The Thirteen Gun Salute, Patrick OBrian
The Thirteen Gun Salute, Patrick OBrian
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The Thirteen Gun Salute

Author: Patrick O'Brian

Narrator: Tim Pigott-Smith

Abridged: 5 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/05/2001


Synopsis

The 13th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin series.

Captain Jack Aubrey sets sail for the South China Sea with a new lease on life. Following his dismissal from the Royal Navy (on a false accusation), he has earned reinstatement through his daring exploits as a privateer, brilliantly chronicled in The Letter of Marque. Now he is to shepherd Stephen Maturin–his friend, ship’s surgeon and sometimes intelligence agent–on a diplomatic mission to prevent between Bonaparte and the Malay princes which would put English merchant shipping at risk.

The journey of the Diane encompasses a great and satisfying diversity of adventures. Maturin climbs the Thousand Steps of the sacred crater of the orangutans; a killer typhoon catches Aubrey and his crew trying to work the Diane off a reef; and in the barbaric court of Pulo Prabang a classic duel of intelligence agents unfolds: the French envoys, well entrenched in the Sultan’s good graces, against the savage cunning of Stephen Maturin.

“O’Brian infuses his novels with so much energy, texture and drollery that it’s easy to be swept along for the voyage. Add to this the superb reading of actor Tim Pigott-Smith and you have something approaching audiobook heaven.”
---The Express-Times

About The Author

Patrick O’Brian’s many novels include Testimonies, The Golden Ocean, and The Unknown Shore, in addition to twenty volumes in the highly respected Aubrey/Maturin series. O’Brian wrote acclaimed biographies of Pablo Picasso and Sir Joseph Banks and translated many works from the French, among them the novels and memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle. Mr. O’Brian died in January 2000.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ken-ichi on January 14, 2011

Glad I bought the next two, because this doesn't end at the end. Scads of good fun, as always. Probably the most memorable part of this adventure was Stephen's trip to the Buddhist temple, where men and beasts live together in harmony and Stephen basically gets to have the on-shore naturalizing expe......more

Goodreads review by Terry on February 21, 2020

3.5 stars In this volume a number of significant changes occur in the lives of our two heroes, some of them behind the scenes, as with Stephen’s discovery that Diana is pregnant with his child (that he assumes will be a daughter), as well as the fact that poor Padeen, now addicted to laudanum, has be......more

Goodreads review by Clemens on December 20, 2021

Read this book in 2009, and its the 13th wonderful volume of the amazing "Aubrey/ Maturin" series. In this tale, with Captain Jack Aubrey reinstated within the Royal Navy after his heroics exploits as an privateer, is now setting sail for the South China Sea. On this trip he will get his friend, ship'......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on July 20, 2023

Another solid outing, though Aubrey seems to have a bad habit of breaking his boats when they aren't named Surprise. Perhaps the real surprise is that he doesn't break the Surprise too? I've been informed this is book 1 of a five-book sequence of them circumnavigating the globe. Honestly, I'm surpri......more