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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780393308631
ISBN number: 0393308634
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 334
Printing Date: 1992-04
Publishing house: W. W. Norton & Company
Sale Popularity Level: 35875
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
All of O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage, for his cunning is the sole bulwark against Napoleon's agents, who plot sabotage.
Amazon.com Review:
This segment of the Aubrey saga is set in Malta, where the captain's 'small, sweet-sailing frigate' is undergoing repairs. The island, however, is swarming with Napoleonic agents, which means that Stephen Maturin must do everything in his power to avert sabotage. A typical O'Brian cocktail of action and intrigue.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Second straight entry in the series that didn't live up to O'Brian's standard. Not bad, just missing the spark of action, comedy, and comradery that makes the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin pairing so much fun to read.
But its a long series. Better is ahead.
Tenth in the series: The Far Side of the World (Aubrey Maturin Series)
Rated by buyers 
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I started reading this series a little more than a year ago, and have been pacing myself. I found that once I had gotten used to the style of the very first novel, I could easily consume the series and decided to slow down. A year later I arrive at this installment. It took me a few days to decide how I felt about it, but I have decided that its one of the best in the series.
Like other reviewers, I agree that this series is much like one long novel, and that each volume could be considered a chapter. This is not one of the more action oriented installments, but is full of intrigue and complexity which is itself exciting. I have found that while some of the books are more "broadside and boarding axe" heavy, others are more character driven, as is this one.
Probably more surprising than the activities of Mr. Wray, is the demise of Admiral Harte, whom we assume is lost in an explosion during one of the few battle scenes in the book.
I suggest this to any fan of the series, but like others I strongly suggest starting with the very first volume and working towards this one.
Rated by buyers -
I truly do not look forward to reading the last book in this fantastic series by Patrick Obrian. Every book in this series is written with an attention to detail and history that I have only seen among very few authors. It will be difficult to find a book of interest after I read the last in this series.
Rated by buyers 
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I continue to marvel at how strong a series Patrick O'Brian has created with his beloved Aubrey-Maturin books. Now into their ninth novel, Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin have lost none of their appeal.
One of O'Brian's best decisions was to have Aubrey and Maturin play two dramatically different roles while serving together. Aubrey is a duty-driven fighting captain, good for plenty of gallantry and traditional British heroism. In certain novels, such as "Master and Commander," Aubrey gets to take the lead. Maturin, on the other hand, is a spy as well as a naturlist, humanist, and physician. O'Brian lets Maturin take the lead in other novels where dueling broadsides play less of a role. And thank goodness he did so, for after a few novels the stories of Aubrey leading ship after ship into combat would grow more than a little dull.
"Treason's Harbour" is one of the series' espionage-oriented novels. The novel opens in the titular harbour in the island of Malta. Aubrey's lucky ship "Surprise" is in for much-needed repairs, and Aubrey must confront the extortive practices of the local tradesmen in order to get his ship fixed. Maturin must confront the endeavor by the French to seduce him using a charming local lady whom they have blackmailed. O'Brian masterfully injects humour into the scenario as Aubrey tries to rescue the lady's beloved (and mammoth) dog, who has fallen into a well. Despite falling in himself, Aubrey rescues the dog, who thereafter treats Aubrey with such affection that the local gossip swiftly becomes that Aubrey and the lady must be having an affair.
After this entertaining episode, it is off to the Red Sea for Aubrey and Maturin for more diplomacy. While there is plenty of time for seamanship, this mission is more in Maturin's line than Aubrey's. O'Brian treats the reader to several fun and thrilling passages, whether it is Aubrey trying to negotiate the desert on a camel, or Maturin using his new-fangled diving bell to explore the sea floor, or an unfortunate swimmer being devoured by a shark.
The pages of "Treason's Harbour" will fly by as Aubrey and Maturin move from scrape to scrape, eventually ending up in a sea battle with the French. All in all, a well-rounded entry into the Aubrey-Maturin series. I only give this one four stars to distinguish it from the best novels in the series, but this is by no means a criticism - sometimes you must discriminate between the very good and the excellent.
Rated by buyers -
In "Treason's Harbour" Lucky Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin continue their adventures in the Mediterranean; only this time Jack's well-known luck fails him. The story picks up where "The Ionian Mission" left off, and CPT Jack Aubrey is dealing with the refit of both the Worcester and the Surprise. In the shipyards of the 1800's - Malta in particular - corruption is rife and while Aubrey deals with the frustrations of naval command's less glamorous details Stephen Maturin finds Malta to be a den of spies, loose lips and competing intelligence agencies. Here Patrick O'Brian continues to expand and excel with Maturin's espionage activities. Significant to this novel is the introduction of a villain who spans more than one volume. I will not spoil the surprise, but he has been previously encountered to those familiar with O'Brian's series. This quality makes "Treason's Harbour" a great read from the intelligence perspective: the reader is given Maturin's knowledge and the Villain's knowledge, and can see the interaction of their various skills and chance, and how this plays out into reality.
Stephen Maturin runs counter intelligence in Malta, attempting to use and save a woman who is being manipulated by deadly French agents, and due to leaks within one of England's compartmentalized and competing intelligence agencies, is at a severe disadvantage that he can only suspect. Needless to say, O'Brian's forte in writing includes both naval action and tense espionage.
Soon the Surprise is dispatched on a mission to Arabia, where CPT Aubrey is ordered to endeavor another minor coup similar to what he performed in the Ionian: take a small but strategic island, and through the use of subtle and well plied political intrigue and military maneuver, oust the French and their agents, ensure the installation of a ruler friendly to the interests of His Majesty's Empire and confound Bonaparte's minions to boot. Well, as you will see, all that is easily stated in war plans is not so easily executed on the ground, and the crew of the Surprise are soon terrified by evil Jin spirits in the Arabian deserts and fighting an enemy completely outside of their element.
Following the conclusion of their endeavor in Arabia, Jack is dispatched once more to deal with a small potentate along the Barbary Coast, who has been playing both sides in England and France's struggle for dominion. The conclusion of the book will leave you at the brink, wanting more, and racing to the library or the bookshop to get the subsequent adventure. "Treason's Harbour" is a great book by any standards, and excels even by the elevated expectations that O'Brian continues to set.
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