post captain

I finished reading the second of the Maturin/Aubrey novels written by Patrick O'Brien. Not what I thought these books would be like at all. Instead of battle scene after battle scene, he creates a very credible world of life on a naval ship and ashore. Poor Aubrey faces several perils and insults in this novel, the worst being that his agent has stolen all his funds at the same time that a court ruling has resulted in his being held liable for a ship that he captured.

Debtors prison is a very real threat, and he must deal with this as well as the political intrigues of the British Admiralty. Maturin's secret life becomes more revealed to the reader. The whole Jane Austen depiction of women and marriage is replayed in the middle of Aubrey's command of a ship that is mutant freak, created with an usual design for an experimental weapon that was abandoned.

Oh, and Napoleon is stirring up trouble. I am already into the beginning of the third novel, H.M.S. Surprise.