Listen free for 30 days
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey-Maturin, Book 1
- Narrated by: Robert Hardy
- Series: Aubrey/Maturin (abridged), Book 1
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £7.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Post Captain
- Aubrey-Maturin, Book 2
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Robert Hardy
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Accompanied by his friend, ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, Captain Jack Aubrey has returned home to England and the life of a country gentleman. But their comfortable experience is cut short when Jack is made a pauper overnight. He flees to the continent, narrowly escaping debtor’s prison, only to find himself a hunted fugitive from Napoleon’s regime as, yet again, war looms.
-
-
Abridged
- By TomH on 27-09-11
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey-Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It displays the qualities which have put O’Brian far ahead of any of his competitors.
-
-
At last, unabridged and well read...it begins.
- By John on 19-01-12
-
Hornblower and the Hotspur
- By: C.S. Forester
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the day of his marriage to Maria, Hornblower is ordered to take the Hotspur and head for Brest – war is coming and Napoleon will not catch His Majesty’s navy with its britches round its ankles. With thoughts of his new life as a husband intruding on his duties, Hornblower must prove himself to be not only the most capable commander in the fleet, but also its most daring if he is to stop the French gaining the upper hand. This is the third of eleven books chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester’s inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.
-
-
What is good enough for Winston Churchill is good enough for me
- By Sleepy surfer on 06-07-18
-
Master of War
- Master of War, Book 1
- By: David Gilman
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1346. For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or join the king's invasion. As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone learns the brutal lessons of war. Vastly outnumbered, Edward III's army will finally confront the armoured might of the French nobility on the field of Crécy. It is a battle that will change the history of warfare.
-
-
Part one is good.
- By mrmalaya on 11-09-17
-
Sharpe's Tiger: The Siege of Seringapatam, 1799 (The Sharpe Series, Book 1)
- By: Bernard Cornwell
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Sharpe avoids the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill and endeavours to rescue a British officer from under the nose of the Tippoo of Mysore. But in fleeing Hakeswill, Sharpe enters the exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo. An adventure that will require all of his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe.
-
-
At the Sharpe Start
- By Simon on 20-09-15
-
Winston S. Churchill: The History of the Second World War, Volume 1 - The Gathering Storm
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Second World War every bond between man and man was to perish. Crimes were committed by the Hitler regime which find no equal in scale and wickedness with any that have darkened the human record. It was a simple policy to keep Germany disarmed after the struggle of the First World War and the Victors adequately armed in vigilance. But errors were soon made.
-
-
Terrible Audio Echo
- By J on 07-01-19
-
Post Captain
- Aubrey-Maturin, Book 2
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Robert Hardy
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Accompanied by his friend, ship’s surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin, Captain Jack Aubrey has returned home to England and the life of a country gentleman. But their comfortable experience is cut short when Jack is made a pauper overnight. He flees to the continent, narrowly escaping debtor’s prison, only to find himself a hunted fugitive from Napoleon’s regime as, yet again, war looms.
-
-
Abridged
- By TomH on 27-09-11
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey-Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It displays the qualities which have put O’Brian far ahead of any of his competitors.
-
-
At last, unabridged and well read...it begins.
- By John on 19-01-12
-
Hornblower and the Hotspur
- By: C.S. Forester
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the day of his marriage to Maria, Hornblower is ordered to take the Hotspur and head for Brest – war is coming and Napoleon will not catch His Majesty’s navy with its britches round its ankles. With thoughts of his new life as a husband intruding on his duties, Hornblower must prove himself to be not only the most capable commander in the fleet, but also its most daring if he is to stop the French gaining the upper hand. This is the third of eleven books chronicling the adventures of C. S. Forester’s inimitable nautical hero, Horatio Hornblower.
-
-
What is good enough for Winston Churchill is good enough for me
- By Sleepy surfer on 06-07-18
-
Master of War
- Master of War, Book 1
- By: David Gilman
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1346. For Thomas Blackstone the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or join the king's invasion. As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone learns the brutal lessons of war. Vastly outnumbered, Edward III's army will finally confront the armoured might of the French nobility on the field of Crécy. It is a battle that will change the history of warfare.
-
-
Part one is good.
- By mrmalaya on 11-09-17
-
Sharpe's Tiger: The Siege of Seringapatam, 1799 (The Sharpe Series, Book 1)
- By: Bernard Cornwell
- Narrated by: Rupert Farley
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Sharpe avoids the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill and endeavours to rescue a British officer from under the nose of the Tippoo of Mysore. But in fleeing Hakeswill, Sharpe enters the exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo. An adventure that will require all of his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe.
