcand" as very similar to that of Stephen Maturin, and indeed prehaps prefiguring him - vague, gentlemanly, but capable of ruthless, coldblooded action when necessary. In some ways he is the most strongly drawn charcter. The presence of the adults makes this book rather different to "Big Tiger and Christian", in which the focus is on the resourceful two boys of the title. I can't help thinking that in the hands of someone like Miyazaki Hayao, the story would make a marvelous "anime manga" along the lines of his "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" or "Porco Russo."

Judging from this book, Patrick O'Brian was a fan of James Hilton's "Lost Horizon," the classic 1930s paperback that is said to be the first US paperback bestseller.

Hilton's wistful look at life in the remote Himalayas (in a fictional village he called "Shangri-La") was written in the 1930s in the shadow of the coming war, whereas O'Brian's book, though written in 1954, is set back in that same time period. And as the journey to Samarcand unfolds, O'Brian's heroes ultimately enter a land of icy, incredibly remote mountains strangely reminiscent of Hilton's lost horizon. Readers of both books will discover still more connections and resonances between them as they get to the later portions of the Road to Samarcand.

Still, there's much more to this book to like, particularly the deadpan humor and the deepening character development of what initially seem to be stock comic figures, in classic O'Brian style.

Patrick O'Brian published "The Road to Samarcand" in 1954, even before "The Golden Ocean" and "The Unknown Shore," the two "juvenile" nautical novels that in many ways were precursors of his later great series of novels featuring Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Doctor Stephen Maturin. "The Road to Samarcan," itself a novel written for a youth audience, is less clearly ancestral to the later series, but there are at least faint foreshadowings, including the Professor Ayrton, the archaeologist cousin of the teenaged central character. Ayrton is both a formidible intellectual presence as well as a source of humor (he is utterly unable to master American slang, despite his easy confidence that he can speak the jargon like a native).

Although "The Road to Samarcan" does contain nautical elements (it starts aboard the schooner "Wanderer" in the South China Sea), most of the book involves wild, somewhat improbably adventures in the wilds of western China and Tibet, with encounters with bandits and murderous monks, along with the even greater peril of nature. As might be expected in a Patrick O'Brian tale, the narrative dances through a wide array of subjects, including wildlife, Chinese history, and Tibetan culture. It all makes for a "fun" read, even if it is not up to the level of the Aubrey-Maturin books.

But alas, it is really a boys' story. Though a precursor to Aubrey, including taifoons, ships, excentric scientists, adventurous overland travel in pursuit of something mysterious, it does not reach the appeal of the masterful series.
The research into the China reality of the time is not up to the standard of his later work. The characters are typical boy story cliches, the plot is rather simplistic, the diaologues are not what they would have been 20 years later. Not on the level of the short stories and novels of the same time either.
If you are an O'Brian aficionado, read it for completeness. If not yet, better start elsewhere.

Written only a short time before "Master and Commander," this book gives no hint of the series of 21 "Aubrey/Maturin" books which the "New York Times" book review editor said were probably "the best historic novels of the (20th) century."

This is not to say that the book is not well-written or interesting; while there is a portion dealing with the sea, most of the actiion takes place in the Chinese/Mongolian desert a century or so ago. The time element is somewhat confused by the introdction of a "deus ex machina" in the form of a sturdy and easy-to-fly helicopter, before a practical one existed. The reader will be rewarded with an entertaining book and a large helping of Chinese history.

I will admit it, I am an ultimate Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series fan boy. I have read that series of novels repeatedly and enjoyed each one every single time. When I learned of this book I immediately bought it.

It was disappointing in comparison to the Aubrey/Maturin books. I agree with the reviewers who have characterized this as a 'boy's book'. The adventure is wildly implausible, the characters are much more heroic cardboard cutout than his later protagonists and the dialog (something he was clearly gifted with later in his career) seems false.

I am not sorry that I read it, as I said, it was more of a quest than a choice for me, but don't expect the same experience as you have had (or hopefully will have) with his later works. Buy a copy for your favorite 12 - 14 year old nephew, it will be a great introduction to Patrick O'Brian for him, then read it carefully before you put it in the gift wrap.

The main interest in this book is to see where O'Brian started -- hard to believe how much better a writer he became with the Aubrey-Maturin series. Perhaps it is because he was writing for teenagers in "The Road to Samarkand", and that isn't his genre. If you want to read a really entertaining kid's adventure set in the same part of the world, see if you can get hold of "Big Tiger and Christian" by Fritz Mühlenweg. It would be great if this tale, (originally published in 1954, reprinted in 1966, 1971) were to become available again, in paperback. However, your library may have it -- check it out!

This book has it all! It's historical viewpoint is interesting, there is adventure, humor... even readers unfamiliar with O'Brian's work will enjoy this book. I left this book at the family summer cottage in June and over the course of the summer more than 10 people read it, different ages, genders, interests. ALL of them loved it. I ordered 4 for Christmas gifts.

Not quite as polished as the Master and Commander series, but a great read. This time the ocean is the Gobi desert, the Himalayan plateau, and other exotic climes in a world long since gone.

This book is a hoot! Great for O'Brian fans and those who've never read him.
Not as dense as the Aubrey/Maturin. A rollicking adventure of a young boy seeing the far east and getting into all kinds of adventures. Reminding me of an Indiana Jones movie.