As a long-time fan of the Aubreyad, i can guarantee that any reader familiar with the later books will enjoy this one just as much. We see many of the same scenes, the same phrases, the same habits, the same minor characters as we see later, and it is a pleasure to realise that these are the first times that Patrick O'Brian used the same evocative words that he would re-use time and again in later books.

It is like meeting old friends afresh, and when I read these two books after putting down the twentieth and last in the Aubrey/Maturin series, it was as if I'd found another, a twenty-first.

The book opens with a homage to Jane Austen, as many of O'Brian's books do, and there is a considerable setting-up of the relationship on land before they join Commodore Anson's squadron. Tobias gets himself into a right pickle and Jack gets him out of it in the nick of time in a scene which is at once dramatic and comical.

At sea Tobias learns the ropes and makes the most of his opportunities for natural history, as Stephen Maturin does later. Jack is the young sea-dog, every bit the young Jack Aubrey, except he does not share Aubrey's grosser appetites.

After Cape Horn, well I'd be giving away too much of the plot if I mentioned what went on, but suffice to say that this is some of Patrick O'Brian's most powerful writing, and at one stage I felt tired and worn out just reading it. I almost had to check my hands to see if they were not rubbed raw from the oars.

But our heroes return home at last, and the story concludes with words which are pure O'Brian.

There is no doubt in my mind, no doubt at all. If you liked the Aubrey/Maturin series, you will like The Unknown Shore. And while you're at it, try the earlier Golden Ocean as well - they make a fine pair of prequels to the series.

"Come grow old with me / The best is yet to be..."

Browning's lines from "Rabbi Ben Ezra" apply nicely to O'Brian's great Aubrey/Maturin series (although I understand that the last couple of volumes in the series are not quite up to the standard). Partly because so few writers can create vital and interesting characters any more, O'Brian stands out with his correct Tory Naval captain (Jack Aubrey) and his British intelligence agent/scientist friend (Stephen Maturin), who show here that they can age gracefully.

But don't begin here. You have to have read the series in order to understand their tangled love and financial relationships and how the situation in THE COMMODORE came to be. If you have read the others through THE WINE DARK SEA, you are in for a real treat.

Aubrey and Maturin combat pro-Napoleonic forces at home and abroad. In the process, they deliver crippling blows to the West African slave trade and prevent a French landing in support of Irish independence.

Now that he has risen in the ranks, Aubrey must deal with issues raised by an incompetent spit-and-polish commander like Captain Thomas and by an otherwise talented sodomite in the person of Captain Duff whose officers rebel against favoritism shown to his catamites. Throughout the book, our heroes are uncertain of the welcome they will receive from their wives and families -- yet they are driven onward for King and Country.

I finished "Blue at the Mizzen" a week before the death of author Patrick O'Brian, having spent the entire summer reading the Aubrey/Maturin series from start to finish. There was speculation when the book was published that it might make the end of this most remarkable series because of O'Brian's failing health. However, the author was apparently well into his next novel when he passed away.

In hindsight it is certainly remarkable that "Blue at the Mizzen" will be the final book in the series. The series does indeed a high water mark of a sort and I must express my wish that O'Brian had picked a different title in regards to that particular point. The novel begins with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, which is also significant, for Jack Aubrey is very much a creature of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Although Aubrey and his particular friend Stephen Maturin had never been in the forefront of the war effort, it was against that larger backdrop that O'Brian set his novels. Whatever adventures lay ahead, they would most surely have been of a different cut of cloth. Consequently, while I will miss the novels that would have been followed this one, I am satisfied that there is a completeness to the epic.

To underscore this idea I ask you to read the final chapter of this novel and to recognize the inherent rightness in the final words of Jack Aubrey upon the printed page.

Final Note: While I give this particular novel 4 Stars the entire series. Remember: YOU MUST READ THESE NOVELS IN ORDER. This is not Horatio Hornblower.

While the books have changed somewhat, in that they have become less descriptive of the interrelationships between the characters, this is understandable. As Aubrey gets more senior (here for much of the time he is an acting Commodore with a small squadron) the books have to describe a much bigger naval and political picture. O'Brian excels at this.

Unfortunately this means we lose some of the "small ship" feeling, and many of the best characters from earlier in the series are left out. Isn't this a function of life - not only Aubrey and Maturin's but also most readers? As we move on in the world relationships change and we interact with different people. In addition O'Brian would have difficulty in weaving in many old characters and maintaining the sense of historical accuracy that is important to his books (this is however not a justification for Aubrey's lack of response to Bonden's death in the previous book).

Read the whole series from book one and then enjoy this and its predecessor (The Hundred Days). Both books then fall into much better context.

Keep it up Mr O'Brian - you are doing an excellent job. I fervently hope that the unanswered questions surrounding Stephen and Christine Wood (as well as where Aubrey goes from here) mean that we can hope for one more (and preferably more than one) book and a couple of large fleet actions!

One can read the Holmes/Watson books in any order; the characters never change, and I don't recall references by Doyle to previous events, such as those backwards glimpses O'Brian slyly slips to us steady fans from time to time that must sail right over the heads of hit-and-run readers.

With not a molecule of discredit to her genius intended, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot remained the same character through 25 stories, and I'm not aware of any maturation of Miss Jane Marple. Of course, Agatha Christie probably felt that her readers preferred the familiarity that the sameness of characters provided.

What gives me the feat tha! ! t The Yellow Admiral might be the final Aubrey/Maturin episode? Diana never once jumps the traces; Jack mends all his fences at home; Sir Joseph Blaine is very much back in control in his seemingly obscure but influential position with "the Committee;" and Stephen has lived through a volume without a crisis. Then, just as Jack Aubrey has gotten used to the idea of building the Chileans a navy, while on a little respite in Funchal, Madeira, with his family and almost everyone else dear to him, he receives an urgent dispatch from Lord Keith of the Admiralty, advising him that Napoleon has escaped from Elba. Writes Keith: "You are to take all His Majesty's ships and vessels at present in Funchal under your command, hoisting your broad pennant in 'Pamone,' and . . . proceed without the loss of a moment to Gibraltar, there to block all exits from the Straits by any craft soever until further notice. And for so doing the enclosed order shall be your warrant."

A! ! t the bottom of Keith's letter was a handwritten note from ! dear, dear Queenie, an important figure in Jack's youth and during his career, now married to Lord Keith: "Dearest Jack -- I am so happy for you -- love -- Queenie."

So the Chileans must develop their navy without the services of Captain Aubrey. And there will be no yellow admiral in the person of Lucky Jack Aubrey.

Thus, with this pristine conclusion, I fear that we have seen the last chapter in the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey, Royal Navy, and his loyal friend and invaluable companion Stephen Maturin. But O'Brian will be writing, that's for sure. And if his next work is another splendid biograpy, a fine story on another subject, short stories, whatever he writes will be a thrill for me to read.