Interesting Installment | Treason's Harbour (Vol. Book 9) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

Treasons Harbour | Treason's Harbour (Vol. Book 9) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) | Patrick O'Brian

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	• Treason's Harbour (Vol. Book 9) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) Patrick O'Brian W. W. Norton & Company, 1992 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Espionage takes center stage in ninth Aubrey-Maturin novel

I continue to marvel at how strong a series Patrick O'Brian has created with his beloved Aubrey-Maturin books. Now into their ninth novel, Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin have lost none of their appeal.

One of O'Brian's best decisions was to have Aubrey and Maturin play two dramatically different roles while serving together. Aubrey is a duty-driven fighting captain, good for plenty of gallantry and traditional British heroism. In certain novels, such as "Master and Commander," Aubrey gets to take the lead. Maturin, on the other hand, is a spy as well as a naturlist, humanist, and physician. O'Brian lets Maturin take the lead in other novels where dueling broadsides play less of a role. And thank goodness he did so, for after a few novels the stories of Aubrey leading ship after ship into combat would grow more than a little dull.

"Treason's Harbour" is one of the series' espionage-oriented novels. The novel opens in the titular harbour in the island of Malta. Aubrey's lucky ship "Surprise" is in for much-needed repairs, and Aubrey must confront the extortive practices of the local tradesmen in order to get his ship fixed. Maturin must confront the attempt by the French to seduce him using a charming local lady whom they have blackmailed. O'Brian masterfully injects humor into the scenario as Aubrey tries to rescue the lady's beloved (and mammoth) dog, who has fallen into a well. Despite falling in himself, Aubrey rescues the dog, who thereafter treats Aubrey with such affection that the local gossip swiftly becomes that Aubrey and the lady must be having an affair.

After this entertaining episode, it is off to the Red Sea for Aubrey and Maturin for more diplomacy. While there is plenty of time for seamanship, this mission is more in Maturin's line than Aubrey's. O'Brian treats the reader to several fun and thrilling passages, whether it is Aubrey trying to negotiate the desert on a camel, or Maturin using his new-fangled diving bell to explore the sea floor, or an unfortunate swimmer being devoured by a shark.

The pages of "Treason's Harbour" will fly by as Aubrey and Maturin move from scrape to scrape, eventually ending up in a sea battle with the French. All in all, a well-rounded entry into the Aubrey-Maturin series. I only give this one four stars to distinguish it from the best novels in the series, but this is by no means a criticism - sometimes you must discriminate between the very good and the excellent.

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Interesting Installment

I started reading this series a little more than a year ago, and have been pacing myself. I found that once I had gotten used to the style of the first novel, I could easily consume the series and decided to slow down. A year later I arrive at this installment. It took me a few days to decide how I felt about it, but I have decided that its one of the best in the series.

Like other reviewers, I agree that this series is much like one long novel, and that each volume could be considered a chapter. This is not one of the more action oriented installments, but is full of intrigue and complexity which is itself exciting. I have found that while some of the books are more "broadside and boarding axe" heavy, others are more character driven, as is this one.

Probably more surprising than the activities of Mr. Wray, is the demise of Admiral Harte, whom we assume is lost in an explosion during one of the few battle scenes in the book.

I suggest this to any fan of the series, but like others I strongly suggest starting with the first volume and working towards this one.

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Treasons Harbour

I truly do not look forward to reading the last book in this fantastic series by Patrick Obrian. Every book in this series is written with an attention to detail and history that I have only seen among very few authors. It will be difficult to find a book of interest after I read the last in this series.

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Excitement Afloat and Intrigue Ashore

My opinion of TREASON'S HARBOUR, ninth book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, changed in the process of reading it. At the beginning, I was bit dismayed to find that the plot dealt with an on-shore scenario, in the shipyard at Malta, to be precise, since I have found the author's treatment of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin to be pretty boring whenever he has them off the water. This time, however, the reader is treated to a rather interesting situation of international intrigue, with French agents using British collaborators to gather military intelligence. There are at least two significant collaborators, too, one rather highly placed in the government and who has fallen into such debt through his poor card skills that he is beholden to the French for funds. The other, Mrs. Fielding, believes her husband to be a prisoner of the French and her information to be the sole thing keeping him alive. Maturin, as we might expect, skillfully uses her to feed false information to the French, which, of course, puts her life in jeopardy should the French discover the ruse.

Now, here we are, following this spy-versus-spy intrigue when suddenly Aubrey receives orders that send him and Maturin to sea again. Now, the plot lopes along as it always does when our characters become seaborne, and the reader is treated to Richard Russ's (real name of "Patrick O'Brian") galloping descriptions of the ship, her frisky flight before the wind, and her captain's skill at evading and sometimes engaging the French ships he encounters. However, at this juncture, the reader is also wondering what the heck is happening to poor Mrs. Fielding back in Malta and whether or not we'll ever learn her fate at the hands of the French agents. I was quite ready to give this book a grudging three stars for changing the plot in midstream and leaving Fielding hung out to dry, so to speak.

However, we do get to return to Malta and resume the spy story, suddenly given more impetus by the fact that Mr. Fielding is no longer a prisoner and is, in fact, returning to Malta himself. As soon as the French agents suspect that Mrs. Fielding is aware of this and so have no further control over her, her life will be forfeit.

I must say that Russ/O'Brian does follow through with the plot threads in this book and treats the reader to almost as much suspense and excitement on shore as on the deck of an ocean-borne ship. This is a very welcome change to his earlier books which, as I have noted, tend to become plodding when their story lines leave the sea. This is not to say that Russ/O'Brian ties up all the loose ends and gives the reader a satisfying denouement at the end of the book. No, as is characteristic of some authors who plan sequels, some loose ends are definitely, and probably intentionally, left hanging, including the fact that Maturin never has a clue as to who the high-official collaborator is and continues to send him sensitive data! We must wait until the later books in this on-going saga provide a satisfactory end to that particular thread.

On a final note, I am delighted that Russ/O'Brian's writing skills appear to be improving. True, he still delights in throwing about nautical terms, and some nautical slang, as though he expected his readers to be old tars from the Royal Navy. Here is a lovely example: "Davis would give her foretopsail bowline an extra swig-off for what he considered smartness; and being a horribly powerful man with poor coordination he would sometimes pluck the bridle bodily out of the cringles." One really feels sorry for that poor bridle and greatly hopes that the cringles can recover. Fortunately, Russ/O'Brian's tendency to truncate space and time and cram an action or a bit of speech against another without a decent interval, a weakness that I have illustrated in reviews of almost all of the eight earlier books in the series, has absented itself from this one. Bravo, Russ! It took eight books, but I believe you're finally learning how to write! Now, on to the tenth book in the series, THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD.

In summary, I found TREASON'S HARBOUR to be a generally captivating read. There was the usual exciting action at sea and, for a change, intriguing action on land. The author's stylistic weaknesses were much improved over his earlier books, bridles and cringles notwithstanding. Wish he hadn't left the spy undiscovered, for I hate to end a book with a plot thread left unresolved, but perhaps that thread will be resumed in a subsequent book. This technique obviously makes for good entrepreneurism if not, perhaps, for great literature.

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Missing the spark of action comedy and comradery

Second straight entry in the series that didn't live up to O'Brian's standard. Not bad, just missing the spark of action, comedy, and comradery that makes the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin pairing so much fun to read.

But its a long series. Better is ahead.

Tenth in the series: The Far Side of the World (Aubrey Maturin Series)

All of O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage, for his cunning is the sole bulwark against Napoleon's agents, who plot sabotage.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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