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| The Wine-Dark Sea | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick O'brian
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $2.55
You Save: $12.40 (83%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 29849
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 0393312445
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780393312447
ASIN: 0393312445
Publication Date: October 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Aubrey and Maturin in the Pacific and Andes of South America January 27, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"The Wine-Dark Sea" is the immediate precursor to "The Commodore", chronicling the final exploits in the Surprise's mission to the Pacific and the west coast of Spanish America. Aubrey chases a French privateer, the Franklin, commanded by a wealthy Frenchman, Dutourd, an early advocate of communism, that has seized several British merchantmen in the South Pacific. Imprisoned aboard Surprise, Dutourd tries to befriend both Aubrey and Maturin, but is rebuffed by both. Aubrey transfers him back to the Franklin, but Dutourd escapes and hides unseen aboard Surprise, which is taking Maturin to the West Coast of South America. There he will be reunited with Aubrey's illegimate African son, Sam Panda, a local Roman Catholic priest. Maturin tries to forment a revolt amongst some of the local clergy and military against the Spanish monarchy, but before the revolt can commence, he is warned by others that Dutourd has escaped from the Surprise. The revolt is cancelled. Maturin must undertake a perilous trek across the Andes, suffering severe frostbite, before he is reunited with his shipmates. Aboard Franklin, Aubrey leads his crew in a desperate struggle against a French pirate warship. This is yet another exciting installment in the Aubrey-Maturin series, and among the most suspenseful.
Joint Review of All Aubrey-Maturin Books October 26, 2003
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe.
Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania.
Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatly. In some ways, it was a ruthless meritocracy whose structure and success anticipates the great expansion of government power and capacity seen in the rest of the 19th century.
O'Brian is also the great writer about male friendship. There are important female characters in these books but since most of the action takes place at sea, male characters predominate. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin is the central armature of the books and is a brilliant creation. The position of women in these books is ambiguous. There are sympathetic characters, notably Aubrey's long suffering wife. Other women figures, notably Maturin's wife, leave a less positive impression. On board ship, women tend to have a disruptive, even malign influence.
How did O'Brian manage to sustain his achievement over 20 books? Beyond his technical abilities as a writer and the instrinsic interest of the subject, O'Brien made a series of very intelligent choices. He has not one but two major protagonists. The contrasting but equally interesting figures of Aubrey and Maturin allowed O'Brien to a particularly rich opportunity to expose different facets of character development and to vary plots carefully. This is quite difficult and I'm not aware of any other writer who has been able to accomplish such sustained development of two major protagonists for such a prolonged period. O'Brian's use of his historical setting is very creative. The scenes and events in the books literally span the whole globe as Aubrey and Maturin encounter numerous cultures and societies. The naval setting allowed him also to introduce numerous new and interesting characters. O'Brian was able to make his stories attractive to many audiences. Several of these stories can be enjoyed as psychological novels, as adventure stories, as suspense novels, and even one as a legal thriller. O'Brian was also a very funny writer, successful at both broad, low humor, and sophisticated wit. Finally, O'Brian made efforts to link some of the books together. While a number are complete in themselves, others form components of extended, multi-book narratives. Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and The Surgeon's Mate are one such grouping. Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World, and The Reverse of the Medal are another. The Letter of Marque and the ensuing 4 books, centered around a circumnavigation, are another.
Though the average quality of the books is remarkably high, some are better than others. I suspect that different readers will have different favorites. I personally prefer some of the books with greater psychological elements. The first book, Master and Commander, is one of my favorites. The last 2 or 3, while good, are not as strong as earlier books. I suspect O'Brian's stream of invention was beginning to diminish. All can be read profitably as stand alone works though there is definitely something to be gained by reading in consecutive order.
 Never look a llama in the eye . . . January 9, 2003
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, having sailed off on a combination privateering and intelligence mission in the SURPRISE back in the twelfth novel in the saga, finally are nearly home again -- and this is installment number sixteen! It's hard to believe, too, that after so many volumes, with at least one circumnavigation and any number of roundings of Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, we find Britain still embroiled in what we in the States refer to as the War of 1812. And what a journey this book narrates, from the witnessing of a new volcanic island and capture of a most irregular privateer in the mid-Pacific, to anxious flight through the Andes by mule and llama, to yet another encounter with ice-islands in the south Atlantic. Although the plotting seems thin at times and lacking in useful details, the narration is as adroit as ever, especially in the author's patented style of understatement. Not his best work by far, but very much worth reading.
Comment on High Cotton Review September 28, 2002
The joy of Patrick O'Brian's books is the accuracy of his language among the characters as they speak ("Give you joy!") and the accuracy of the depictions of naval events. This includes accuracy of naval terminology. I have listened to all of these books as Books-On-Tape and often find myself replaying sections to hear the language spoke again. This approach may assist persons like High Cotton "could not get into these books". One of the greatest things about these books is their unparalleled historical accuracy. When you hear a naval battle described, you can be assured it happened just as described. How does the author place a fictional character and fictional ship into real events? Cleverly! Such as by having the hero captured by the enemy and observe the battle from the deck of the enemy's vessel. Or by having the hero's vessel arrive a few minutes behind the actual combatants and not actually taking a role in the action, but seeing and describing it. In one of the books, Capt. Aubrey was called on the carpet at the Admiralty Offices in London for his provisioning of his ship. Indignantly, he recites from memory what "vittels" and other supplies he provisioned his last voyage with. In fact, the author, Patrick O'Brien, was given access to real Admiralty records. What his character Aubrey was reciting was from an actual invoice of provisions for a naval warship during the Napoleanic War. Very interesting stuff if you like history and if you like ships at sea. Highly recommended, especially if you hear the novels read (spoken) rather than reading them. Star Trek fans will love these books!
 Too Heavy on Naval Termonology October 4, 2001
3 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is the second Aubrey/Maturin book that I have read. I did not enjoy the first one. I figured, however, that I had to give the series another try because Patrick O'Brian has so many fans. I fared no better with this one.
I just cannot get into these books. O'Brian's repeated use of archaic nautical words and phrases is more than distracting. It is overwhelming and it buries the stories. I would suggest staying clear of this stuff unless you are well-versed in 18th century naval termonology.
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