Customer Reviews

Treason's Harbour

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

This is the ninth book in the Aubrey/Maturin series and it stands as one of the best, in my opinion, and nearly a rival for "Desolation Island." With all due respect to most of the other reviews here, this book had me riveted and quite moved by the end. Maybe it has something to do with the main setting: Malta, Eqypt and the Red Sea. Some people may be bored by it. I felt the story played across the desert landscape quite beautifully. This is a gripping read, full of political and personal intrigue, great atmosphere, science (Stephen and that damned diving bell) and pitch-perfect characterizations, especially of the two principal protagonists. While Maturin is usually treated more three-dimensionally in the books, it is rare to see Aubrey as fully. Here you have him whole, and powerfully heroic.

A good change of pace for O'Brian. His characters get involved in the intrigues on land and an interesting side trip by sea and land. Some readers often accuse these books of dragging, when the characters hit the beach, while accelerating in action and interest once they go to sea again. This book breaks that pattern very well. Highly recommended to solid Aubry/Maturin fans, and to readers of Le Carre novels, too. Deep, dark stuff.

I am very conflicted about rating this novel. The Aubrey-Maturin books are a series of novels, but in fact area almost a single novel rather than a series of stand alone books. Disliking one novel is almost tantamount to saying that you dislike a chapter of a book, which is almost silly. I must, therefore, confess to feeling a bit silly saying that this is one of my least favorite novels in the series. The series as a whole is masterful, and group of books that I love dearly, and it is to be expected that some parts are to be less successful than others.

TREASON'S HARBOUR is from first to last a spy story. This is not always apparent, but even the two long segments that interrupt the more straightforward espionage sections of the narrative result as they do because of a major British official selling state secrets. O'Brian's genius lies in his willingness to leave so many strands of his story unresolved at the end, and while this willingness to forestall resolving his tale weakens TREASON'S HARBOUR taken exclusively on its own, it strengthens the series of books overall.

The novel finds our heroes in Malta, following the events of THE IONIAN MISSION. Almost immediately we find that French agents have identified Stephen Maturin as a British intelligence agent, and they point their reluctant agent Laura Fielding--an Italian beauty who is the wife of a British naval officer who has been imprisoned by the French and who can therefore be used to force her to comply with their needs-at the good doctor, hoping to make her his lover in order to accumulate secrets. When finished with Maturin, they clearly mean to kill him. Meanwhile, we learn that a major British official is in league with the French, and is passing on secrets to them. Twice Jack is given assignments to carry out that are compromised by secrets shared by the official. One act of treason even leads to the death of Jack's long-time nemesis Rear Admiral Hart, in rather shocking fashion.

One of the amazing things about the Aubrey-Maturin series is the extraordinary number of locales that it takes the reader. One of the stereotypes of sea going novels is of a protagonist who boards ships because he wants to see the world. This is unquestionably the case with these stories. This entire novel is set in the Mediterranean, the fleet being based at Malta, and Jack being given assignments in Egypt and Algeria. One benefit for me of reading the novels has been my constant running to an Atlas to locate with greater specificity the various ports of call encountered in the various novels.

In short, while this is one of the least eventful novels in the series, and while it barely manages to stand on its own, it nonetheless plays a crucial role in the series as a whole. Moreover, it contains many of the virtues of the other novels. I can't imagine anyone who has loved other novels in the sequence not loving this one also.

Captain Jack Aubrey was known in the Royal Navy as "Lucky Jack" in his earlier career, but he hasn't been so lucky of late. This ninth novel in the series, which continues immediately after _The Ionian Mission_ (and appears to be the middle installment of a mini-trilogy), is a satisfying mix of naval adventure, set mostly in the Red Sea, and spy story, set in Malta and revolving around Stephen Maturin's befriending of the young wife of a captured naval captain who is working, semi-unaware, for the French intelligence service. He's much better known to his enemies now than in times past, which has increased his personal danger greatly, and -- while we all know he's going to survive -- it's interesting to see how he does it. As always, O'Brian shows himself a master of early 19th century slang and jargon, and also of droll wit. The extra fillip this time is the pair's adventures crossing the desert between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, combined with Maturin's acquisition of a massive brass diving bell. And the account of the pellmell journey down the narrow passage in pursuit of a galley hopefully filled with French gold is one of the author's best extended scenes yet.

The ninth of twenty volumes in O'Brian's classic nautical series, "Treason's Harbour" ties together some of the plot threads from the previous book, "Ionian Mission", but leaves some of its own questions unanswered. Ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin is back in the intelligence game in Malta, battling French agents and feeding them false information until he and Captain Aubrey are sent to the Red Sea. Their mission is disappointing, though, because of a mole in the British command whose identity is unknown but who also apparently foils the mission to Algeria that ends this book.

Two-thirds of the way into "Treason's Harbour", readers will finally hear about the capitulation of the town of Marga, which Aubrey's crew was besieging in "Ionian Mission". Similarly, in this book we never learn the fate of the Fieldings, he a naval officer escaped from a French prison to return to his wife and she with reputation ruined by Maturin's espionage machinations. This is a letdown, because we've spent so much time learning about them and watching Maturin considering their fates. We never learn the denouement of the Zambra mission but are left hanging after Aubrey has confronted three French vessels, this too is disappointing because the naval actions in this book are subdued, far less gripping than in other installments.

"Treason's Harbour" is a good book, skipping along with O'Brian's intelligent prose and complete ease with maritime matters, but is not wholly self-contained. The diving bell is fun, but this reader is still wishing to know about the Fieldings. The plot bobs and eddies but never quite runs out before the pages do.

I continue to marvel at how strong a series Patrick O'Brian has created with his beloved Aubrey-Maturin books. Now into their ninth novel, Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin have lost none of their appeal.

