Post Captain

A page turning adventure of life at sea. Fun character development and descriptions of life lived under naval command a few centuries ago. The quest of discovering the world and the motives to control it all told through the tiny lens of a solitary sailing vessel.

Interesting details including: life among the Irish ship hands, Gaelic was considered a language of ill-bred and ignorant people, the many definitions of what makes one a gentlemen vs the il-bred, socially acceptable behaviors and rituals, the ill fated life of the people stolen from their lands, Spain's secret trade route with the orient. Englands desires for Spain's secrets and treasures.

This story would've taken place around the same time as a few other books I've read:
- Shogun, James Clavel
- The Wagner, David Grann
- Sharpe's Trafalgar, Bernard Cornwell

In which Patrick O'Brian starts with a hard swerve into Jane Austen territory, which took some getting used to. It does finally get back into the more familiar Life On The High Seas, but it had me concerned for a while. It appears O'Brian decided that he needed to expand his world-building to setup the ongoing series, so I'm going with it. As the series progresses, this is beginning to feel more like the story of Stephen Maturin, which I am perfectly happy about because frankly he has the far more interesting character development and storyline. Jack Aubrey, on the other hand, feels more like a big kid who just loves messing about on boats. Looking forward to the next one...

For the most part I enjoyed the book but sometimes i was utterly confused as to what was actually happening. It seems some of the story lines just kind of ended without a conclusion. What happened to the dual? Did they no longer fight? Why bring in charecters that just seemed to he in a couple of chapters and never really heard from again. Just a bit confused. Will I read the next book, absolutely.

For the most part I enjoyed the book but sometimes i was utterly confused as to what was actually happening. It seems some of the story lines just kind of ended without a conclusion. What happened to the dual? Did they no longer fight? Why bring in charecters that just seemed to he in a couple of chapters and never really heard from again. Just a bit confused. Will I read the next book, absolutely.

Still good on a re-read. I started my second time through in audio but gave up on that at about the 20% mark and switched to text. I found that the early 19th century English and nautical terminology were sometimes difficult to follow aurally. YMMV.
This book reads like about 50% swashbuckling sea adventure and 50% historical romance. Some parts are quite humorous, especially when Jack is evading the “Bums” who are aiming to take him by force and put him in debtor's prison. And Jack's and Stephen's various entanglements and adventures with the ladies are reminiscent of Jane Austin romances – but from the male side.
As the title implies, this is the book where Jack finally makes Post. (But not without difficulty.) It is also the story where Stephen comes into his own as a special agent (can we say “secret”?) for the Admiralty.
Solid four stars.