-
The Reverse of the Medal
- Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 11
- Narrado por: Ric Jerrom
- Duración: 10 h y 37 m
No se pudo agregar al carrito
Add to Cart failed.
Error al Agregar a Lista de Deseos.
Error al eliminar de la lista de deseos.
Error al añadir a tu biblioteca
Error al seguir el podcast
Error al dejar de seguir el podcast
![Prime logotipo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
Compra ahora por $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Los oyentes también disfrutaron...
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- De: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrado por: Patrick Tull
- Duración: 16 h y 45 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom 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 road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
-
-
Choice of Narrators
- De Frank R. Adams en 04-23-10
De: Patrick O'Brian
-
Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin: Master & Commander & Other Adventures
- A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Drama Collection
- De: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrado por: Richard Dillane, Michael Troughton, Adjoa Andoh, y otros
- Duración: 15 h y 46 m
- Grabación Original
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Widely regarded as the most engaging historical novels ever written, the 21 books in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series have garnered millions of fans since the publication of the first volume over 50 years ago. Included here are BBC radio adaptations of the first seven thrilling stories.
-
-
Disastrous
- De Jerry Klein en 05-26-22
De: Patrick O'Brian
-
Mr Midshipman Hornblower
- De: C. S. Forester
- Narrado por: Christian Rodska
- Duración: 8 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
-
-
First rate historical fiction
- De Jason en 04-30-17
De: C. S. Forester
-
Shōgun, Part One
- The Asian Saga, Book 1.1
- De: James Clavell
- Narrado por: Ralph Lister
- Duración: 24 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss.
-
-
Great book poor marketing
- De Ryan en 01-20-24
De: James Clavell
-
The Collapse of the Third Republic
- An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940
- De: William L. Shirer
- Narrado por: Grover Gardner
- Duración: 48 h y 10 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
As an international war correspondent and radio commentator, William L. Shirer didn't just research the fall of France. He was there. In just six weeks, he watched the Third Reich topple one of the world's oldest military powers - and institute a rule of terror and paranoia. Based on in-person conversation with the leaders, diplomats, generals, and ordinary citizens who both shaped the events of this time and lived through them on a daily basis, Shirer shapes a compelling account of historical events - without losing sight of the personal experience.
-
-
So much information
- De Daniel L Carmony en 05-14-19
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- De: Jodi Taylor
- Narrado por: Jodi Taylor
- Duración: 2 h y 31 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- De Sheryl en 11-05-15
De: Jodi Taylor
-
Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- De: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrado por: Patrick Tull
- Duración: 16 h y 45 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom 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 road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
-
-
Choice of Narrators
- De Frank R. Adams en 04-23-10
De: Patrick O'Brian
-
Jack Aubrey & Stephen Maturin: Master & Commander & Other Adventures
- A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Drama Collection
- De: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrado por: Richard Dillane, Michael Troughton, Adjoa Andoh, y otros
- Duración: 15 h y 46 m
- Grabación Original
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Widely regarded as the most engaging historical novels ever written, the 21 books in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series have garnered millions of fans since the publication of the first volume over 50 years ago. Included here are BBC radio adaptations of the first seven thrilling stories.
-
-
Disastrous
- De Jerry Klein en 05-26-22
De: Patrick O'Brian
-
Mr Midshipman Hornblower
- De: C. S. Forester
- Narrado por: Christian Rodska
- Duración: 8 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
-
-
First rate historical fiction
- De Jason en 04-30-17
De: C. S. Forester
-
Shōgun, Part One
- The Asian Saga, Book 1.1
- De: James Clavell
- Narrado por: Ralph Lister
- Duración: 24 h y 18 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in a place few Europeans know of and even fewer have seen—Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, a land where the line between life and death is razor-thin, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, with unknown customs and language, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty and strength of character are tested by both passion and loss.
-
-
Great book poor marketing
- De Ryan en 01-20-24
De: James Clavell
-
The Collapse of the Third Republic
- An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940
- De: William L. Shirer
- Narrado por: Grover Gardner
- Duración: 48 h y 10 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
As an international war correspondent and radio commentator, William L. Shirer didn't just research the fall of France. He was there. In just six weeks, he watched the Third Reich topple one of the world's oldest military powers - and institute a rule of terror and paranoia. Based on in-person conversation with the leaders, diplomats, generals, and ordinary citizens who both shaped the events of this time and lived through them on a daily basis, Shirer shapes a compelling account of historical events - without losing sight of the personal experience.
