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The Mauritius Command | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick O'brian
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.35
You Save: $14.60 (98%)
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Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 24738
Media: Paperback
Pages: 348
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 039330762X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780393307627
ASIN: 039330762X
Publication Date: May 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Used - Acceptable; Books in acceptable condition may show moderate to heavy wear and may have lots of writing/underlining. Will be shipped promptly!
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Amazon.com Review
Ashore without a command--and on half-pay to boot--Jack Aubrey's prayers are answered when Stephen Maturin shows up with a secret mission for him. The two men have been ordered to the Cape of Good Hope. There they hope to dislodge the French garrisons on the islands of Mauritius and La Reunion. Alas, two of their own colleagues--a dilettante and a martinet--prove to be nearly as great an obstacle as the French themselves.
Product Description
Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
3 Cassettes, Approx. 5 1/4 hours
The 4th installmentin Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series
Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half pay without a command--until Stephen Maturin arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a commodore's pennant, there to mount an expedition against the French-held islands or Mauritius and LaReunion. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains--Lord Clonfert, a pleasure-seeking dilletante, and Captain Corbett, whose severity pushes his crew to the verge of mutiny.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 More historical action in Master and Commander book four October 14, 2008
Todd Stockslager (Raleigh, NC)
Before even reading the book, I noticed that this is the first of the Aubrey/Matarin series that includes more than just a figure of a ship identifying the various kinds of sails, this book shows a map of "The Mauritius Campaign." And indeed, this book ranges farther afield from the narrow confines of the ship and spends more time developing the campaign, based as it is on a set of historical events that occurred at that time and place. Consequently less claustrophobic, this book moves faster and reads easier than the others, with less character development as we have come to know the characters already.
Fifth in the series: Desolation Island
Mauritius Command March 11, 2008
J. Hinkel
I enjoyed this book as much as the previous by the author. The continuous character development of "Lucky" Jack Aubrey from one novel to the next is amazing. You almost feel as if you are standing on the quarterdeck witnessing the events.
I have read the first four books of the series and definitely recommend them.
 Mauritius Command February 8, 2008
T. Fitzhugh (Houston)
Another amazing book in the series. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Particularly happy to find the book so quickly in Amazon's used collection. I'm working my way through this series, and using Amazon makes it easy to get the books I need that aren't readily available locally.
This book, in connection with the others, offers a deep insight into the British Navy's operations at the turn of the 19th century. As a maritime lawyer this gives substance to the English admiralty law's treatment of seamen as wards of the court. The absolute power of the ship's master and the focus of maritime life as taking prizes and deriving wealth from that is something we have no modern corollary for. Admittedly, the sailing terms are a challenge in the beginning, but as I work through the series, I've learned a lot about sailing and how dangerous and difficult life at sea was.
 Between Mediocrity and Excellence, yet Slowly Ascending September 19, 2007
WILLIAM H FULLER (SPEARFISH, SD USA)
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
THE MAURITIUS COMMAND, the fourth novel in the series by Richard Patrick Russ (1914-2000) writing under the nom de plume of "Patrick O'Brian," is a distinct improvement over one of its predecessors, POST CAPTAIN. Russ/O'Brian seems to have abandoned his annoying experiments in writing techniques and has settled down to, more or less, a simple, straight-forward narrative style, which is imminently more readable.
As in earlier volumes, this book does not continue precisely where its predecessor left off. However, in this case the missing events are easily understood and reconstructed in the reader's consciousness. We do find that Jack Aubrey's marriage to Sophie is not precisely fulfilling for him; not surprisingly, we find that Aubrey's first love remains the sea and that he is not exactly the model of a perfect spouse. Of course, if one reads the author's real-life biography, Russ/O'Brian was far from a perfect husband, and one wonders whether he has somewhat patterned Aubrey after himself, but let us not read too much into that.
Soon, Aubrey is called to sea again, and the maritime action resumes and continues throughout the remainder of the book. Unlike POST CAPTAIN, this volume does not ramble for pages and pages about Aubrey's floundering on-shore life, thank goodness.
If one has a creative imagination, he could actually begin with THE MAURITIUS COMMAND, but the reader will certainly have a more complete appreciation of the characters if he has begun with the first volume, MASTER AND COMMANDER, and has approached each successive volume in order (POST CAPTAIN, then HMS SURPRISE, and only then THE MAURITIUS COMMAND). Perhaps we should consider each novel as an additional chapter in one extraordinarily lengthy book. This is not necessarily a criticism, just a caution to a reader who might be tempted to sample Russ/O'Brian's work by starting in the middle of the series.
The author does engage in some character development, and, by this fourth book, the person of Dr. Stephen Maturin has become more complex that we suspected at first. Not only is he an unusually gifted physician, but it seems as though he has shadowy political connections and is as instrumental as a "secret agent" as he is as a doctor. While this certainly provides a most interesting twist to the character of the good doctor, I sense that Russ/O'Brian is learning about his creation at the same time we are. I do not feel that he prepared us for this sort of complication in Maturin's nature. While I enjoy the increased complexity in the doctor, I am not at all sure that the author intended this from the beginning but suspect that he may be developing his characters by whim rather than by intent.
THE MAURITIUS COMMAND keeps the reader entertained throughout its length, but, after having now read four books in the series, I feel that Russ/O'Brian is a somewhat superficial writer who realizes that he should paint some complexity into his characters to keep them from becoming mere stereotypes but does not quite understand how to do this. As a writer, he is certainly superior to the authors of what we used to call "dime novel bodice-rippers," but he is far from displaying the skill of a C. S. Forrester or a Herman Melville.
I would suggest that the Aubrey-Maturin series of maritime adventure books is decent entertainment but that the novels are not especially memorable. I also find myself wondering whether the surface action, that is, the plot or superficial story line, may not become repetitious and boring before one reaches the end of the multi-book series. I'm actually hoping that Russ/O'Brian will mature more fully as an author as he accrues more experience in writing the future volumes. We shall see how he handles the fifth book, DESOLATION ISLAND, next.
More of the best naval writing ever put to paper February 2, 2007
Art (Virginia, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Patrick O'Brian naval series of books are an acquired taste. If you love the first book, chances are that over the next few years you will find a way to work through the entire series. I do not recommend reading the book on its own. The true joy is seeing the transformation and progression of the two main characters.
The books are not for everyone, the writing style differs from what is found in 21st century adventure novels. The language is deep and the sentences are carefully crafted. While the books appear on the outside to be simple naval adventure tales, they are really deep studies in character development of a British naval officer and his best friend/ship surgeon/intelligence operative.
The Mauritius Command is one of the best books in the series. Almost the entire book takes place at sea. A few of the earlier book got bogged down whenever the lead character, naval officer Jack Aubrey, steps onto land, but at soon as he takes to sea the books take on a whole new life.
While the characters speak of honor and duty, the author makes no attempts to hide the rough, cruel, and violent life aboard British naval ships during the early 19th century. While not a quick read, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, the Mauritius Command and all of the books in the series are well worth you time.
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