Peter Wicked by Broos Campbell

The third Matty Graves novel. Campbell seems to have really hit his stride with the series - this one was the most enjoyable yet. Graves is a refreshingly down to earth character, quite a contrast to the more usual naval hero who is honourable to a fault. The picture drawn of the United States Navy's early days and the ad hoc foreign policies of colonies in the Carribbean are fascinating too.

Battle Fleet by Paul Dowsell

Starts kind of weak, but once it gets going this is a great adventure story. A lot of thinking about life and death. This is number three in the series, I think I'll need to look up the earlier ones too (although from mention in this one of plot happenings, I'm not sure whether they will be consistently as good as this one).

Under Enemy Colors by S Thomas Russell

A new Napoleonic naval series, about a Royal Navy Lieutenant who is of mixed English and French parentage. Russell uses this to provide a new spin on the utter loyalty to the British Crown that is usual in these stories.

This story concerns itself with his time as first lieutenant under perhaps the most tyrannical and cowardly captain conceivable. The military actions seem generally less stressful than just dealing with the captain under day to day life.

I look forward to further episodes in Lt Hayden's story. There's a lot of potential here - perhaps to be as good as O'Brian?

The War of Knives by Broos Campbell

The second Matty Graves novel - about a young officer in the US Navy in Napoleonic times - this one has Graves entangled in the slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti). The story is exciting, bloody and generally a little more rough around the edges compared to stories about the Royal Navy. That seems fitting given my knowledge of the US Navy of the times. There's plenty of intrigue in amongst it too, with spies and conspiracies involved in the action.

The rest of the Aubrey Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian

I got a little bored of individual comments, so here's the overall one for:

• The Nutmeg of Consolation
• Clarissa Oakes
• The Wine-Dark Sea
• The Commodore
• The Yellow Admiral
• The Hundred Days
• Blue At The Mizzen

Nutmeg through Commodore finish the best run of the books, I think. There's a general trend here of the books becoming shorter and more similar (in characterisation and prose, rather than the events chronicled). Still, it's a shame to reach the end again, and sad that O'Brian died (especially without completing the stories). However, the place that Blue At The Mizzen closes is perhaps as good a place as any for the end.

The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian

This must be one of my favorite of the whole series - it has a bit of all the different things that make the books so good... the relationship between Aubrey and Maturin, some spy stuff, some real people, some fun fictional people and places, and some military action.

Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe

Strange (like of all Wolfe's stories, really). It is about a young man who just falls from the near future back into the height of piracy in the Caribbean. In many ways, it's a reaction to all the overly romanticized pirate stories in the world, although there are still a lot of these elements to be found. The main character is an interesting chap... he was brought up really tough in early life (his father was a mafioso) but then sent to a monastery for schooling. So he's humane, but able to make hard calls too. When he finally gives in and becomes a pirate, he still tries to be as good as he can (i.e. preventing loss of life, freeing slaves, protecting prisoners from his crew).

Recommended if you like Wolfe's books (if you don't know, this is probably not the best place to start).

The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian

This novel basically continues the story from The Reverse of the Medal. Here, Aubrey has been struck off the navy list and is commanding a privateer. The story deals with his use of this to get himself reinstated and how he deals with all his dreams and plans being destroyed. Although there is no shortage of action in this story, it's another that shows different sides of Aubrey and Maturin, as they deal with their various problems.

The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian

Another re-read. I was once again reminded of how utterly different the source novel is to the film adaptation (not in a bad way - I think it was about the best a single film could do with O'Brian's novels). The main themes of the film are almost unrelated to those in the book, and the naval action is too. Odd.

Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian

Another re-read. This is one of the books that gets deepest into Maturin's work as a secret agent, and this gives it overall a very tense story (especially as we the readers know of a traitor that he does not). It is also the first time we really get to know Reverend Martin, and his unfortunate habit of being bitten, stung or otherwise abused by random creatures.

The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian

A re-read. This is not one of the highlights of the Aubrey/Maturin books, but it still has plenty of good stuff (O'Brian's worst is better than most authors).

No Quarter by Broos Campbell

Another naval adventure series, this one about an American. This novel is set in 1799/1800 and has Mr Graves as a midshipman, dealing with pirates and French plots in the Caribbean. Good. Seeing the events of the Napoleonic wars from a different perspective than the usual British one is interesting.

Shark Island by Joan Druett

This is the second of the Wiki Coffin stories, and the best of them that I've read so far. A good mystery, and some really good characters. Highly recommended.

Run Afoul by Joan Druett

The third Wiki Coffin mystery, this one takes place while the fleet is in Rio de Janiero. The main death is regarded as accidental for most of the story, which diverts attention to the other things the characters are doing.

A Watery Grave by Joan Druett

A good naval-themed mystery novel. The protagonist is Wiki Coffin, a half-Maori, half-American taking part in the big 1838 US Navy scientific expedition. This first novel has him investigating a murder that happens just as the ships set off, and some events that occur on the ships in the aftermath of that crime.

The book starts a little slow, with a bunch of exposition about where Wiki came from and so forth, but once the story gets going it's compelling.

The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian

This continues directly on from Desolation Island, and covers further misfortunes on that mission - a ship fire, capture by enemies and a time in Boston as prisoners of war for Aubrey and Maturin. Although the story overall feels like a epilogue to the previous novel, there are some very strong individual scenes in there.

Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian

Enjoyable for plenty of good moments, although the overall story is not so great.

The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian

Another good re-read. I had regarded this as one of the weaker novels in the series, but appreciated it more this time around. Perhaps the focus on Aubrey dealing with other captains and Maturin's activities as a provocateur are more interesting after knowing their characters better?

HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian

Excellent.

Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian

Still very good indeed.