This is a great A-M book because they finally get to fight Americans in a storied battle, and given O'Brian's stickler attitude toward naval detail, you know it's accurately portrayed, as though we were standing on the deck as the canon balls flew. It also reintroduces Diana Villiers back into the storyline which is welcome. I always like to see Stephen a little on his hind foot, trying to understand and please her, rather than pining in her absence.

This book also has one of the funniest description of a cricket game between the Royal Navy and Native people you'll ever read.

The La Flèche, on which Aubrey and Maturin are homeward bound, catches fire off Brazil and burns from under them, and the crew are lost at sea and in dire circumstances before they are rescued at the last minute by a passing British ship, the Java, which soon encounters the USS Constitution (a ship whose deck I've walked in Boston Harbor). That famous battle is recounted shot for shot, and the lads are taken prisoner to Boston. Jack, who is injured in the arm, recuperates in an asylum, and there's a number of hilarious scenes where he tries to slyly play as though he's an inmate to his advantage. We meet assorted American characters, and of note, so rather nasty French spies, which Stephen quickly outsmarts and leaves dead.

This book is O'Brian in his Aubrey Maturin prime. Lots of action, many characters old and new, and deftly handled fore and aft. ( )

Another great novel in this series. These are really fun to read and teach a lot about English ships during the Napoleonic era. I have read about half of the twenty novel series now. Some are better than others. ( )

Action packed Aubrey-Maturin adventure. ( )

The Fortune of War is the sixth book in the series and with the exception of a few pages at the beginning of it Jack doesn't command a ship. Similarly unlike most if not all of the previous books the voyage doesn't start from England. Instead it virtually starts straight where Desolation Island (the preceding novel)ended and just before war has broken out between Britain and America.

The book features a wrecked ship, two naval battles,one successful, one not (as far as Jack ad Stephen are concerned, a long distance open boat voyage with thirst and a touch of cannibalism thrown in, a little spying and a daring escape. Perhaps it's the fact that with Jack not in command meaning that Stephen is more to the fore or maybe because America are the enemies rather than the French or the Spanish but whatever it is, it has a very different feel from the previous novels. It appears like a different kind of war in any case.

Not only does the timeline follow straight on from Desolation Island but also (for want of a better word) the villain of that particular book, Louisa Wogan, makes a reappearance. Therefore this probably wouldn't be a good place to start the series or to try as a taster. But for those who are working their way through the series it is interesting to see the results of the poisoned intelligence that Stephen fed Wogan and the deep water it lands him and Jack in as a consequence.

I must admit that there are some interesting elements to this book, some terrific writing and I rather liked the fact that it breaks from the pattern of the earlier books but it also felt like the sea that our heroes are sailing on, it had some peaks and troughs. ( )

Aubrey y Maturin son capturados por los americanos durante la guerra de 1812, pasan una serie de aventuras en Boston y participan en dos de las batallas navales más famosas de esa guerra ( )