-
-
So much information
- De Daniel L Carmony en 05-14-19
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- De: Jodi Taylor
- Narrado por: Jodi Taylor
- Duración: 2 h y 31 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- De Sheryl en 11-05-15
De: Jodi Taylor
Resumen del Editor
Jack Aubrey returns from his duties protecting whalers off South America and is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make investments in the City on the strength of supposedly certain information. This innocent decision ensnares him in the London criminal underground and in government espionage - the province of his friend Stephen Maturin. Is Aubrey's humiliation and the threatened ruin of his career a deliberate plot?
Más títulos del mismo
Relacionado con este tema
-
George Orwell’s 1984
- An Audible Original adaptation
- De: George Orwell, Joe White - adaptation
- Narrado por: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, y otros
- Duración: 3 h y 27 m
- Grabación Original
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
-
-
A Revelation!
- De wotsallthisthen en 04-07-24
De: George Orwell, y otros
-
Her Second Husband
- De: Jane E. James
- Narrado por: Claire Rushbrook
- Duración: 10 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Then: Linda has it all: a gorgeous home, a devoted husband, two loving daughters. But she throws it all away to chase an impossible dream. Now: Linda is alone and penniless, living in a shabby rented flat. With nothing to lose, she signs up to a dating app for the over 50s. But the one man who responds to her profile, a man calling himself Tony Fortin, is not who he says he is. Linda recognises him immediately. He’s Marcus, her second husband. But that’s impossible. Marcus died eight months ago. He drowned off the coast of Corfu.
-
-
Tedious Read
- De Jazzyjane en 07-13-24
De: Jane E. James
-
The Art of War
- De: Sun Tzu
- Narrado por: Aidan Gillen
- Duración: 1 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- De Fred271 en 12-31-19
De: Sun Tzu
-
Home Is Where the Bodies Are
- De: Jeneva Rose
- Narrado por: January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, Brittany Pressley, y otros
- Duración: 8 h y 27 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.
-
-
Perfect Audio.
- De Black Women Read Too en 05-19-24
De: Jeneva Rose
-
The Holy Bible: King James Version
- The Old and New Testaments
- De: King James Bible
- Narrado por: Scott Brick, Prentice Onayemi, Ellen Archer, y otros
- Duración: 82 h y 53 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
This newer edition of the King James Bible published in 1769 is usually preferred by most that read it over the older 1611 version. This 1769 edition is highly sought after due to being more reader/listener friendly than the 1611 since many typos were fixed.... We hope your new audio bible will go everywhere with you and be a blessing for years to come.
-
-
Very Good
- De José de Ribera en 12-17-20
De: King James Bible
-
He Who Fights with Monsters 2
- A LitRPG Adventure (He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 2)
- De: Shirtaloon, Travis Deverell
- Narrado por: Heath Miller
- Duración: 22 h y 1 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
But Jason Asano is settling into his new life. Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone to compete for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer. While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Although Jason seems uninvolved, he has unknowingly crossed the enemy’s path before.
-
-
Contrary to common reviews
- De Karen en 05-21-21
De: Shirtaloon, y otros
-
George Orwell’s 1984
- An Audible Original adaptation
- De: George Orwell, Joe White - adaptation
- Narrado por: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, y otros
- Duración: 3 h y 27 m
- Grabación Original
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
-
-
A Revelation!
- De wotsallthisthen en 04-07-24
De: George Orwell, y otros
-
Her Second Husband
- De: Jane E. James
- Narrado por: Claire Rushbrook
- Duración: 10 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Then: Linda has it all: a gorgeous home, a devoted husband, two loving daughters. But she throws it all away to chase an impossible dream. Now: Linda is alone and penniless, living in a shabby rented flat. With nothing to lose, she signs up to a dating app for the over 50s. But the one man who responds to her profile, a man calling himself Tony Fortin, is not who he says he is. Linda recognises him immediately. He’s Marcus, her second husband. But that’s impossible. Marcus died eight months ago. He drowned off the coast of Corfu.
-
-
Tedious Read
- De Jazzyjane en 07-13-24
De: Jane E. James
-
The Art of War
- De: Sun Tzu
- Narrado por: Aidan Gillen
- Duración: 1 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- De Fred271 en 12-31-19
De: Sun Tzu
-
Home Is Where the Bodies Are
- De: Jeneva Rose
- Narrado por: January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, Brittany Pressley, y otros
- Duración: 8 h y 27 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.
-
-
Perfect Audio.
