Out of all of O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series up to this point,
The Thirtheen-Gun Salute gets further away from the sea battles and life aboard ship to really delve into the interior of a new and exciting frontier (in the eyes of the characters as set in a pre-"Planet Earth" world) and paints a not-always-pretty picture of diplomacy in the Far East as it was some 200 years ago. O'Brian describes Maturin's jungle romp in such flowing and absorbing detail that it reads as vividly as watching any of those fancy nature programs David Attenborough makes.