-
-
At the Sharpe Start
- By Simon on 20-09-15
-
Winston S. Churchill: The History of the Second World War, Volume 1 - The Gathering Storm
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Second World War every bond between man and man was to perish. Crimes were committed by the Hitler regime which find no equal in scale and wickedness with any that have darkened the human record. It was a simple policy to keep Germany disarmed after the struggle of the First World War and the Victors adequately armed in vigilance. But errors were soon made.
-
-
Terrible Audio Echo
- By J on 07-01-19
-
Kydd
- Thomas Kydd, Book 1
- By: Julian Stockwin
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1793 and Europe is ablaze with war. Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized by the press gang to be a part of the crew of the 98-gun line-of-battle ship Duke William. The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Despite all that he goes through in danger of tempest and battle he comes to admire the skills and courage of the seamen - taking up the challenge himself to become a true sailor.
-
-
The Launch of a Top-Notch Series
- By Simon on 05-10-15
-
Wolf Hall
- The Wolf Hall Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 25 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events.
-
-
Great story but too many saliva sounds
- By K. Patel on 17-07-20
-
Frankenstein
- By: Mary Shelley
- Narrated by: Dan Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Narrator Dan Stevens ( Downton Abbey) presents an uncanny performance of Mary Shelley's timeless gothic novel, an epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.
-
-
Absolute Classic
- By Mike on 20-11-16
-
Ramage
- By: Dudley Pope
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a daring foray, under the very nose of the French Mediterranean fleet, Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage is to sail his tiny cutter close in to the Italian shore and rescue a party of stranded aristocrats from Napoleon's fast-advancing army.
-
-
could be better
- By john gardner on 04-09-20
-
The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Lord of the Rings, Book 1
- By: J. R.R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Rob Inglis
- Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the first part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, available as a complete and unabridged audiobook. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power - the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring - the ring that rules them all - which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.
-
-
Great book, Needs re-recording
- By Freddie on 08-11-19
-
The Algebraist
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Geoff Annis
- Length: 24 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For short-lived races like humans, space is dominated by the complicated, grandiose Mercatoria. To the Dwellers who may live billions of years, the galaxy consists of their gas-giant planets - the rest is debris. Fassin Taak is a Slow Seer privileged to work with the Dwellers of the gas-giant Nasqueron. His work consists of rummaging for data in their vast, disorganised memories and libraries. Unfortunately, without knowing it, he's come close to an ancient secret of unimaginable importance.
-
-
Spoiled by awful narration
- By Martin on 05-12-17
-
Until the Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead
- By: Sean Thomas Russell
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reunited with his crew aboard the frigate HMS Themis, Captain Charles Hayden is ordered by the Admiralty to the West Indies to carry war to the French among their own islands. Before he makes port in Barbados, the Themis intercepts a single boat adrift in the middle of the ocean - its sole occupants, two young Spanish noblemen. But not is all as it seems with Hayden’s unexpected guests.
-
-
Well Buckle my Swash
- By Mr on 15-02-15
-
Death to the French
- By: C. S. Forester
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of a rifleman's resourcefulness in a single-handed war against the forces of Napoleon. Separated from his regiment, he uses a band of undisciplined Portuguese guerrillas to battle his way back to his own lines.
-
-
Forester does gritty and dark
- By Anonymous User on 05-05-20
-
Cryptonomicon
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 42 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
-
-
Mixed emotions
- By Mr. M. Bleck on 12-12-13
-
Moby Dick
- By: Herman Melville
- Narrated by: William Hootkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Call me Ishmael." Thus starts the greatest American novel. Melville said himself that he wanted to write "a mighty book about a mighty theme" and so he did. It is a story of one man's obsessive revenge-journey against the white whale, Moby-Dick, who injured him in an earlier meeting. Woven into the story of the last journey of The Pequod is a mesh of philosophy, rumination, religion, history, and a mass of information about whaling through the ages.
-
-
Bad edition
- By César on 13-11-19
-
The Volunteers
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the men and women of the Royal Navy's Special Operations units. Carrying out lightning raids on hostile coasts, they became a navy within a navy - each handpicked for their individual skills, and all of them courageous. Against the mighty backdrop of World War II they performed their small but deadly operations - living often beyond hope, sometimes beyond mercy. This is the dramatic story of a handful of such people. The Volunteers.
-
-
Honestly disappointing
- By J. Wexler on 11-11-20
-
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 32 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1806. Centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation’s past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell.
-
-
Pleasingly long
- By Felix on 24-08-05
Summary
1800. Napoleon Bonaparte is the biggest threat to peace yet seen.
Newly promoted to command of his first ship, Captain Jack Aubrey, along with his crew, and new friend and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin, must patrol a Mediterranean fraught with peril but rich with rewards. A glimpse of white sails on the horizon could mean a prize to be taken – or a fight for survival.
