Episodios de una Guerra (The Fortune of War)

Escrito por Patrick O'Brian

Narrado por Martin Untrojb

"Un libro maravillosamente lleno de sabor, fascinante, que se eleva sobre sus rivales actuales en el género como un tres pisos sobre el barco largo de un barco." —Times Literary Supplement

El capitán Jack Aubrey, R. N., llega a las Indias Orientales Holandesas para encontrarse a sí mismo nombrado al mando de la fragata más rápida y mejor armada de la Armada. Él y su amigo Stephen Maturin toman el paso a Inglaterra en un barco de despacho. Pero la Guerra de 1812 estalla mientras están en camino. Las acciones sangrientas los precipitan en escenas nuevas e inesperadas donde las actividades pasadas de Stephen como agente secreto regresan sobre él con una venganza.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: BookaVivo
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 27 abr 2021
• ISBN: 9781638111245

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist, biographer and translator from French. His translations include Henri Charrière’s Papillon, Jean Lacouture’s biography of Charles de Gaulle and many of Simone de Beauvoir’s later works, including Les Belles Images, All Said and Done and A Very Easy Death.

Comentarios para Episodios de una Guerra (The Fortune of War)

[tadad_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another excellent episode in this continuing story of Jack and Stephen. The War of 1812 becomes center stage and our heroes spend an involuntary sojourn in the United States, Diana Villiers returns to the stage, we have our expected naval battle at the end...all with O'Brian's wonderful writing.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

This book puts the American reader in the curious place of rooting for the English against the Americans! Lucky Jack Aubrey is beset with bad luck and the book has a curious sense of depression. Stephen is at the forefront with intelligence intrigues. One of the passages of the book that made the most impression was when Jack is cast adrift after the burning of their ship. The small group of men circle nearer and nearer to death, only holding on out of faith in Jack. He has a full measure of faults and follies, but there is something magnificent about him in his strength. And Stephen manages to surprise yet again (one mustn't underestimate him!)

[elenchus_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In which Aubrey and Maturin sail home from the East Indian Ocean with the packet La Fleche, having left the Leopard as unsuitable for any service except cargo after its dramatic passage in the South 40s. Their return is interrupted by a fatal ship fire, and eventually they find themselves in Java just in time for its historic and losing battle with the USS Constitution. Ashore in Boston, Aubrey is hospitalized for wounds sustained in the latter action (only just having recovered from his exploits in Leopard), while Maturin ratchets up the intelligence pressures with the French, very much active in the U.S. with the outbreak of hostilities between the Americans and British. The key question: whether Aubrey & Maturin can return home before either politics, espionage, or a side plot involving Diane Villiers and her American husband forfeit their lives. //Jack interrogated by the Americans, led by Johnson, who mistake him as the source of Stephen's misinformation campaign through Louisa Wogan. Stephen and other officers also prisoners of war but at large awaiting the standard prisoner exchange with British authorities at Halifax. Stephen's spy business with Poncet-Canet & Duebreuill gets nasty, including assassination and carriage chases. What was hinted at in Desolation Island is fleshed out, and Stephen's activities come to the fore. The first but not last instance of Stephen proposing to Diane, both out of personal affection and a desire to deliver her from her private entanglements. That these two separate reasons are entwined will prove a source of near constant difficulty: Stephen does not feel he is Diane's equal, and unintentionally snubs her by over-emphasising the practical side of marriage. A subtle twist on the classic battle between the sexes.Jack and Stephen in three separate ships this installment, though the tale this time gives strongest impression of days between stations, so strongly is it linked to the immediately preceding story and left almost hanging at the end, awaiting the next. Not to mention all the time ashore. (Apart from Leopard, they are aboard La Fleche, Java, and ultimately Shannon in its dramatic encounter with USS Chesapeake.)

[eilonwy_anne · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another excellent installment in the chronicles of Aubrey and Maturin; unusual among those books for its lack of any command for Aubrey. The naval battles witnessed by the characters are strictly rendered historical battles, and thus cannot fall under Aubrey's fictional command.More of this volume concerns social and intelligence matters than the purely naval, and it's often quite exciting in the spy line.

[kslade-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Another great novel in this series. These are really fun to read and teach a lot about English ships during the Napoleonic era. I have read about half of the twenty novel series now. Some are better than others.

[darthdeverell · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

The Fortune of War , Patrick O'Brian's sixth book in his Aubrey-Maturin series, picks up shortly after where Desolation Island left off, with Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin aboard the Leopard as the badly damaged ship limps into port at Pulo Batang.From there, Aubrey, Matuin, and some of their shipmates board the La Flèche to return to England. Along the way, La Flèche burns and all hands abandon ship, with the HMS Java later rescuing Aubrey and Maturin. This rescue enables O’Brian to dramatize the United States’ entry into the war and the subsequent battle between Java and the USS Constitution, in which the Constitution emerged victorious. From there, Aubrey and Maturin find themselves prisoners of war in Boston, where O’Brian examines the political climate in America around the War of 1812. The American and French authorities suspect Aubrey and Maturin of espionage, necessitating their quick escape aboard the HMS Shannon and its eventual battle with the USS Chesapeake.Like his previous novels, O’Brian perfectly recreates the world of the Napoleonic War in 1812, even discussing the political debates in the United States over the wisdom of the war. Further, he masterfully recreates the curious relationships between sailors after an engagement, focusing on the little civilities. As one character says, “We are all subject to the fortune of war” (pg. 122). For those who delight in O’Brian’s turns of phrase, the weevil pun made famous in Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World first appears in this novel (pg. 43). This Folio Society edition reprints the original text with insets containing historical portraits and sketches to illustrate some of the scenes. A great contribution to the Aubrey-Maturin series and the last to follow a strict chronology as the next dozen books take place between the beginning of June 1813 and November 1813.

