What Brian said, but more emphatic.
Yes, it’s all about Brian. Your powers of insight amaze me.
I am the one who brought it up, but yeah I’m gonna drop it now. I’ve said my piece.
And I predict this new Master and Commander will easily be the best Star Trek movie in 10 years.
I wouldn’t take that bet. Maybe the best Star Trek movie in 30 years. Of course, we do need to find out who they’re looking at for Aubrey and Maturin.
Ooooh, really hoping this comes out well. I’m still really sad they never followed up with the previous one. I’m currently on book four of my re-readthrough, coincidentally.
P.S. Never read any of the Hornblower books but I’ll jump into the ring in an instant on Lucky Jack Aubrey’s side (sorry Brian).
More like 20.
I just watched this the other week
Wow this is great, thank you!
I should rewatch my DVD copy of that really.
Speaking of, if y’all haven’t seen the special features of the Collector’s Edition DVD or Blu-ray, y’all need to, it’s amazing.
Nitpick: HMS Surprise is the third, Post Captain is the second.
But really you should start with the first. Mr. Krok may be correct about tone and setting, but the development of their relationship is a key part of all the books and you want that from the beginning. Also recommended: a companion book covering nautical jargon and historical context.
Maybe that would help. My wife made a sincere effort to read the first book years ago but got swamped by all the ship description. She really wanted some schematics, and I suppose a reference book would cover that and the jargon.
Any particular suggestions?
I don’t think it’s all that bad, really. You’ll definitely find some terms you probably aren’t familiar with but you’ll probably get the general idea of what’s happening. But I’ve done a fair bit of sailing so, aside from the military stuff, they’re ideas I’m somewhat familiar with.
Dive is right in that (IMHO) you can gloss over most of the specifics and pick up the meaning from context (“filling get quarter”, “abaft the beam”, etc).
But I had “A Sea of Words” (I’ll find the link when I’m not on my phone) and I found it fun to learn that much more about the age of sail. I also had a very short primer by O’Brian himself (edit: “Men-of-War: Life in Nelson’s Navy”) that was pretty fun and written with the same dry wit.
Link for companion volume: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218275.A_Sea_of_Words
O’Brian’s little one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866088.Men_of_War
So after reading most of “A Sea of Words” I have finally dived into Master and Commander. My god it’s a tough read at first, as my brain isn’t used to the way O’Brian writes. The detail, my god. Forrester abstracts a lot, but not O’Brian. I had to force myself to slow down, take in every word, and be very deliberate about soaking in the language.
It’s taken about halfway through the book, and a lot of short bursts of reading and breaks, but it’s finally clicking and I am really, really enjoying it.
Glad you’re liking it! To be fair, I think Master and Commander does start off kinda slow because he’s got to do the Aubrey-Maturin meet-cute (ugh, sorry for that term, hehe).
Also, I don’t know that you need to soak in every word, though it certainly rewards doing so. I think you can read them (all!) at whatever pace feels right, and then go back and read them again and savor them. At least, that’s what I’m doing. (Though I’m dragging them out so slowly that it’s been like a year since I finished the last one…)
It started off VERY slow, but it was worth it.