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Title: Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian, Tim Pigott-Smith ISBN: 0-375-41595-5 Publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 3 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Unfinished Business
Comment: The ninth of twenty volumes in O'Brian's classic nautical series, "Treason's Harbour" ties together some of the plot threads from the previous book, "Ionian Mission", but leaves some of its own questions unanswered. Ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin is back in the intelligence game in Malta, battling French agents and feeding them false information until he and Captain Aubrey are sent to the Red Sea. Their mission is disappointing, though, because of a mole in the British command whose identity is unknown but who also apparently foils the mission to Algeria that ends this book.
Two-thirds of the way into "Treason's Harbour", readers will finally hear about the capitulation of the town of Marga, which Aubrey's crew was besieging in "Ionian Mission". Similarly, in this book we never learn the fate of the Fieldings, he a naval officer escaped from a French prison to return to his wife and she with reputation ruined by Maturin's espionage machinations. This is a letdown, because we've spent so much time learning about them and watching Maturin considering their fates. We never learn the denouement of the Zambra mission but are left hanging after Aubrey has confronted three French vessels, this too is disappointing because the naval actions in this book are subdued, far less gripping than in other installments.
"Treason's Harbour" is a good book, skipping along with O'Brian's intelligent prose and complete ease with maritime matters, but is not wholly self-contained. The diving bell is fun, but this reader is still wishing to know about the Fieldings. The plot bobs and eddies but never quite runs out before the pages do.
Rating: 5
Summary: Aubrey emulates Moses! (sort of)
Comment: Captain Jack Aubrey was known in the Royal Navy as "Lucky Jack" in his earlier career, but he hasn't been so lucky of late. This ninth novel in the series, which continues immediately after _The Ionian Mission_ (and appears to be the middle installment of a mini-trilogy), is a satisfying mix of naval adventure, set mostly in the Red Sea, and spy story, set in Malta and revolving around Stephen Maturin's befriending of the young wife of a captured naval captain who is working, semi-unaware, for the French intelligence service. He's much better known to his enemies now than in times past, which has increased his personal danger greatly, and -- while we all know he's going to survive -- it's interesting to see how he does it. As always, O'Brian shows himself a master of early 19th century slang and jargon, and also of droll wit. The extra fillip this time is the pair's adventures crossing the desert between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Suez, combined with Maturin's acquisition of a massive brass diving bell. And the account of the pellmell journey down the narrow passage in pursuit of a galley hopefully filled with French gold is one of the author's best extended scenes yet.
Rating: 4
Summary: Another superb volume in an absolutely stellar series
Comment: I am very conflicted about rating this novel. The Aubrey-Maturin books are a series of novels, but in fact area almost a single novel rather than a series of stand alone books. Disliking one novel is almost tantamount to saying that you dislike a chapter of a book, which is almost silly. I must, therefore, confess to feeling a bit silly saying that this is one of my least favorite novels in the series. The series as a whole is masterful, and group of books that I love dearly, and it is to be expected that some parts are to be less successful than others.
TREASON'S HARBOUR is from first to last a spy story. This is not always apparent, but even the two long segments that interrupt the more straightforward espionage sections of the narrative result as they do because of a major British official selling state secrets. O'Brian's genius lies in his willingness to leave so many strands of his story unresolved at the end, and while this willingness to forestall resolving his tale weakens TREASON'S HARBOUR taken exclusively on its own, it strengthens the series of books overall.
The novel finds our heroes in Malta, following the events of THE IONIAN MISSION. Almost immediately we find that French agents have identified Stephen Maturin as a British intelligence agent, and they point their reluctant agent Laura Fielding--an Italian beauty who is the wife of a British naval officer who has been imprisoned by the French and who can therefore be used to force her to comply with their needs-at the good doctor, hoping to make her his lover in order to accumulate secrets. When finished with Maturin, they clearly mean to kill him. Meanwhile, we learn that a major British official is in league with the French, and is passing on secrets to them. Twice Jack is given assignments to carry out that are compromised by secrets shared by the official. One act of treason even leads to the death of Jack's long-time nemesis Rear Admiral Hart, in rather shocking fashion.
One of the amazing things about the Aubrey-Maturin series is the extraordinary number of locales that it takes the reader. One of the stereotypes of sea going novels is of a protagonist who boards ships because he wants to see the world. This is unquestionably the case with these stories. This entire novel is set in the Mediterranean, the fleet being based at Malta, and Jack being given assignments in Egypt and Algeria. One benefit for me of reading the novels has been my constant running to an Atlas to locate with greater specificity the various ports of call encountered in the various novels.
In short, while this is one of the least eventful novels in the series, and while it barely manages to stand on its own, it nonetheless plays a crucial role in the series as a whole. Moreover, it contains many of the virtues of the other novels. I can't imagine anyone who has loved other novels in the sequence not loving this one also.
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Title: The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 039330907X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 039330762X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: May, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393309061 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Truelove by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393310167 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O'Brian ISBN: 0393312445 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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