- De Black Women Read Too en 05-19-24
De: Jeneva Rose
-
The Holy Bible: King James Version
- The Old and New Testaments
- De: King James Bible
- Narrado por: Scott Brick, Prentice Onayemi, Ellen Archer, y otros
- Duración: 82 h y 53 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
This newer edition of the King James Bible published in 1769 is usually preferred by most that read it over the older 1611 version. This 1769 edition is highly sought after due to being more reader/listener friendly than the 1611 since many typos were fixed.... We hope your new audio bible will go everywhere with you and be a blessing for years to come.
-
-
Very Good
- De José de Ribera en 12-17-20
De: King James Bible
-
He Who Fights with Monsters 2
- A LitRPG Adventure (He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 2)
- De: Shirtaloon, Travis Deverell
- Narrado por: Heath Miller
- Duración: 22 h y 1 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
But Jason Asano is settling into his new life. Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone to compete for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer. While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Although Jason seems uninvolved, he has unknowingly crossed the enemy’s path before.
-
-
Contrary to common reviews
- De Karen en 05-21-21
De: Shirtaloon, y otros
-
Fingerprints of the Gods
- The Quest Continues
- De: Graham Hancock
- Narrado por: Graham Hancock
- Duración: 18 h y 31 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Fingerprints of the Gods is the revolutionary rewrite of history that has persuaded millions of listeners throughout the world to change their preconceptions about the history behind modern society. An intellectual detective story, this unique history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain.
-
-
Classic in Historical Mysteries
- De Kelly en 09-05-19
De: Graham Hancock
-
The House on the Water
- A Novella
- De: Margot Hunt
- Narrado por: Taylor Schilling
- Duración: 2 h y 47 m
- Grabación Original
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Every year, Caroline Reed takes a trip with her best friend, Esme Lamont. They’re usually accompanied by their spouses - but this year, everything’s changed. Esme has just gone through a bitter divorce, and Caroline's wondering if her own marriage is reaching its breaking point as she and her husband, John, cope with the discovery that their son has been abusing drugs. Still, the inseparable duo books a weeklong stay at a beach-front home in Shoreham, Florida, inviting Esme’s brother, Nick, and his new husband. After a blissful first night in the vacation home, tragedy strikes.
-
-
Wonderful Story
- De David M. Wilcox en 12-04-20
De: Margot Hunt
-
Dracula [Audible Edition]
- De: Bram Stoker
- Narrado por: Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, y otros
- Duración: 15 h y 27 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
-
-
IS THAT NOT SO?
- De Jim "The Impatient" en 11-05-15
De: Bram Stoker
-
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
- A Novel
- De: Bryn Greenwood
- Narrado por: Jorjeana Marie
- Duración: 11 h y 8 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house until one night her stargazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold.
-
-
So many 'hard to listen to' moments
- De jksullycats en 12-27-16
De: Bryn Greenwood
-
The Jane Austen Collection
- An Audible Original Drama
- De: Jane Austen
- Narrado por: Claire Foy, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Billie Piper, y otros
- Duración: 45 h
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Renowned as much for her wit and satirical social commentary as for her stories of love and romance, Jane Austen remains unfailingly relevant and one of Britain’s best loved authors. In this Audible Original collection, an all-star list of narrators (Billie Piper, Claire Foy, Emma Thompson, Florence Pugh and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) capture Austen’s pin-sharp humour and tone in these dramatisations of her six beloved novels accompanied by a full cast.
-
-
Not a faithful rendition
- De Anne McClain en 12-13-20
De: Jane Austen
-
The Secret Garden
- De: Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Narrado por: Carrie Hope Fletcher
- Duración: 7 h y 38 m
- Versión completa
-
General
-
Narración:
-
Historia
Mary Lennox starts her life as an unhappy victim of circumstance. After the loss of her parents, she moves to rural Yorkshire to live with a distant uncle where she resents the wildness of the countryside. At first, she struggles to find a place in this new existence. Although unsure about her surroundings and its occupants, through the gentle guidance of the maid she gradually becomes interested in the story of Mrs Craven, who apparently used to spend her time in a garden at the house, the key to which has vanished.
-
-
Fabulous
- De Lady Lightning en 05-19-20
Lo que los oyentes dicen sobre The Reverse of the Medal
Calificaciones medias de los clientesReseñas - Selecciona las pestañas a continuación para cambiar el origen de las reseñas.
-
Total
-
Ejecución
-
Historia
- Eric and Stacy
- 07-09-19
Ric is the man
The series is a masterpiece. The best I’ve heard or read. Ric is the ultimate in verbal performance, never have I enjoyed a story telling as I have by him. I’ve listened multiple times and always get great joy and happiness from the telling. So cool. Thank you both. Regards.
