IMO Master and Commander is by far the weakest of the series. O’Brian really doesn’t get cracking until HMS Surprise (3rd book in the series), but some of HMS Surprise depends on Post Captain, so I usually start friends off with Post Captain. Once they’re hooked, they can go back and read Master and Commander.
My favorite is Howard Coyle’s “Team Yankee”. It’s quite a Cold War relic now, but I really enjoyed it. Some of his later stuff is not as good, but still enjoyable. Check the reviews, because they are pretty much spot-on.
Agree with O’Brien & CS Forester, & the Flashman books.
Some not mentioned
“Sword of Honour” trilogy by Evelyn Waugh. The saga of Guy Crouchback in WW2, from idealism, to cynicism, to redemption. He’s obviously not specifically a military fiction author, but this is some of his best work.
“Regeneration” series by Pat Barker. Based on true story of Owen, Sassoon and the pioneering work on “shell shock” done in the UK in WW1. Won numerous literary prizes - it is both great military history, and very good literature. The (anti) hero is a wonderful creation
“Bird Song” - Faulkes. Also WW1
“War & Peace” - Tolstoy. Awesome in its awesomeness.
“Shogun” - Clavel. A guilty pleasure, but a rollicking good read
Let me second that - the first two books are, unfortunately, probably the two weakest of the series. The first spends a lot of time throwing too much minutia at you (which does ultimately help down the road), and the second just plain opens up real slow while setting up characters and situations that will last for most of the series. But with HMS Surprise, the series comes into its own.
I started in chronological order with Sharpe’s Tiger, Sharpe’s Triumph, Sharpe’s Fortress, Sharpe’s Trafalgar, and Sharpe’s Prey, all of which I loved – I particularly enjoyed the India novels. Then I got completely bogged down in Sharpe’s Rifles, I also tried Sharpe’s Sword which I did not manage to get through. Since the chronologically earlier India novels were actually written much later (starting in 1997) than the “classic” Napoleonic novels (written starting in 1981), my theory was that Cornwell’s writing had gotten much better over the years. The Indian novels just seemed much richer to me, whereas the Napoleonic ones (meaning Sharpe’s Rifles onward) just seemed much more pedestrian.
I liked Team Yankee. A similar book which I really liked is Larry Bond’s Red Phoenix. Bond’s Vortex (mentioned by a bunch of people in the Tom Clancy thread) is also pretty decent, as is Howard Coyle’s Sword Point (although probably not as good as Team Yankee).
It saddens me to remember that there’ll be no more Flashman books. Some of my most favourite reads ever.
True. One of my favourite ways of playing RPG’s is to remember “WWFD?”
Much of my knowledge of obscure Victorian campaigns comes from those books. Most I had some inkling of, but the Madagascar & Ethiopian campaigns were completely unknown to me…
And poor Flashy was left drugged and kidnapped at the end of Flashman and the Dragon (1860), and that was never resolved, though I presume it was a segue way into Flashy in the American Civil War, which was one of those oft-referred to adventures that Fraser never got around to before his death.
‘Bomber’ by Len Deighton. Exquisitely researched.
I also loved the Flashman books, some of the most enjoyable, funniest and historically accurate books out there.
Aubrey-Maturin series is top too. The Allan Mallinson authored Hervey series, starting with A Close Run Thing, features Matthew Hervey as a cavalry officer in the early to mid 19th century - the first book is actually based around the Battle of Waterloo, and then they progress from there, which is quite different to your usual military novels from the period. Mallinson himself was a cavalry officer himself (though in the late 20th century) so gets a lot of the details right. For my mind, much better than the Sharpe books.
I will start with Post Captain then. Thank you for the direction; I always found it strange that I didn’t get into the series and perhaps this will do it. :)
I don’t know what’s up with all these naysayers. The first two books are perfectly fine, do a great job of introducing the characters and their problems, and also serve as a great primer for the tsunami of sailing jargon the series unleashes on readers.