cannot I prevail upon you to go to sea?
I have been re-reading Patrick O'Brian. Not quite in order; I started with Letter of Marque, then ran through that arc until The Wine-Dark Sea (when I originally started reading these books, that was the last one available by the time I reached the end of the series).
Then, since I love the last few books a bit less, I went back to the beginning.
Master and Commander is interesting - I read it less frequently than the others, and it's noticeable that Stephen in particular has not fully formed into the character he becomes later on; no intelligence role for Stephen, for example, and neither could the later Dr Maturin have steered the Sophie. Though his reflective character is very present, along of course with his natural philosophy. The opening, of music and contradiction, remains a glorious one, that hooked me the first time and continues to pull me in. And the action with the Cacafuego is totally satisfying.
Having just read the later books, it's obvious that POB also changed his mind a few times about Harte, not least that at one point he apparently has a son, and at another a daughter who is sole heiress. These things don't really matter, of course, but there is a definite difference between a book conceived as a single volume, and ones where the expectation is that there will be another. I love the way that many of the later books just pause at the end, with plenty of lines to be taken up again in the next. In fact I think that's partly why I love the last few slightly less - I have wondered if POB was more conscious that each might be the last, and tries a little harder to wrap things up, when one of the glories of the earlier arcs is that they go sailing on and on, like the Surprise in blue water.
ETA: Meant to include a link to the tor.com re-read which Jo Walton did - and also to note that Mari Ness is about to start a Georgette Heyer re-read over there, which I expect may appeal to some of you.
This entry was originally posted at http://coughingbear.dreamwidth.org/157195.html and has
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Then, since I love the last few books a bit less, I went back to the beginning.
Master and Commander is interesting - I read it less frequently than the others, and it's noticeable that Stephen in particular has not fully formed into the character he becomes later on; no intelligence role for Stephen, for example, and neither could the later Dr Maturin have steered the Sophie. Though his reflective character is very present, along of course with his natural philosophy. The opening, of music and contradiction, remains a glorious one, that hooked me the first time and continues to pull me in. And the action with the Cacafuego is totally satisfying.
Having just read the later books, it's obvious that POB also changed his mind a few times about Harte, not least that at one point he apparently has a son, and at another a daughter who is sole heiress. These things don't really matter, of course, but there is a definite difference between a book conceived as a single volume, and ones where the expectation is that there will be another. I love the way that many of the later books just pause at the end, with plenty of lines to be taken up again in the next. In fact I think that's partly why I love the last few slightly less - I have wondered if POB was more conscious that each might be the last, and tries a little harder to wrap things up, when one of the glories of the earlier arcs is that they go sailing on and on, like the Surprise in blue water.
ETA: Meant to include a link to the tor.com re-read which Jo Walton did - and also to note that Mari Ness is about to start a Georgette Heyer re-read over there, which I expect may appeal to some of you.
This entry was originally posted at http://coughingbear.dreamwidth.org/157195.html and has
comments. Comment here or there using OpenID.