[oparaxenos · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This was another good book in the Aubrey-Maturin series. I never get tired of the quality of the author's writing, or with the tales of derring-do.

[viking2917_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

As always, a great sea-tale from O'Brien. This time, off to America. Funnier than most all the other books in the series. Intrigues with the French, the Americans, and some time spent in Boston.

[rameau_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This used to be my favourite of the series, but now that position is taken by Destination Island. It's still pretty good, but a lot of it is Aubrey and Maturin waiting for things to happen.

[mazeway · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Ah, delightful. A breath of fresh air after the grim Desolation Island. I really enjoyed Aubrey and Maturin on land for a change. But I'm glad to get them back out to sea. And, it has my favorite line of the series so far: "Wallace! How is your penis?"

[mohi_11 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Aubrey fights in the war of 1812. Captured by the Americans, Aubrey does his best to escape while Maturin finds love and intrigue as he reunites with Diana and fights off French spies. Excellent read.

[pilgrimjess · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

The Fortune of War is the sixth book in the series and with the exception of a few pages at the beginning of it Jack doesn't command a ship. Similarly unlike most if not all of the previous books the voyage doesn't start from England. Instead it virtually starts straight where Desolation Island (the preceding novel)ended and just before war has broken out between Britain and America.The book features a wrecked ship, two naval battles,one successful, one not (as far as Jack ad Stephen are concerned, a long distance open boat voyage with thirst and a touch of cannibalism thrown in, a little spying and a daring escape. Perhaps it's the fact that with Jack not in command meaning that Stephen is more to the fore or maybe because America are the enemies rather than the French or the Spanish but whatever it is, it has a very different feel from the previous novels. It appears like a different kind of war in any case.Not only does the timeline follow straight on from Desolation Island but also (for want of a better word) the villain of that particular book, Louisa Wogan, makes a reappearance. Therefore this probably wouldn't be a good place to start the series or to try as a taster. But for those who are working their way through the series it is interesting to see the results of the poisoned intelligence that Stephen fed Wogan and the deep water it lands him and Jack in as a consequence.I must admit that there are some interesting elements to this book, some terrific writing and I rather liked the fact that it breaks from the pattern of the earlier books but it also felt like the sea that our heroes are sailing on, it had some peaks and troughs.

[lucybrown_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

With an American setting, Boston, and the multi-national intrigues at the height of the War of 1812 give Aubrey and Maturin new challenges, and fun

[wktarin · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

One of the more uneven additions to the series: alternates between long stretches of doldrums, when Jack and Stephen are confined to land as American prisoners of war, and all-out squalls, featuring some of the best battle scenes in the series.

[othemts · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Patrick O'Brian wrote 21 books of naval adventure set in the early 1800's featuring the rough but amiable Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend the ship's surgeon and spy Stephen Maturin. I like to think of these books as Jane Austen for men. I read the first five books back in 2003 and enjoyed them well enough but found them difficult to read since I kept stumbling over terms like "fo'c'sle." Now I've discovered that the BPL has the Aubrey Maturin series available for free download as audiobooks so I can blissfully listen to the books, naval vocabulary and all.Our heroes Aubrey & Maturin find themselves passengers on other British ships for most of this book. The first ship burns and sinks, the second ship is captured in battle with the USS Constitution, and the third... Well, I won't give away the ending but it has better fortune than the first two ships. The main part of the book is set in Boston where Jack & Stephen are held as prisoners of war during the War of 1812 and Stephen finds himself in the midst of covert spy activity with the French who are also in town. There are a number of humorous moments (including a Bostonian who allows the proper English is spoken in Boston even as far west as Watertown) and some crisp, detailed ship-to-ship battle scenes.I don't know if it's the audiobook or that the book is set in Boston, but I like this book better than any of the others in the series so far. I look forward to listening to further installments.

[malcrf · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Just excellent, I can't fault it. Great storyline, evocative, but efficient prose, fully fleshed out characters, more plot twists than you get in many books of twice the length.

[booksfordinner · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

My goodness this was good. I only read one of these a year cause I buy the Folio Society versions and they can get pricey, but I want to read more of them!!!*****SPOILER*****The sequence when Maturin is dooged by the french is some of his best writing. When Maturin ultimately kills the frenchmen in Diana's hotel room is truly alarming.

[bragan_8 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is book six in Patrick O'Brian's series of sea stories featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and his best buddy/ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. And it's definitely one of my favorite of the series so far. It starts out with some fun character moments and appealing bits of humor that I really enjoyed. Admittedly, nothing will ever be quite as entertaining as the sloth in H.M.S. Surprise, but the wombats in this one are pretty fun, too.Soon enough, however, we get some dramatic reversals of fortune, followed by the first sea battle in any of these books that I actually had no trouble following at all. I don't know if O'Brian started writing them any differently, or if I'm just getting better at understanding them, or what. But I actually found this one genuinely exciting, and had lots of appropriate emotional reactions at appropriate moments. (Well, appropriate from one point of view, anyway. They're fighting the Americans, having by this point reached the War of 1812, and as an American myself, I sometimes found myself with the strange feeling that I was rooting for the wrong side.)Things do get considerably slower after that, with Jack sidelined and Stephen dealing with spy stuff that drags on a little in places, but there are some good moments of action, as well as some good character stuff for Stephen, who is always most interesting when he's suffering, poor thing.I've been making my way through this series very, very slowly, but if they continue to be this enjoyable, I really must make a point of prioritizing them a little more.