Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World by Richard O'Neill Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World
Book Review: Captain Aubrey would love this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you love the O'Brian books, tall ships, navel history/battles, you cannot do better. The writting is concise and informative. The history is crisp and puts you in the action. This is the kind of nautical art that you love and cannot afford to own, the best of its kind. Be warned however; if you have not finished reading all the Aubrey books, just enjoy the pictures in Patrick O'Brian's Navy, and read it later, for they mention some of the incidents in the books that you may prefer to find out on your own. This is truly a coffee-table book, rich and glorious. If you buy one for yourself, you are bound to buy more for your friends and relatives who love the Aubrey books, as did I. You will not regret it.Book Review: Disappointing book
Summary: 2 Stars
I thought this book would have the kind of beautiful, meticulous paintings Geoff Hunt provided for cover art on the Aubrey-Maturin series. It didn't. If you want knowledge of the ships of the era, get the Geoff Hunt book.
The illustrations in this books are mediocre to downright inferior compared to the work of Hunt: a number of landscapes portrayed from a distance, ships ditto, water colors artfully contrived but all without the details which convey the appearance of reality, details always present in the far better work of Geoff Hunt.
Book Review: Do not read this book! Yet.
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is maddening. Yes, it is very cool, all the history you can take in. Nice pictures and what not.
My BIG CONCERN is that the author has no clue. He puts spoilers in every nook and cranny of the book. Here is a made up example that recounts my experience: While giving the book a pre-bedtime read, I come across an interesting illustration, the caption reads something along the lines of "The victorian sailor enjoyed drinking, too bad Jack Aubrey's favorite sailor dies from drinking in the book you are about to read." or "Spying in the Royal Navy was always a concern, for example, in the 100 days, Preserved Killick's mother turns out to be a spy for Spain."
No warning, momentus events and dark secrets get spilled at random.
Book Review: Don't read this if you're reading the series
Summary: 4 Stars
Others have commented on the content and many glossy illustrations. I want to make one important point: the book gratuitously reveals important plot details and surprises in the Aubrey series. I strongly recommend not reading this book while you are reading the series, but to save it until later (or simply not buy it). I bought the book to learn background information shortly after I started the series, but was quite surprised by this completely unnecessary aspect of it. What were the authors thinking?!Book Review: Enhance O'Brian
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoy reading this book along with O'Brian's opus. It is fairly basic, but provides a wonderful context for the tales, and has excellent illustrations.