Post Captain cover art

Post Captain

Aubrey-Maturin Series, Book 2

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Post Captain

By: Patrick O'Brian
Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
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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

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Critic reviews

" Master and Commander raised dangerously high expectations; Post Captain triumphantly surpasses them." (Mary Renault)
Most relevant
great entertainment, wonderful language and historical details, well animated by the reader, a great way to pass a long commute.

classic stuff

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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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When I read this book the first time, I nearly didn’t continue with the series. The promise of erudite and knowledgeable historical writing that had been evident in the first novel, Master and Commander, was not fulfilled in this sequel. In fact, the naval theme was completely over shadowed by romantic intrigue, which is not even remotely as exciting as a detailed account of the trials of the ‘slaughterhouse’ during an enemy engagement. Rather than the expected plot that would tell of an exciting and bloody period in Britain’s naval history we are presented with the tedium of Georgian courtship rituals, rapacious potential mother-in-laws and a great deal of enigmatic brooding.

Jack Aubrey, land-bound, is indeed a different animal to the one on the high seas. The same, it would seem, goes for his surgeon and the blossoming intelligencer, Stephen Maturin, who loses all self-respect along with his logic when presented with the manipulative beauty, Diana Villiars. There’s a lot of falling in and out of affections, mood swings and far too much jaw-clenching for my taste. I have read most of the series now and I happily skip this one when I re-read them chronologically. If you like the drawn out game-playing of the romances of yesteryear then this tale may be for you. Alas, it is not for me.

Ric Jerrom, as before and after, does a faultless job with his narration.

More romance, less havoc

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Wonderful, very few errors in the sea terms and none whatsoever in the presentation of the characters an the storyline.

Beautifully read

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In all aspects it was an excellent book. Sympathetic narration & a story with many different threads.

Superb

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the story slows when OBria philosophies, but the story has some great twists, and the battle scenes brilliant. Ric Kerrom is a fabulous narrator.

OBrian at his near best

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This, along with the whole series, is a classic. perfection, start to finish. Excellent O'Brian text, well read. I did opt to speed up a bit, but even the base reading speed is good.

perfection

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I am enjoying these books but was disappointed when I came to buy book 3 to find the price had tripled in the last few days

Excellent

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After the excellent start to the series, Master & Commander, it seems to me that this first sequel was, what you might call, a 'difficult second'. Don't get me wrong, this is still a very good book, with a fantastic audio performance by Ric Jerrom, but I find the story just a little contrived and a bit awkward. Perhaps Patrick O'Brien used this book as a planned stepping stone, to set the scene for the next few books, but the chapters on land, setting up the Sophie / Diana story and the whole Polychrest plot line, seem a bit too much. I don't find Diana Villiers to be a very convincing character at this point of the series.

Very good, but not the best in the series.

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A story well told. This is a far more ‘people’ and relationship themed novel, but for all that it doesn’t detract from the cut and thrust passion and excitement threaded throughout these brilliant tales.

Consistently Excellent

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