Fun story, good narration

I don't go in for this sort of story much at my age but found it immediately engrossing. Good fun, great detail, and extremely talented narrator. Probably the best fit of any voice actor to any book I've listened to. Altogether, well worth it.

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Excellent story and Narration

If your a fan of the time period, late 1700s and early 1800s. This a great novel, some parts were abit hard to follow written in old English. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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Excellent

Enjoyed every minute, narration and character accents were spot on. Looking forward to Post Captain.

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Linguistic workout

Simply stunning storytelling. You have to work with both the 18th century and specifically Royal Navy terminology and way to speak but it is gloriously brought to life by Ric Jerrom illuminating Patrick O’Brian’s fascinating novel where he is able to make seemingly mundane activities through to superbly descriptive sea actions totally engrossing.

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Loved it

Ric Jerrom's Narration was excellent! Fantastic story. I read this book a very long time ago and it was amazing to hear it through again.

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Fantastic performance, good book

O'Brian's first book is a must-read for fans of Nelson's Navy and Hornblower stories, though chances are good that they've already read this one. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are vivid characters who are very likeable, and their friendship is both enjoyable and believable. What holds this story back is some of the pacing issues that cropped up for me. There are many scenes in this book that were loosely linked at best and I hope that this particular problem doesn't persist as I continue the series. The performance was incredible however, and Mr. Jerrom brought these characters to life incredibly.

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Long and hard to follow

This book was OK, but the chapter breaks in the mid chapter breaks, left me, wondering who is white and what was where but the jest of the book was quite exciting

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Very Good Establishment Novel

This book is very little like the film treatment (the Russell Crowe vehicle is fairly loosely based on this entire series). This one could be considered a "Prequel". It is quite slow to get going and spends the majority of time introducing and developing characters integral to the series. It relates how many in the crew came together, describes their first sloop (HM Sophie) in intimate detail, and provides very little else. There are a couple of naval battles - and they are harrowing, pulse-pounding, and loaded with clever strategies - but they feel somehow tacked-on. The book also introduces a bewildering variety of nautical terms and on-ship procedures. Unless you are very familiar with sailing in the 18th century (I am not), it could get awfully confusing. Fortunately, Patrick O'Brian is good at this (though he could have done better). He introduces Doctor Stephen Maturin as a brilliant but struggling landlubber - convinced to join the crew of the Sophie - who asks question after question from Captain Jack Aubrey and other crew members - allowing the reader to be educated at the same time as the good doctor.
This novel is worth the investment of time, but is pretty confusing if you don’t already know the characters.

Ric Jerrom is an adequate reader at best - but a very good choice for this series. He reads clearly with a very judicious use of accents.. that makes characters instantly recognizable. His reading timbre is spot-on and nautical terms are pronounced accurately. Unfortunately, on occasion Jerrom chooses to use very strong accents for some characters - sometimes making the dialogue hard to follow.

If you start here, stick with it. Later books warrant 5 stars and this one enriches them considerably. Unfortunately, this one falls victim - as a standalone - to having little in the way of a coherent plot. It's rather a series of battles and encounters designed to introduce characters and setting. It may be better to start reading with book 2 ('Post Captain'). Altogether, this first novel in the Aubrey/Maturin chronicle is worthy of 7 stars out of 10.

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Great Narration

A great Narration but the story can be hard to follow given all the nautical terminology and old english. Still a great story and I will likely try out the next in the series.

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A Great Sea-Faring Yarn

I loved the Audible version of this tale. I had read the novel years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The narrator of the spoken book does an excellent job of rendering different personalities and their voices. You get a vivid sense of the personalities of Aubrey and Maturin, and also of all the secondary characters, which brings their whole world to life.
And if you’re a history buff, you learn a lot about the social history of the time, politics, as well as the importance of the navies, naval etiquette, warfare and how their bureaucracies functioned. (Unsurprisingly, bureaucrats have not changed much from then until now.)
Patrick O’Brian was a gifted writer, and gives us well developed characters, adventure and a glimpse into a eventful time in history when there were great upheavals and changes politically, socially and scientifically.
I read this excellent series many years ago, and will probably go through round two via Audible books. I find that Captain Jack Aubrey, Maturin and friends are great company while cooking, painting, etc.

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