Product Description

In response to the interest of millions of Patrick O'Brian fans, here is the final, partial installment of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Blue at the Mizzen (novel #20) ended with Jack Aubrey getting the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. The next novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of the author's death, would have been the chronicle of that mission, and much else besides. The three chapters left on O'Brian's desk at the time of his death are presented here both in printed version—including his corrections to the typescript—and a facsimile of his manuscript, which goes several pages beyond the end of the typescript to include a duel between Stephen Maturin and an impertinent officer who is courting his fiancée.

Of course we would rather have had the whole story; instead we have this proof that O'Brian's powers of observation, his humor, and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10925 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Publishers Weekly
For Aubrey/Maturin addicts, there could be no better gift: a new, albeit incomplete, story with freshly piquant details, wry humor and salty nautical action. Although the official word was that O'Brian had finished the series with 1999's Blue at the Mizzen, he was in fact working on a new installment at the time of his death in 2000. This short volume juxtaposes a facsimile of O'Brian's handwritten manuscript of the untitled novel with a printed version of the text, which corresponds to O'Brian's loosely edited, typed pages. As the tale opens, our heroes are off the coast of South America, trying to find a friendly place to put the Surprise in for victuals and water. Jack Aubrey has received the happy news that he has been given the rank of rear admiral of the Blue, and all is well for the time being. But the Catholic locals are surly at best to the mostly Protestant crew. To fix things, Stephen Maturin does some judicious buttering up and Aubrey reunites with Samuel Mputa, the region's Papal Nuncio and, incidentally, one of his "indiscretions" from his days as "a long-legged youth" serving on the South African station. The typescript of the third chapter ends mid-sentence, but the handwritten manuscript continues on to include a duel between Maturin and a romantic rival, leaving readers begging for more. Alas, this fragmentary but worthy addition to the series is truly the end of a literary era, leaving only readers' imaginations to fill in the rest of the story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
The pages of O’Brian’s 21st Aubrey novel will leave readers hungry for more. Not surprisingly, 21 neither stands alone as a novel nor serves as a concise conclusion to the series. Instead, it sketches out the details of the start of another Aubrey mission. The bulk of the chapters offers set-pieces describing gunnery practice, grog, deck-swabbing, a hernia operation, and a reunion with Papal Nuncio Samuel Mputa. The pages also contain O’Brian’s trademark humor and eagle-eyed observations, if cut short. There’s nothing new here for seasoned readers except, perhaps, for an elaborate menu devised by an Argentine grandee. And yet that doesn’t diminish the power of this small, unfinished masterpiece.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
At the time of his death at age 85, Patrick O'Brian was working on the twenty-first installment in his hugely popular Aubrey/Maturin series. Published side-by-side in both printed and manuscript form, these three chapters will be eagerly devoured by devoted fans who can't get enough of the seafaring exploits of stalwart Captain Jack Aubrey and his erudite sidekick, Dr. Stephen Maturin. Although inevitably leaving the reader wanting more, this all too brief introduction to another salty adventure will provide scholars and O'Brian aficionados with intimate insight into the author's creative process. The corrections and marginal notes that abound in the facsimile of the handwritten draft constitute a treasure trove of information concerning O'Brian's unique methodology and narrative style. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Comfortable Closure
It was good to see that the author was still working on continuing the outstanding Aubrey - Maturin series. We're all disappointed that the series has ended. 21 was interesting both from the story and procedure viewpoints.

Literary must read for everyone
It took me a year, but I couldn't put down a single copy of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. This literary masterpiece tells a wonderful story, with every character brought to life. The writing is so visual, one actually feels that they have been on the very ship he writes about. I do recommend that readers obtain "A Sea of Words", which is basically a glossary of all the nautical terms used in the novels. Universities should devote a literature course to these novels, since they are so well written. O'Brian's mastery of the writing craft is unsurpassed, in my opinion.

For Family And Friends Only
As others have noted, the book goes only three chapters into the story. I want to add that these chapters are far from complete. It jumps so quickly from one scene to the next, something like those half-hour television westerns from the sixties. Stephen advises Jack to have a look from the top, and in the very next sentence, there he is, in the top. The Ringle crosses the Atlantic twice, but leaves little sense of time passage.

Do not expect any closure here. The value is seeing how the author developed a story. Presumably he would have gone over these pages again many times, enriching them with detailed descriptions and dialog. Those who have been through the series will appreciate the chance to have one more look. It would not likely interest anyone else.

Here is one more thing that interests me. The jacket artwork is by Geoff Hunt, who also did illustrations for the entire series. This one has considerably less detail than the others. Could that be an allusion to the unfinished state of the book?