Title: HMS Surprise
Genre: Historical/Napoleonic
Published: Harper Collins, 2002
Pages: 362
Purchased: Borders, Cambridge, 2004-04-03, £7.99
ISBN: 0-00-649917-1
The third Aubrey/Maturin novels.
In which Jack's great prize of Post Captain fails to materialise, and his great debt remains a threat, Stephen is captured and needs rescuing, and the pair take part in a storm tossed voyage to take an envoy into the East Indies.
As usual, the sense of reality is strong. One thing worth noting is that Aubrey doesn't regard his ship as fixed - he's always fiddling with it, altering masts, stripping something off here, adding something there. Quite the boy racer. And a boy racer who keeps getting his ship truly battered.
