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Book Review of The Wine-Dark Sea (Aubrey/Maturin, Book 16)

The Wine-Dark Sea (Aubrey/Maturin, Book 16)
reviewed on + 211 more book reviews


First I encourage you to read the series in sequence. Where one book ends, the next starts.

This book is a novel in about three parts - a set of sea skirmishes, a land based battle, and hike/long journey across the Andes. Each was important to the book, but frankly the sea skirmishes and the journey across the Andes deserved more words, as did Mauturin's spy work. Much more.

I really appreciate the naturalism (being a naturalist) of Mauturin. I like the observations of plants, and animals, and observations of humans.

All in all, this is a dark book. Several deaths (remember it's a war book), some of the secondary charterers have a falling out, and strains on friendships


Triggers: violence, a lot, it is a war book at it's core. Sex, not much and it's all off camera. Lots of references to sins of the heart (lust). references to recreational drug use. Brief (and somewhat funny) reference to cannibalism