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Post Captain

Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 2

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About this listen

This tale begins with Jack Aubrey arriving home from his exploits in the Mediterranean to find England at peace following the Treaty of Amiens. He and his friend Stephen Maturin, surgeon and secret agent, begin to live the lives of country gentlemen, hunting, entertaining, and enjoying amorous adventures. Their comfortable existence, however, is cut short when Jack is overnight reduced to a pauper with enough debts to keep him in prison for life. He flees to the continent to seek refuge. Instead he finds himself a hunted fugitive as Napoleon has ordered the internment of all Englishmen in France.

Patrick O'Brian is regarded by many as the greatest historical novelist of the 20th century. Post Captain is the second novel in his remarkable Aubrey/Maturin series.

©1972 Patrick O'Brian (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

Critic reviews

" Master and Commander raised dangerously high expectations; Post Captain triumphantly surpasses them." (Mary Renault)
All stars
Most relevant
Thoroughly enjoyable. Rather slow to get going but pace quickened up towards the end. Dialogue is wonderful. Reading is superb.

And most of the series still to come!

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Great story, rubbles along at a cracking pace, that finally reaches a thundering climax. I thoroughly enjoyed this latest tale in the series.

Sea story of the first order

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Enjoyed this story sometimes characters are different voices but very well read I will buy the next one in the series

Good book

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Picking up one of these you know what you're in for: dense nautical detail and descriptions so vivid you can feel the deck move and smell the air, and from this you have to work to pick out the story. You, as the reader, need to do half of the work. This is immensely rewarding but definitely for those who prefer something weightier to read. This will exercise those grey cells and put you right on the deck of a C18th ship of the line.

Having said that, the story in Post Captain takes a little while to get going, as surprise surprise O'Brian is not as adept on land as he is at sea, hence the 3 stars. Even the weaker ones of the series are still an enthralling read / listen, and following the main story I don't want to miss an episode. The narration is wonderful, and my personal favourite is the surly manservant 'Preserved Killick'. Do yourself a favour, get lost at sea.

Takes a while to get going but worth it

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Another historical adventure with lucky Jack!!!! Easy to listen to and very interesting historically. Well done!

Swashbuckling

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