Blue at the Mizzen

By Patrick O'Brian

Book Overview

Napoleon has been defeated at Waterloo, and the ensuing peace brings with it both the desertion of nearly half of Captain Aubrey's crew and the sudden dimming of Aubrey's career prospects in a peacetime navy. When the Surprise is nearly sunk on her way to South America--where Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are to help Chile assert her independence from Spain--the delay occasioned by repairs reaps a harvest of strange consequences.

The South American expedition is a desperate affair; and in the end Jack's bold initiative to strike at the vastly superior Spanish fleet precipitates a spectacular naval action that will determine both Chile's fate and his own.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393048446
• ISBN13: 9780393048445
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Joint Review of All Aubrey-Maturin Books

Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise...

A Fitting Final Capter

Although Blue at the Mizzen is readable on its own, it is perhaps an injustice to it to do so. The book, as with any one of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, is merely chapter 20 in what is trully an epic. Each volume/chapter is integral; there is not a single weak link in the tale. It was thus with great sadness that I read of Mr. O'Brian's recent death; Blue at the Mizzen is the final chapter.Things could be...

Don't Miss This Series

Interested reader,If you are reading these reviews, chances are good you are wondering what all this stuff about Patrick O'Brian and the "Aubrey/Maturin" series is about. Wonder no longer."Blue at the Mizzen" represents the last volume of what is overall a rich, wonderful collection of literature. While I've read the disappointment that some have had with the last few books in the series, I respectfully offer the view...

On a much stronger tack than The Hundred Days

I wasn't a great fan of the predecessor to this book (The Hundred Days) as it seemed that a lot of life had been sucked out of the series. I then re-read the set from Master and Commander to Blue at The Mizzen.While the books have changed somewhat, in that they have become less descriptive of the interrelationships between the characters, this is understandable. As Aubrey gets more senior (here for much of the time he is...

A solid continuation of a great historical fiction series

I don't know whether I would recommend "Blue at the Mizzen" to someone unfamiliar with Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of nautical novels about Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin because, I believe, much of the pleasure to be derived in reading the book comes from our acquaintance with the main characters from previous novels. But I would have no hesititation at all at recommending it to any Aubrey-Maturin fan. A significant...