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Has calificado esta reseña.
Reportaste esta reseña
-
Total
-
Ejecución
-
Historia
- Jefferson
- 02-17-22
Jack and Stephen Mostly Ashore
After the showy towing of a prize (a British whaler that’s been recaptured from the Americans during the ongoing War of 1812) into the West Indies squadron and the exciting chase after an American privateer, the eleventh novel in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin series of Age Napoleon British navy books, The Reverse of the Medal (1986), occurs completely ashore, back in England. The story mostly develops the spy side of O’Brian’s series, with a treasonous “rat” making trouble for British intelligence, Stephen Maturin, and Post-Captain Jack Aubrey. The prime odd couple and best friends Jack and Stephen are entertaining and compelling ashore, where Jack is a gullible mark for every “land shark” and is caught in a tangled web of legal and financial difficulties from which he expects to extricate himself by using his prize money to engage in a little “harmless” stock-purchasing, and where Stephen is much more in command of himself (at sea he is prone to mistaking starboard from larboard, falling down hatches, and drowning). Although it should be said that Stephen has been knocked a bit off stride by the burning down of his comfortable London lodgings and the absconding of his wife Diana to Sweden with a handsome young Lithuanian hussar.
And yet… O’Brian’s novels lose much of their attraction (for this reader) when Jack and Stephen are on land. O’Brian is so good at evoking what it must have been like to be at sea in the early 19th century with sails propelling a ship through every kind of weather over every kind of water in every kind of spot on the globe. He does give us some of that good stuff early in this novel, as in the two following examples:
Short and fast:
“There was a pure keen delight in this flying speed, the rushing air, and the taste of sea in his mouth.”
Long and slow:
“There were mornings when the ship would lie there mirrored in a perfectly unmoving glossy sea, her sails drooping, heavy with dew, and he would dive from the rail, shattering the reflection and swimming out and away beyond the incessant necessary din of two hundred men hurrying about their duties or eating their breakfast. There he would float with an infinity of pure sea on either hand and the whole hemisphere of sky above, already full of light; and then the sun would heave up on the eastern rim, turning the sails a brilliant white in quick succession, changing the sea to still another nameless blue, and filling his heart with joy.”
Ashore, the novels tend to turn one part comedy of manners and two parts cloak-and-dagger. And since about the eighth book in the series, we’ve known that the alcoholic, gambling blackguard Andrew Wray is in fact the “Judas” in British intelligence selling his country out to Napoleon and hatching schemes against Jack and or Stephen, so it’s increasingly hard to believe that Stephen, who in addition to being a famous naturalist and doctor is a veteran ace spy, never suspects the guy, and it increasingly feels like O’Brian is contriving Stephen’s obtuseness to generate conflict. So as I’ve read on in the series, I’ve been increasingly finding it flawed in this area, and here this book has seven of ten chapters devoted to this plot strand.
Moreover, O’Brian is not averse to setting up a fine climax and then cutting it short and ending a novel without any resolution, so the reader is left having to read the start of the next entry in the series to find out what happened at the end of the previous one. This happens at the end of the tenth book, The Far Side of the World, when everything is leading up to a conflict between American and British sailors stuck on an otherwise deserted island in the Pacific, only to have a deus ex machina presumably save the day, but the novel ends so abruptly that we don’t know exactly what was going on with the American ship’s captain and crew, how the Surprise happened to show up at just that moment in the nick of time, and so on and so forth. This eleventh novel pulls a similar disappointing trick: abrupt climax and absent resolution.
There are surely many virtues in this book. Plenty of interesting things about Jack’s natural dark-skinned son, the British legal system, about cricket played between two ships’ crews, about how quickly and competently sailors can renovate a cottage, about how to set up as a privateer, and of course about Jack and Stephen’s friendship (e.g., “Brother, I told you I had inherited from my godfather”). And O’Brian is a fine, wise writer, so of course there are nice lines revealing human nature, like “Ever since I had a great deal of money, I have found that I much dislike being parted from it, particularly in a sharp or overbearing manner,” as well as great descriptions of the natural world, like a “living silence” when “the green world and the gentle blue sky might have just been created.”
But I’m hoping that the next book will mostly take Jack and Stephen to sea again!
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Has calificado esta reseña.
Reportaste esta reseña
esto le resultó útil a 2 personas
-
Total
-
Ejecución
-
Historia
- PJ
- 02-07-23
A Very Good Spy Story
The narrator lost track of the character's at times but it doesn't spoil the story.
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Has calificado esta reseña.
Reportaste esta reseña
esto le resultó útil a 1 persona