Patrick O'BrianThe Fortune of War (Aubrey / Maturin)

This is the poorest of O'Brian's books in the series. He was an author who prided himself on historical accuracy, but he misses the mark in this book about Aubrey and Maturin captured in Boston. First, Aubrey is severely wounded when HMS Java is captured by the USS Constitution. Unable to travel (!?) from central America to Britain on a prisoner of war cartel, he instead is brought to Boston (1500 miles) along with faithful Stephen Maturin. Once there, his captors allow them to find refuge in a private hospital on Beacon Hill. Not to give away the plot, Aubrey claims that he has not been parolled and therefore he and Matirin can slip away and rejoin the Royal Navy, then blockading Boston. Bosh! Any captive must be parolled in order to avoid being kept under close arrest. This would never have happened in "real life." For Aubrey and Maturin to live in a private hospital, both would have been parolled: had to give their word (their honor) that because they were not watched or guarded that they would not run away. Not only do they eventually run away, but Maturin, armed and dangerous, fights French agents in Boston's streets. Second, O'Brian's Boston exists only in his mind, not in any historical reality. O'Brian possibly constructed Boston based upon maps, but had little understanding of the city in 1813. The geography is vague (and often cloaked in dense fog.) He mentions how a character could drive from Boston to Salem and back in 2-3 hours in a carriage. Salem is 20 miles north of the unbridged Charles River estuary; it might take 2-3 hours today to drive a roundtrip (given the traffic on the interstate and surface roads), but such a trip in 1813 would have been a fantasy. O'Brian's Boston never existed. Third, O'Brian constructs an elaborate French owned hotel (somewhere along Washington Street) to play out his duel between Stephen Maturin and the evil French secret service agents. These agents have the run of Boston and even wound a boy while trying to shoot Maturin. The Americans let the French have their way. In reality, Boston was a Federalist stronghold and therefore any French agents would have had to work out of sight. Napoleon's France was not an ally of the United States. The U.S. fought an undeclared naval war against the French during John Adams' administration to break the mutual defence treaty that this country had made with King Louis XVI in 1778. That French agents could work openly in the United States in 1813 is O'Brian's invention. Fourth, Stephen Maturin wants to marry the tiresome Diane Villiers because she has become a naturalized American citizen and this would be the easiest way for her to become a British subject again (and also accomplish what Maturin has wanted since book two.) O'Brian should know that Britain never recognized any of its subjects becoming naturalized citizens of any other country. This was the whole issue of British impressment of American sailors: born British, always British. There is no need for Maturin to marry Villiers to remake her a British subject: in the eyes of British law she never ceased being British.All in all, this book was not up to the standard that I have expected in O'Brian's novels. The depth of his research shows through the entire twenty books, but is demonstrated less here than in the other 19. The gaffs were big enough to ruin the plot for me.

Patrick O’Brian is a great writer of historical fiction. I’m reading the Aubrey/Maturin series in chronological order and they are all high quality. This book is of similar caliber. It was thoroughly entertaining and provided exquisite escapism.

This is book four of the 21 book series written by Patrick O'Brian with the two heros of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturnin. Even though it is a shorter book than most in the series, it still is a very interesting read and offers an insight into world history of the 1700's from the English point of view.

This is nothing against the book but to the item not being what was in the picture. We are collecting this set for the purpose of the spines matching up(when they do they create their own scene). This book is the generic version I guess and has a blank spine with just words.

If you watched and liked Russell Crowe in "Master and Commander" then you should buy the whole series of books. They are very well written and provide an excellent glimpse into the Royal Navy at the turn of the 1800's. Very enjoyable and I do hope that the movie has sequels in the works/

nice addition to my collection of the series

So far I am loving this Aubrey-Maturin series. In this book they are taken as prisoners of war. There is a lot more to the book, of course, and it is as good as any in the series.

I bought them all