Post Captain
Patrick O'Brian
496 pages
published in 1972

Post Captain is the sequel to Master and Commander and the second in the Aubrey/Maturin series. The series is set in the same time and environment as C.S. Forester's classic Horatio Hornblower series, that of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. From what I've read of both series so far, I prefer O'Brian's over Forester's, as the former's main characters are far more sympathetic.

The book starts some time after Master and Commander, with Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin on their way back to England, with peace suddenly breaking out. This may be a good thing for the country as a whole, for those naval officers who, like Jack Aubrey, had not yet made post captain it means an unsure future trying to survive on half pay, with little hope of promotion or even being thrown out of the service altogether. Of course, with the prize money Jack made on his last cruise he isn't worried...

Unfortunately the agent he choses to represent him went bankrupt and ran off to France, taking the prize money with him. Worse, the prize court ruled that two of the neutral ships Jack had taken were illegitamitely taken and now he's eleven thousand pounds in debt, with no commmission in sight. To escape his debtors, Jack follows Stephen to France -and then the war breaks out again. While all this is happening, both Jack and Stephen also fall in love, which causes some friction between them.

Post Captain is less episodic than Master and Commander, though again there isn't an overarching plotline. Instead, there are the subplots revolving around Jack having to stay a step ahead of his debtors and both him and Stephen falling in love, which has repercussions for their friendship as well as Jack's career, since he starts to neglect his duties somewhat. There's somewhat less ship to ship action then there was in Master and Commander; instead more attention is paid to deepening Jack's and Stephen's characters.

In all, Post Captain is somewhat of an improvement on the earlier book and just as readable. Recommended.