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Title: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
Author: Patrick O'Brian
Narrator: Robert Hardy
Format: Abridged
Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
Language: English
Release date: 05-03-10
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
The story picks up from the end of Blue at the Mizzen, when Jack Aubrey receives the news, in Chile, of his elevation to flag rank: Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron, with orders to sail to the South Africa station. This new novel, unfinished and untitled at the time of OBrians death, would have been a chronicle of that mission, and much else besides.
As the novel opens, we are able to visit these friends we have followed so very far in a rare state of almost perfect felicity. Jack has seen his illegitimate son ably discharging important duties. Sophie and his daughters are with him; Brigid is with her father, she's thriving, and Stephen is with a woman who is very dear to him. Jack, at last, is flying a rear-admiral's flag aboard a ship of the line.
And so this great roman fleuve comes to an end with Jack, with his sacred blue flag, sailing through fair, sweet days Stephen with his dissections and new love, Killick muttering darkly over the toasted cheese.
Of course, we would rather have had the whole story; instead we have this proof that OBrians powers of observation, his humour and his understanding of his characters were undiminished to the end.
Critic Reviews:
"There is nothing in this century that rivals Patrick OBrians achievement in his chosen genre. His novels embrace with loving clarity the full richness of the 18th-century world. They embody the cruelty of battle, the comedy of mens lives, the uncertain fears that plague their hearts; and yet, not far away, is the vision of an ideal existence." (Amanda Foreman, New York Times)
Members Reviews:
The Last Jack Aubrey Sea Novel
I wanted to get "21" to complete my set of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey sea novels, all purchased from Amazon. Please be aware that the previous books (all 20 of them) are approximately 5.5 x 8.3 inches in size and actually are a set you might keep on your bookshelf. This book measures 7.0 inches by 10.1 inches and is significantly different in physical size. But, I'm glad Amazon has it available to complete the set.
Fair winds and following seas
Reading _21_ is a bitter-sweet experience. O'Brian died in the midst of writing the book, so it is an incomplete manuscript, most of which is typed (the original hand-written manuscript faces the printed page), the final few pages only in the author's hand. The experience is somewhat akin to reading a love-letter that was neither completed or sent. I am left wondering in what direction O'Brian would have taken the story - what new adventures awaited Aubrey and Maturin, their dreams finally realized: Napoleon defeated and exiled on St. Helena, AUbrey having finally been awarded his blue flag, Maturin nurturing and kindling a new love. Yet what a wonderful way to end a remarkable series.
_21_ begins whereBlue at the Mizzenleft off, the Suprise sailing home having completed its "hydrographic" (and military, poltical and intelligence-gathering) mission to Chile. At the river Plate, Aubrey runs in with his bastard son Sam, now a Papal legate in Argentina and Maturin duels an arrogant army captain over a point of honor concerning Maturin's love-interest, Christine. The central conflict for the novel, it seems was just being established.
