I have just read the 18th and 19th of O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series basically back-to-back; it’s with mixed feelings, as I know that all I have left is the final instalment, Blue at the Mizzen, and then I will have finished what has been called one of the greatest story cycles in the English language. I am actually quite jealous of people who have yet to read these books, as they have it all to look forward to!

In The Yellow Admiral, Aubrey and Maturin find themselves, as periodically happens, in a financially parlous situation. Despite this, Jack’s thoughts are turning to the prospects of his promotion to flag rank. His fear is the possibility that he will be ‘yellowed’, that is passed over for promotion to Admiral. His opposition to enclosures in Parliament is not doing any favours to his prospects (though we get some enjoyable insights in to his role as Lord of the Manor), and his deployment on the Brest blockade does not provide him with any opportunities to distinguish himself, especially as the Admiral commanding the squadron has it in for him. By the end of the book, Stephen has a plan to take Jack temporarily out of the Admiralty promotion race, which peace has made even more competitive, with a semi-official mission to assist the independence movement in Chile; en route to Chile, once again aboard his beloved ship Surprise; Jack is intercepted with orders to take command of a squadron in the Mediterranean – Napoleon has escaped from Elba, and war is returning to Europe.

In The Hundred Days, we pick up the story a few weeks later – and a shocking tragedy has happened in the intervening period (which I won’t spoil). With Napoleon back in Paris and fomenting war, the Navy is stretched very thinly and Jack’s priorities in the Med are divided between discouraging French shipping and convoying British trade. Obviously, there is no way O’Brian could inject Aubrey and Maturin directly in to the events of Waterloo – so the plot device he uses to help them contribute to the outcome is an attempt by Arabs sympathetic to Napoleon to intervene and prevent the Russians and Austrians taking action against France. Stephen’s role in secret intelligence comes to the fore in working against this plot by intercepting the gold meant to pay the mercenaries who will carry it out. Towards the end of the book, a favourite character comes to a sad and sudden end, and with the result of Waterloo becoming known, Jack and Stephen resume their Chilean mission.

Neither of these books are truly vintage O’Brian – I enjoyed them both greatly, but they don’t hit the heights of earlier volumes in the series. Perhaps because the author was ‘running out of history’, these later volumes occupy shorter periods of time than earlier books, and some of the anecdotes and diversions feel a bit more blatantly like padding than they have done in the past. The plot of The Hundred Days is also rather more far-fetched than any of the other books that I can think of. That is not to say that all of the traditional ingredients are missing – the prose is as wonderful as ever, and it’s impossible not to care about the characters if you have read this far. I shall approach the final volume with some sadness and trepidation, and I have made a vow to myself not to read the unfinished 21st story.

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