Critic reviews
"In Aubrey and Maturin, Patrick O’Brian has created two of the most enjoyable characters in twentieth-century fiction. One of the greatest authors to sail with." (Michael Palin)
"There are two types of people in the world: Patrick O'Brian fans, and people who haven't read him yet." (Lucy Eyre, Guardian)
More from the same
What listeners say about Master and Commander
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- JoJo
- 28-01-10
Disappointing abridgement
This is a very good book and nicely read but the way is has been abridged is pretty awful. Great chunks of story are missed and at times (especially towards the end) the story chops about so much it becomes tricky to follow.
Since the unabridged version is available on the American version of this site, it seems a pity that we have to make do with this.
24 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Simon
- 06-09-11
Awful abridgement
Don't buy this shoddily and unnecessarily curtailed recording. The joy of the novels is in the occasional details and the depiction of shipboard life/death. All of this has been filleted.
Please can somebody record the whole series unabridged - it is an excellent (if not the pre-eminent) historical series of novels.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- t
- 25-04-22
Dreadful slaughter of a fine novel.
Don’t bother with this. Look up the unabridged version read by Ric Jerrom.
This one is entirely without pace, or depth. The edit means it is impossible to understand context. The narrator has only one voice and it is therefore impossible to discern who is speaking or indeed if it is only narration. That he can muster stereotypical spokeshave English, does not mean he should be reading audiobooks.
Truly dreadful.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S.H.A Hollingshead
- 09-03-20
Horrible abridgment, beautifully read
This wonderful series should NEVER be abridged as every word is an absolute gem. I bought this in ignorance and hope never to make the same mistake with other books of the series. I have since bought the unabridged version! (also available on 'Audible')
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs
- 08-07-13
Lose yourself on the high seas.
Would you consider the audio edition of Master and Commander to be better than the print version?
Absolutely, listending to someone read to you has to be one of life's pleasures, tired eyes and poor lighting issues are abolished!
What was one of the most memorable moments of Master and Commander?
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. The attention to detail in describing life on board a man-of-war paints a picture better than any imagery can convey: and the language and conversations of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle, all fantastic.
What does Robert Hardy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Robert Hardy brings the experience of a seasoned actor in making the book come alive in your mind,
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The whole story had a great impact on me.
-
Overall
- Michael
- 09-04-13
A magical start to a wonderful series
On a long-long journey some time ago, I stopped for petrol on the M6 and was browsing a CD stall at a motorway service station looking for something to help me while the journey away, when Master and Commander caught my eye (this was long before Audible was around!). Having seen the movie advertised, but having not seen it, I thought I'd give the talking book (a CD of this very Audible item) a try and what fantastically lucky choice it was!
Within ten minutes, the M6 had gone, the modern world was a vague memory, and I was transported back to a world of sailing ships, war at sea and the romance and brutality of life in the Royal Navy in the early 19th century and, as the journey progressed, I was introduced to nautical terms, wonderful plot lines, narrative and adventure that burned along at a splendid pace and kept me deeply involved and gripped to the very end. When the story concluded, I was there with Jack Aubrey, with a lump in my throat, proud to be an Englishman and in my mind's eye a new recruit to His Majesty's Navy, hoping that whoever this Patrick O'Brian chap was, that he'd found time to jot down some more adventures in the same vain.
Well, it turned out that he had managed to continue after the first book, all the way to half way through a twenty first volume, each one offering the reader something new at every turn. O'Brian takes the reader around the world with wonderful writing that includes intrigue, adventure, romance, tragedy, villainy, betrayal, friendship, and descriptive details of life ashore and at sea in the 1800s and each volume has something new to enjoy along the way with Jack and Stephen.
Robert Hardy's wonderful narration of this, the first in the Aubrey and Maturin series, instantly entranced and beguiled me and his astonishing characterisations have helped to to enjoy each and every book in this Audible series. I highly recommend any listener to start here as the first step on a wonderous journey; go all the way!
-
Overall
- Stephen
- 10-09-12
Great story not so great narration
I read the book, I saw the film, I loved both. I listened to this narraton and was disappointed. Robert Hardy is an astounding screen actor, I have no personal dislike for him and I would recommend watching anything that he stars in on-screen, but I find his narration of this excellent book a little bland. It's not that it lacks character, but rather it lacks dynamism.
Compare this with the narration of HMS Expedient by Cornelius Garrett and you will catch my meaning. I am not comapring the actual books here of course, merely the narrative style.
