Bookmark this site  

The Hundred Days

Editorial Reviews

Buy-Bay.com Review
In this, actor Robert Hardy's fourth reading from Patrick O'Brian's celebrated historical novels, series heroes Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are in very different circumstances from when we first meet them. In Master and Commander, the first of the series, Aubrey is young and full of himself, and through Hardy's performance we can practically hear Aubrey's puffed-out chest. But in The Hundred Days, Aubrey is a commodore, famous throughout the British Empire for his naval exploits, and Hardy reflects the confidence that comes with those accomplishments. Meanwhile, his best friend, surgeon-spy Stephen Maturin, is wasting away as the audiocassette opens, in deep mourning for his recently deceased wife. But soon enough, both are pulled into great adventure again--in this case, Napoleon's final campaign--and the fate of the Empire rests on their ability to stop the fitting out of a new French fleet and to keep a shipment of gold from reaching a mercenary army. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Lou Schuler  --This text refers to the   Audio Cassette edition.

From Publishers Weekly
The Aubrey-Maturin series (The Commodore, etc.) nears the two dozen mark the way it began, with colorful historical background, smooth plotting, marvelous characters and great style. The title refers to Napoleon's escape from Elba and brief return to power. Capt. Jack Aubrey must stop a Moorish galley, loaded with gold for Napoleon's mercenaries, from making its delivery. The action takes us into two seas and one ocean and continues nearly nonstop until the climax in the Atlantic. We're quickly reacquainted with the two heroes: handsome sea dog Jack Aubrey, by now a national hero, and Dr. Stephen Maturin, Basque-Irish ship's doctor, naturalist, English spy and hopelessly incompetent seaman. Nothing stays the same, alas: Jack has gained weight almost to obesity, and Stephen is desolated by the death of his dashing, beautiful wife?but they're still the best of friends, each often knowing what the other is thinking. The prose moves between the maritime sublime and the Austenish bon mot (&doublequote;a man generally disliked is hardly apt to lavish good food and wine on those who despise him, and Ward's dinners were execrable&doublequote;). There are some favorite old characters, notably Aubrey's steward, Preserved Killick: &doublequote;ill-faced, ill-tempered, meagre, atrabilious, shrewish&doublequote; and thoroughly amusing. Chief among entertaining newcomers is Dr. Amos Jacob, a Cainite Jew (&doublequote;they derive their descent from the Kenites, who themselves have Abel's brother Cain as their common ancestor&doublequote;), who comes from a family of jewel merchants and has an encyclopedic grasp of Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish languages (and politics). Jacob is as expert as Stephen at spying and even more of a landlubber. O'Brian continues to unroll a splendid Turkish rug of a saga, and if it seems unlikely that the sedentary Stephen would hunt lions in the Atlas mountains (with the Dey of Algiers!), O'Brian brings off even this narrative feat with aplomb.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.  --This text refers to the   Hardcover edition.
 
 


Category: 102
Condition: New
ISBN: 0006512119  Published: 1999-09-20
Author: Patrick O'Brian  
Publisher: Harper





                      
                      
                      



Tags: The Hundred The Hundred Days The Hundred Days 
 
 
Suggested:
Days Without Number
Days of Hope
Days Before Dibley
Days of Wine and Roses
Days of Hope
Days without Number
Days Of Hope