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mburnamfink 's review for:
The Fortune of War
by Patrick O'Brian
The Fortune of War picks up with Aubrey and Maturin in the West Indies, having survived their ordeal on Desolation Island, gone all the way to Australia to find the Bligh situation handled, and are now on their way back with a collection of marsupials for Dr. Maturin's enjoyment. Jack is finally free of the horrible old Leopard, which has been reduced down to little better than a transport, and merely has to take passage home to England where the finest frigate in the fleet awaits him. Lucky Jack indeed!
Luck is a double-edged blade, and the messenger ship home burns and sinks off the coast of Brazil. Jack and company survive a dangerous voyage in an open boat to be picked up by the HMS Java, which has the thrilling news that war has been declared. The seas are now full of fat American merchantmen to take as prizes, but the Americans have won two sharp frigate actions, puncturing the Nelsonian invincibility of the Royal Navy.
Java. 1812. War. Oh dear. O'Brien draws hefty inspiration from history, but we are now treading into some key moments of American history.
Java confronts the USS Constitution and is shot to pieces and demasted. Jack, who was assisting by fighting the forward guns, is wounded in the arm and even more deeply in the spirit. He and Maturin are taken as prisoners to Boston, where they fall in again with Louisa Wogan, Michael Herepath, and also Diana Villiers and Harry Johnson. Johnson attempts to turn Maturin as a double agent, and then Maturin's life is threatened by French agents also in Boston. It's up to Jack to help him effect an escape to the blockading HMS Shannon, where we again re-enter history with another famous battle.
That these are famous battles takes away some of the tension. I've visited the USS Constitution multiple times, and it's obvious that our heroes will come off poorly. There are some neat observations about the hospital Jack recovers in in Boston. It's mostly an asylum, and the other inmates conclude that this Jack is about as much a British Post-Captain as they are the Emperor of Mexico. Maturin goes hard in places, killing two French agents, coolly slitting a stunned man's jugular. But the landbound action is nowhere near as well-drawn as the sea.
Luck is a double-edged blade, and the messenger ship home burns and sinks off the coast of Brazil. Jack and company survive a dangerous voyage in an open boat to be picked up by the HMS Java, which has the thrilling news that war has been declared. The seas are now full of fat American merchantmen to take as prizes, but the Americans have won two sharp frigate actions, puncturing the Nelsonian invincibility of the Royal Navy.
Java. 1812. War. Oh dear. O'Brien draws hefty inspiration from history, but we are now treading into some key moments of American history.
Java confronts the USS Constitution and is shot to pieces and demasted. Jack, who was assisting by fighting the forward guns, is wounded in the arm and even more deeply in the spirit. He and Maturin are taken as prisoners to Boston, where they fall in again with Louisa Wogan, Michael Herepath, and also Diana Villiers and Harry Johnson. Johnson attempts to turn Maturin as a double agent, and then Maturin's life is threatened by French agents also in Boston. It's up to Jack to help him effect an escape to the blockading HMS Shannon, where we again re-enter history with another famous battle.
That these are famous battles takes away some of the tension. I've visited the USS Constitution multiple times, and it's obvious that our heroes will come off poorly. There are some neat observations about the hospital Jack recovers in in Boston. It's mostly an asylum, and the other inmates conclude that this Jack is about as much a British Post-Captain as they are the Emperor of Mexico. Maturin goes hard in places, killing two French agents, coolly slitting a stunned man's jugular. But the landbound action is nowhere near as well-drawn as the sea.