JasonKoivu

Read the Goodreads summary for this book. Go on, I can wait...... Sounds pretty salacious, doesn't it? There's a"rescue" of a prominent historical figure, the threat of a "treacherous disease," and a James Bond-esque "beautiful and dangerous spy." Wow, talk about Hollywooding it up to titillate and entice a wider audience! That kind of nonsense cheapens O'Brian's writing, reducing it down to a potboiler, a drugstore dime novel and this is none of that.

Desolation Island and all of the Aubrey/Maturin series reads more like something from the early Victorian era. It is more literary-minded with strong character development and a carefully crafted prose, nuanced to the point that a careless reading will miss important plot points. I'm not saying there's no treachery or danger. There's plenty of that. It's just not going to hit you over the head.

At the start, an admittedly slow start, Captain Jack Aubrey is stuck on land dabbling in speculations he does not understand. His good friend, Irish surgeon and intelligence agent, Stephen Maturin is chasing unrequited love as longstanding suffering heart shrivels in the hands of a woman seemingly incapable of returning his deep affections. Both need to have their time and minds occupied elsewhere. Transporting criminals is not particularly glorious, but it must serve the purpose. Real history plays some in every book of the series, but seldom is it ever as popularly well-known. Aubrey is enlisted to bring these criminals to Australia for the dual purpose of assisting Governor Bligh of the colonies there. Yes, the same Bligh from Bounty fame. Before setting off Aubrey meets with the real life Peter Heywood, who as a young man was aboard HMS Bounty at the time of the mutiny and who was later captured and sentenced to death. Amazingly, Heywood avoided the gallows and later rose to become a naval captain. Also, the ship Aubrey is to command on this voyage is the Leopard, infamously known in America for having shot broadsides into the USS Chesapeake and pressed men from her during a time when the two nations were at peace. This plays a hand later in O'Brian's story.

History is all fine and good you're probably saying, but what about this beautiful and dangerous spy? Well, yes there is an attractive female spy aboard. She is one of the prisoners being transported. However, she is far more well-developed - I'm speaking of her character - than that simple description. She is a player and a pawn, the focal point of admiration and a political intrigue that unfolds aboard ship as it passes halfway around the world, traversing various climates, undergoing the trials sailors faced in the age of sail, though perhaps pushed to extremes now and then....this is a fictional drama after all!


My review of book four, The Mauritius Command: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38424790

My review of book six, The Fortune of War: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/38424799