Wednesday 26 September 2018

The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian (My Goodreads Review)

The Far Side of the World (Aubrey/Maturin #10)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another great story in the Aubrey/Maturin saga. This time HMS Surprise is chasing an American commerce raider called USS Norfolk. It is 1813 and Britain is at war with the fledgeling nation USA. The crew of the Suprise endure all sorts of onboard dilemmas as the go around the Cape Horn and into the Pacific where they know the Norfolk is after the lucrative British Whaling ships. 

The movie starring Russel Crow was loosely based on this plot for the beginning, though it was very different in many ways. Please do not get me wrong. The movie was splendid and I really enjoyed it immensely. But in reality, it is a very different story because the enemy is a Frenchman and the year is 1804 in the movie. Also, many of the characters are different and the ending is dramatically different. I think the movie took snippets from many books and put together a rather fabulous film.

Anyways, back to the actual novel of the name. It is also splendid and a dynamic read. Another piece in the saga's jigsaw of events surrounding Captain Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin's marvellous adventures. 



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