H.M.S. Surprise cover art

H.M.S. Surprise

Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 3

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

H.M.S. Surprise

By: Patrick O'Brian
Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.40

Buy Now for £15.40

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly

H.M.S. Surprise, the third in O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's career in Nelson's navy, as he attempts to hold his ground against admirals, colleagues, and the enemy, and accepts a commission to convey a British ambassador to the East Indies. The voyage leads him and his friend Stephen Maturin to the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and through the archipelago of Spice Islands where the French have a near-overwhelming local superiority.

Rarely has a novel managed to convey more vividly the fragility of a sailing ship in a wild sea. Rarely has a historical novelist combined action and lyricism of style in the way that O'Brian does. His superb sense of place, brilliant characterisation and a vigour and joy of writing lifts O'Brian above other writers in this genre.

©1973 Patrick O'Brian (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Medical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Sea Adventures Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military Adventure Fiction Sailing
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
Just great, cracks along at a great pace! Again, narration is superb, the writing fantastic and the evolution of the characters is great!

CRACKING!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Awesome way to enjoy again a book previously read. The voice over infused such life into all the characters. Superb.

Awesome way to enjoy again a book previously read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I dearly love this series of books, but HMS Suprise does hit a couple of bum notes for me. Stephens indifference to pederasty, a word which the internet suggests meant different things 200 years ago (really? I mean, it's Latin and clearly means boy) lacks clarity. The word certainly doesn't mean homosexuality now or when the books were written.

Additionally, the character of Dil is poorly written. The language is that of an adult and it jars annoyingly. Especially following Stephen's comments on pederasty. His relationship with the child is explained satisfactorily I guess, but the language assigned to her always seemed to artificially make her feel older. Not a great combination.

Finally, a word on the narration:
I am 95% satisfied with the narrator's approach. Having originally experienced the excellent Patrick Tull's books and then suffered the appalling Simon Vance efforts, Ric Jerrom had been a great return to form.
But... Young men whose voices are breaking do not sound like that! It's terrible! Their voices are low and break high, not high and break low. It sounds stupid and persists through the speach of every midshipman whether or not the text instructs is. Minor complaint in all, but that's all the negatives I have for the otherwise excellent narration.

3rd time through and feeling a bit more critical.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Usual great performance of a classic seafarers tale. Cant wait for the next installment.

Excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One more cracking yarn skillfully brought to life, very enjoyable. Getting used to ' audible ' looking forward to the next in the series..

"HMS Surprise" - an enjoyable voyage

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews