Customer Reviews

The Thirteen-Gun Salute

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The opening paragraphs by themselves are worth the price of the book in summarizing the lives of all who have sailed into uncertainties. Most of the action is political intrigue in the South Sea kingdoms and then the faithful reader is forever left with an intensely moral question about one of the main characters of this extraordinary set of tales. Please start with the 1st book of the series, "Master and Commander," in order to have the on-going subplots make sense and in order to grow with Jack and Stephen. The "13 Gun Salute" is the 13th of the series. Patrick O'Brian writes with humour, intelligence and a deep loving affinity for long gone ships and seas.

Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe.
Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania.
Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatly. In some ways, it was a ruthless meritocracy whose structure and success anticipates the great expansion of government power and capacity seen in the rest of the 19th century.
O'Brian is also the great writer about male friendship. There are important female characters in these books but since most of the action takes place at sea, male characters predominate. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin is the central armature of the books and is a brilliant creation. The position of women in these books is ambiguous. There are sympathetic characters, notably Aubrey's long suffering wife. Other women figures, notably Maturin's wife, leave a less positive impression. On board ship, women tend to have a disruptive, even malign influence.
How did O'Brian manage to sustain his achievement over 20 books? Beyond his technical abilities as a writer and the instrinsic interest of the subject, O'Brien made a series of very intelligent choices. He has not one but two major protagonists. The contrasting but equally interesting figures of Aubrey and Maturin allowed O'Brien to a particularly rich opportunity to expose different facets of character development and to vary plots carefully. This is quite difficult and I'm not aware of any other writer who has been able to accomplish such sustained development of two major protagonists for such a prolonged period. O'Brian's use of his historical setting is very creative. The scenes and events in the books literally span the whole globe as Aubrey and Maturin encounter numerous cultures and societies. The naval setting allowed him also to introduce numerous new and interesting characters. O'Brian was able to make his stories attractive to many audiences. Several of these stories can be enjoyed as psychological novels, as adventure stories, as suspense novels, and even one as a legal thriller. O'Brian was also a very funny writer, successful at both broad, low humor, and sophisticated wit. Finally, O'Brian made efforts to link some of the books together. While a number are complete in themselves, others form components of extended, multi-book narratives. Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and The Surgeon's Mate are one such grouping. Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World, and The Reverse of the Medal are another. The Letter of Marque and the ensuing 4 books, centered around a circumnavigation, are another.
Though the average quality of the books is remarkably high, some are better than others. I suspect that different readers will have different favorites. I personally prefer some of the books with greater psychological elements. The first book, Master and Commander, is one of my favorites. The last 2 or 3, while good, are not as strong as earlier books. I suspect O'Brian's stream of invention was beginning to diminish. All can be read profitably as stand alone works though there is definitely something to be gained by reading in consecutive order.

Let's face it, if you made it this far in the Aubrey-Maturin series, you will definitely love this one. If The Thirteen-Gun Salute is your first encounter with the series, good choice (but, actually, they are all good). For those new to the series, the first chapter serves as an excellent summary of what has already transpired, and for those returning, it's a good review, in case you forgot something. The novel contains the usual entertaining mix of espionage, naval history, human relationships, food, music and humor. As expected, The Thirteen-Gun Salute is a completely enjoyable work by a talented author. Enjoy.

This is a wonderful series. There are several other 'books turned into series' that depict friendship and loyalty but on those occasions, they sometimes fall into dialogue loaded with humorous repartee. The excellent (yet limited) series of Spenser of course is always about friendship and loyalty, although I am certain that Professor Parker would agree that Aubrey and Maturin represent a far more prodigous, complicated effort than Spenser and Hawk.

"The Thirteen Gun Salute" takes the crew of The Diane well, well south into frozen waters, battles typhoons, carries with it political intrigue, but mostly immerses us in the lexicon and morality of 200 years ago. By now all who are but a little familiar with Lucky Jack Aubrey know that it is his friendship with Dr. Maturin and the ensuing conversations that make the series fly . . . well, float. Add to that the close, uncanny description of life on board a sailing ship and the tumult of the time resounding with the French, here Malay Sultans, protestants, Catholics and revolutionaries, and you're in for a great, enjoyable history lesson.

Some criticize O'Brian for being tedious. For the rest of us it is why we are there. It is O'Brian's attention to detail from eating pudding before the rats get it to gunnery practice in the late afternoon that makes it all worthwhile. Highly recommended. Thirteen Guns and Five Stars. Larry Scantlebury

In terms of delineation of character and pure description of the sea -- at both of which O'Brian excells -- this thirteenth novel in the series is one of his best yet. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are off, finally, on their quasi-diplomatic voyage to South America -- but wait! The Admiralty suddenly needs them for a mission in one of the Malayan sultanates! Jack gets his commission and seniority back, he's given the Diane (which he captured in the last book), and he takes aboard another envoy (who rates thirteen guns, hence the title). The French are in Pulo Prabang, too, in the persons of the traitors Wray and Ledward, and Maturin has his hands full, but they come to a delightfully bonechilling end under the doctor's scalpel. And then there's that uncharted reef. . . .

I have read every book in order and this was one of the best. I would suggest like all the other reviewers to read the series starting with 1 and working through it. I am a sailor myself and the sea jargon is hard and the sometimes too much but the thrust of the story more then keeps you going. I was glad in this book to see the eventual demise of Wray and Ledward, which not clearly explained, was done none the less. Also I thought that some of Stephen's observations of Fox to be an insightfull look at human character. I am anxiously waiting for book 14,15,and 16 to come but also realize that I am getting closer to the end of the series. Overall a very good series and one that will keep you interested from the first book to which ever one you happen to be on at the moment.

O'Brian's fans, and surely it is his loyal fans who are reading this the thirteenth in his wonderful twenty-volume nautical series, will not be disappointed. "The Thirteen Gun Salute" makes, with its successor "The Nutmeg of Consolation", a nice two-volume subset within the larger series --not unlike "Treason's Harbour" / "Far Side of the World" the ninth and tenth in the series. For "Salute" is an extended diplomatic mission to present-day Indonesia that ends in a precarious position that will only be resolved in the next book. Captain Jack Aubrey and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin take an ambassador in the HMS Diane, which readers will remember they took from the French in the preceding volume, to sign a treaty with a Malayan sultan. Along the way Maturin finds and satisfyingly deals with Ledward and Wray. (To the reviewer who doesn't quite understand what happened to the pair of traitors, suffice to recall that Ambassador Fox is an expert marksman.)

O'Brian's intelligent and intimate prose is as strong as ever. His delightful dry humor and observations of human nature are perfectly insightful. Another excellent story.

I'm a true Patrick O'Brian fan. I buy his books three or four at a time. I have not been so captivated by a series of books ever since I read "Dune". Surly sadness will come to my day when there is no more for me to read. Patrick O'Brian can make two ships in a chase at no more than 11Mph at the most keep you on the edge of your seat, then in this book take you to the crater of an instinct volcano to a Buddhist monastery to spend time with an Orangutan, and you can smell every flower and hear the breeze in the trees. As always reading Patrick O'Brian makes you smarter.

Patrick O'Brian is un-matchable when it comes to historical novels on the British Navy & sailing ships during the early 1800's. With help using "Dean King's" two books, "A Sea of Words", and "Harbors and High Seas", the twenty "Master and Commander" series of novels by Patrick O'Brian can be read over many times, and each time will give you aditional pleasure & insight into the days of "Wooden Ships & Iron Men"! (An ex- Merchant Seaman)

Perhaps I grow jaded, but Patrick O'Brian kept me at a distance with "The Thirteen-Gun Salute." As a result, despite the thrilling sights and wonderful writing, I cannot give my heart to this novel as I have with so many of his other Aubrey-Maturin novels.

That's not because O'Brian did not offer his usual delightful plot or dozens (if not hundreds) of perfectly-written passages. Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey is reinstated to the Royal Navy after his recent heroics and well-deserved good fortune. Dr. Stephen Maturin continues to serve both as Aubrey's ship-surgeon and resident spy - his recently-acquired wealth has done nothing to stifle his roaming spirit. And this novel sees the pair off to modern-day Indonesia to negotiate a critical treaty with a local potentate before Napoleon does so.

"The Thirteen Gun Salute" is long on sailing and diplomacy, short on broadsides and carronades. This is not a criticism - some of my favorite books in this series focus on Maturin and the exotic joys of life at sea rather than O'Brian's admittedly wonderful battle scenes. Indeed, my favorite section of this book involves Maturin's infamous journey to a Buddhist monastary deep inside a dormant volcano, accompanied by a tame orangutan.

But there was one element in this novel that I found to be deeply unsatisfying. Many of Aubrey's and Maturin's troubles lie at the foot of two traitors to the Crown, and they feature in this novel. (Don't worry - no spoilers here, and you should stay away from them on this page.) And yet O'Brian denies us much in the way of direct confrontation between them. I am familiar with O'Brian's love for oblique references and subtle points (indeed, I adore them), but this was a situation that demanded a well-aired comeuppance and reckoning. O'Brian has dedicated more words to describing a comic cricket match than he gives this situation, and as an editor I would have recommended a revisiting of this element.

Nothing in this review should imply that this is an inferior work. O'Brian's prose sings as ever - a climactic hurricane/typhoon is described in riveting style, and there are several key moments of both humor and acute observations of man in the 19th century.

I guess I was just a little disappointed to get jilted after a build-up over successive novels. Oh, well. Here's to book 14!