One of O'Brian's best decisions was to have Aubrey and Maturin play two dramatically different roles while serving together. Aubrey is a duty-driven fighting captain, good for plenty of gallantry and traditional British heroism. In certain novels, such as "Master and Commander," Aubrey gets to take the lead. Maturin, on the other hand, is a spy as well as a naturlist, humanist, and physician. O'Brian lets Maturin take the lead in other novels where dueling broadsides play less of a role. And thank goodness he did so, for after a few novels the stories of Aubrey leading ship after ship into combat would grow more than a little dull.

"Treason's Harbour" is one of the series' espionage-oriented novels. The novel opens in the titular harbour in the island of Malta. Aubrey's lucky ship "Surprise" is in for much-needed repairs, and Aubrey must confront the extortive practices of the local tradesmen in order to get his ship fixed. Maturin must confront the attempt by the French to seduce him using a charming local lady whom they have blackmailed. O'Brian masterfully injects humor into the scenario as Aubrey tries to rescue the lady's beloved (and mammoth) dog, who has fallen into a well. Despite falling in himself, Aubrey rescues the dog, who thereafter treats Aubrey with such affection that the local gossip swiftly becomes that Aubrey and the lady must be having an affair.

After this entertaining episode, it is off to the Red Sea for Aubrey and Maturin for more diplomacy. While there is plenty of time for seamanship, this mission is more in Maturin's line than Aubrey's. O'Brian treats the reader to several fun and thrilling passages, whether it is Aubrey trying to negotiate the desert on a camel, or Maturin using his new-fangled diving bell to explore the sea floor, or an unfortunate swimmer being devoured by a shark.

The pages of "Treason's Harbour" will fly by as Aubrey and Maturin move from scrape to scrape, eventually ending up in a sea battle with the French. All in all, a well-rounded entry into the Aubrey-Maturin series. I only give this one four stars to distinguish it from the best novels in the series, but this is by no means a criticism - sometimes you must discriminate between the very good and the excellent.

"Treason's Harbour", the ninth installment in the Aubrey/Maturin series, is set soon after the events chronicled in "The Ionian Mission", with Aubrey, Maturin and the crew of HMS Surprise enjoying some rest in Malta, while the battered frigate undergoes repairs. Unbeknownst to Maturin, his identity as a British intelligence agent has been unmasked by a civilian official working at the Admiralty who is one of Napoleon's British moles. He finds himself involved romantically with Laura Fielding, the wife of a Royal Navy captain captured by the French, who unwittingly works on behalf of Napoleon's secret service. Aubrey is entrusted with secret orders from the Admiralty's mole which will result unexpectedly in the death of his long-time nemesis Rear Admiral Harte. And both he and Maturin will find themselves in several exciting adventures in Algeria and Egypt.

I'll admit that this is not the most exciting tale in the Aubrey/Maturin series with regards to sea battles. Instead, "Treason's Harbour" works best as a Napoleonic version of a John Le Carre novel, with Aubrey and Maturin trying to outwit their French secret agent pursuers. It remains an important installment in this saga simply by setting some of the behind-the-scenes political and espionage skullduggery which will set the course for much of the latter half of this saga. Once more O'Brian shines in offering some more of his elegant 19th Centuryesque prose.

Not the best of the series, it seems to mark time somewhat (or, in better nautical parlance, to tread water). This means though that it's an essential read if you're reading the series in order since it fills in some things that were skipped by in earlier installments and lays the groundwork for what I hope will be more exciting days ahead.

In "Treason's Harbour" Lucky Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin continue their adventures in the Mediterranean; only this time Jack's well-known luck fails him. The story picks up where "The Ionian Mission" left off, and CPT Jack Aubrey is dealing with the refit of both the Worcester and the Surprise. In the shipyards of the 1800's - Malta in particular - corruption is rife and while Aubrey deals with the frustrations of naval command's less glamorous details Stephen Maturin finds Malta to be a den of spies, loose lips and competing intelligence agencies. Here Patrick O'Brian continues to expand and excel with Maturin's espionage activities. Significant to this novel is the introduction of a villain who spans more than one volume. I will not spoil the surprise, but he has been previously encountered to those familiar with O'Brian's series. This quality makes "Treason's Harbour" a great read from the intelligence perspective: the reader is given Maturin's knowledge and the Villain's knowledge, and can see the interaction of their various skills and chance, and how this plays out into reality.

Stephen Maturin runs counter intelligence in Malta, attempting to use and save a woman who is being manipulated by deadly French agents, and due to leaks within one of England's compartmentalized and competing intelligence agencies, is at a severe disadvantage that he can only suspect. Needless to say, O'Brian's forte in writing includes both naval action and tense espionage.

Soon the Surprise is dispatched on a mission to Arabia, where CPT Aubrey is ordered to attempt another minor coup similar to what he performed in the Ionian: take a small but strategic island, and through the use of subtle and well plied political intrigue and military maneuver, oust the French and their agents, ensure the installation of a ruler friendly to the interests of His Majesty's Empire and confound Bonaparte's minions to boot. Well, as you will see, all that is easily stated in war plans is not so easily executed on the ground, and the crew of the Surprise are soon terrified by evil Jin spirits in the Arabian deserts and fighting an enemy completely outside of their element.

Following the conclusion of their attempt in Arabia, Jack is dispatched once more to deal with a small potentate along the Barbary Coast, who has been playing both sides in England and France's struggle for dominion. The conclusion of the book will leave you at the brink, wanting more, and racing to the library or the bookshop to get the next adventure. "Treason's Harbour" is a great book by any standards, and excels even by the elevated expectations that O'Brian continues to set.