Book Review: Post Captain

[osprey_archer]

At the beginning of Post Captain, right on the cusp of a big sea battle, peace is inopportunely declared. Fortunately for Jack Aubrey, he is extremely flush with prize money, so with his particular friend Stephen Maturin he rents a country house, enters local society, and meets a family of pretty sisters (plus one beautiful young widowed cousin).

I had just settled in for a reverse Austen novel, told from the point of view of the naval captain rather than his young lady, when Jack’s prize agent absconds with all his money. Jack, eleven thousand pounds in debt, flees to the continent with Stephen in tow - just in time for war to begin again!

This is all in the space of about four chapters. At this point I concluded I had better not settle in for anything at all, as we were clearly in for an ever-shifting picaresque novel.

In this book:

Stephen disguises Jack as a bear so they can flee from hostile France to still-neutral Spain.

Jack is subsequently so ill that Stephen has to nurse him back to health, which takes place entirely off page, because O’Brian could not care less about hurt/comfort.

Other things O’Brian can’t care less about? Spy plots. Stephen has become a hotshot spy for British intelligence and spends months in Spain gathering intelligence, which entire trip O’Brian disposes of in three paragraphs.

However, Stephen’s spy shenanigans allow O’Brian to skip the entire sequence during which Jack gets not-engaged with a girl whose mother won’t let her enter an engagement with a man who is eleven thousand pounds in debt, but emotionally they’re basically engaged.

So if O’Brian has cheerfully skated over hurt/comfort, spying, and romance, what IS he writing about?

Well, at one point Stephen declares that he has “a horror of appearing eccentric,” and asks worriedly whether it would make him look weird to practice swordplay on deck. (It will not, the captain of the marines assures him.)

(A few chapters later Stephen, the man who has a horror of appearing eccentric, shows up on Jack’s new ship wearing a wool onesie and carrying a glass hive of bees. The bees promptly invade the morning cocoa.)

Stephen and Jack almost have a duel but then it just kind of fizzles. They seem to have simply forgotten about the duel without, at any point, formally deciding not to duel.

The debt collectors catch up with Jack but fortunately he’s out with a bunch of officers from his ship so they turn the tables on the debt collectors and impress at least two of them into the navy. Ha-HA, take that debt collectors!

Oh, and obviously we DO finally have a sea battle at the end. We may not need spying or hurt-comfort but we MUST have a sea battle.

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

I'm glad you enjoyed this! (I'm... assuming you enjoyed this?) Post Captain is such a fun one.

[osprey_archer]

Yes, it was fun! And honestly Jack must love Stephen SO much to allow him to bring an entire hive of bees on board. I would be chucking the hive away post-haste.

[sartorias]

And there WILL be hurt-comfort, hoo boy. And spies. And romance!

[osprey_archer]

Maybe O'Brian is just saving those things in his bag of tricks to bring them out later. They all occur mostly off-page here!

[sovay]

(A few chapters later Stephen, the man who has a horror of appearing eccentric, shows up on Jack’s new ship wearing a wool onesie and carrying a glass hive of bees. The bees promptly invade the morning cocoa.)

I assume this is not the cause of the near-duel.

[osprey_archer]

It isn't, although to be honest I would be hard-pressed to blame Jack (and/or the officers who expected to be drinking the cocoa) if they DID challenge Stephen to a duel over it. Rough to have your morning cocoa stolen by a bunch of bees!

[qian]

Oh, I'd forgotten there was so much I loved in Post Captain! Like Jack being a bear and Stephen's incredible onesie and the bees are all absolute favourite bits of the series for me. (But then there are so many favourite bits ... ) Stephen and Jack reconcile/decide not to duel when Jack gets injured in a battle and Stephen treats him, don't they? I always find those scenes deliciously hurt/comfort-y but I admit the way O'Brian does it is not how it would be done in fanfic.

[osprey_archer]

There's never really a conversation about why they're not dueling after all. Stephen warns Jack that the crew is on the verge of mutiny, Jack informs the crew that "we're going to attack a French port! tonight!", they attack the French port and everyone is so happy afterward that the duel just gets dropped.

[qian]

Ah, I must be thinking of another duel that didn't happen then! This is much less memorable a way to decide not to duel so I'm not surprised I don't remember it lolol.

[asakiyume]

Does Jack get his money back?!

[osprey_archer]

Jack takes a new, better prize that recoups his losses!

[asakiyume]

WINNING!

[passingbuzzards]

I am clearly missing out by not having gotten around to continuing with this series, I will have to make an effort to get to it! This all sounds wild and extremely on-trend. (And also, Stephen is quite possibly the most eccentric man in existence, WHAT a concern for him to have.)

[osprey_archer]

RIGHT, I burst out laughing when he shared his "horror of appearing eccentric." Stephen I am SO sorry but I'm afraid that ship has sailed.

[littlerhymes]

I can't believe we didn't discuss if Diana and Sophia should make out. Sophia would never agree to it but JUST IMAGINE.

[osprey_archer]

Maybe THAT'S why Sophia threatened to strike Diana across the face with a horse whip. Diana suggested they should make out and Sophia exploded but you KNOW that Sophia lay awake that night thinking "What would it have been like??"

[tamaranth]

I adore this novel. It's the one I recommend to friends who have bounced off Master and Commander. Diana, though...

[osprey_archer]

I suspect that Stephen and Diana will end up together and Stephen will perhaps not exactly rue the day but suffer without ever feeling he's suffered too much to make the marriage worth it. Don't spoil me though!