For anybody who hasn't read "Master and Commander" I would highly recommend that you do so, you will not be disappointed, the book is very well written and puts the reader at the centre of life on board a man-of-war ship during the Napoleonic era, encompassing the close friendship between the Captain and his secretive Surgeon, who is also a secret agent, and the struggles that all crews faced with regard to food, discipline, on-board sickness and endless crew-squabbles. The sense of atmosphere and ambience is captured perfectly and at times you feel that you are really in there with the characters.
This book brings to life the very essence of the era and captures the reader in the folds of the story until the end is reached, making you want to read more.
Critically acclaimed as the best series of historical novels ever written, you will not be disappointed with this excellent novel.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 26-04-19
a baptism into maritime history
Steven and Jack. An unlikely friendship commences abroad the Sophie amongst the chaos of sea.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robert
- 13-04-06
abridged too far
Highly enjoyable, ripping yarn. I read the first 8 books of the Aubrey/Maturin series a few years ago and was looking forward to the audio version. Mostly I was not disappointed. Robert Hardy does an excellent job on the narration, with good salty accents and believable characterization.
My quibble is with the abridging, which left out some important (to my mind) stuff, eg the trapanning scene where Maturin cuts open the guy's head in front of the ship's company, a suspenseful and interesting scene in the original. There were also some abrupt scene changes, esp between the capture of the Surprise and the board of inquiry.
This was pretty good, but I wish it and the rest of the series were available unabridged.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- maxwell
- 02-08-10
Abridged
I would not have bought this book, had I realized it was abridged. Thus the story lost a lot of it's sense and continuity. However it was well read.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Brendan
- 12-07-12
Absolutely first-rate!
I have long been a fan of this brilliant series and jumped at the chance to hear it read by the redoubtable Robert Hardy. Hardy brings the characters to life in a way that enhances my memories of the printed page and the only bittersweet disappointment involved was that he was reading from an abridged version. No, no, no! Read the whole thing! We are missing all the asides and digressive bits that admittedly add nothing to the plot but which constitute so much of the period charm of this fascinating ongoing tale. It is primarily the story of a deep and enduring friendship between two very unlike men, one the bluff and hearty Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy, lucky at sea but prone to every disaster on land, and the other the sardonic and secretive surgeon and natural philosopher Stephen Maturin with his mixed Catalan and Irish loyalties. They clash, they reconcile, they play music together, they watch out for one another's interests ... and then they clash again. The background to all this is the war at sea against the Empire of Napoleon and the action ranges from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and from there to the furthest oceans of the world. This is rivetting stuff and is punctuated by periods ashore where the sharp-witted Stephen proves himself more adroit than his naive and trusting companion.
Oh dear! Nothing to be done. With a sidelong glance at my perilous bank account I went out and bought the whole series and spent a week or so rather blissfully submerged in a bygone world so well recreated that you can actually feel yourself within it. I was quite casually referring to male friends as 'my dear' and 'my love' in conversation, oblivious of some rather strange looks ....
Belatedly, an unabridged version of this series has begun to appear which comprises (so far) the first three volumes; 'Master and Commander', 'Post Captain', and 'HMS Surprise' read quite creditably by Ric Jerrom. When I tell you that these versions run from 15 to 18 hours apiece compared to Robert Hardy's average of about 3 hours you can understand the source of my anguish above. What to do? Do as I did, I suppose. Start with the whole series read by Hardy and then go back and do it more slowly with Ric Jerrom. On the other hand, if you don't like spoilers start with the unabridged versions. But if you choose to go that way you will miss the unparalleled spine-tingling readings of Hardy! Tough decision.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Adam
- 16-03-10
Please give us Patrick Tull
I enjoyed the book and have continued with the series. While Robert Hardy is a fair narrator, the versions of the series read by Patrick Tull are perhaps the finest narration I have heard. You will enjoy it, but I hope Audible can get the Tull versions soon.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Aileen
- 16-02-12
Not a great one for Audio
I had huge problems following the action in this book. Most of the time I had no clear idea what was going all. So much unfamiliar nautical jargon, combined with somewhat careless and muffled narration, just meant this was all a bit baffling. I have listened to a lot of Hornblower on audio without this being a major problem.Yes, sometimes listening to Hornblower I get a little lost. But I was basically lost from go to whoa on this one.
I thought Robert Hardy would be wonderful, but his voice is a just a little too phlegmy and fruity for comfort. He sounded like he was having a bilious attack most of the time. I found him hard to understand. His voice is very plummy and it kind of annoyed me.
I think I will try to get my hands on the hard copy of these books, which have been highly recommended to me several times.
1 person found this helpful