Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Set in the Royal Navy during the early 19th Century's Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's epic, twenty-volume "masterpiece" (David Mamet, New York Times) traces the enduring friendship between naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician (and spy) Stephen Maturin. Their sharp wit, heart-stopping action, and exquisitely rendered backdrop have earned millions of devoted fans worldwide as well as comparisons from C. S. Forester, to Jane Austen, to Shakespeare. In the over forty years since their initial publication in the United States, these "addictively readable" (Patrick T. Reardon, Chicago Tribune) stories have become a beloved part of the canon.
Including volumes one - Master and Commander - through three- H. M. S. Surprise - this first installment precedes the release of volumes four through twenty over the coming year. Every one of these beautifully redesigned editions are sure to be treasured by Patrick O'Brian enthusiasts and welcome generations of new readers to one of the greatest literary sagas of all time.
Synopsis
Ardent, gregarious British naval officer Jack Aubrey is elated to be given his first appointment as commander: the fourteen-gun ship HMS Sophie. Meanwhile--after a heated first encounter that nearly comes to a duel--Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. On a whim, Aubrey invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie's surgeon. And so begins the legendary friendship that anchors this beloved saga set against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.
Through every ensuing adventure on which Aubrey and Maturin embark, from the witty parley of their lovers and enemies to the roar of broadsides as great ships close in battle around them, O'Brian "provides endlessly varying shocks and surprises--comic, grim, farcical and tragic.... A] whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit" (A. S. Byatt).