Book #37: Desolation Island *AUDIOBOOK*

I seem to be getting through audiobooks as quick as books at the moment, another audiobook is finished, and I've gone back to the incredible Aubrey & Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. As I've said before, this is a fantastic series of stories, but I'm very glad that I've been doing them as audiobooks rather than actually reading them. They would be a very hard read I imagine.

Desolation Island is the fifth installment in the series, and this may have been my least favourite so far. I just felt like not a huge amount really happened, yet at the same time, a fair amount did!

It starts off with Jack back in his fortunes after the previous book, in charge of the Naval Fencibles, but longing for a command at sea again. Lo-and-behold, a new command becomes available, as he is asked to take command of a ship to South Australia, to rescue the unfortunate Governor, Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. To Jack's dismay, he is also instructed to transport a number of convicts, including an American who is suspected as a Spy.

Mid voyage, the prisoners attack and kill their jailer, and spread a deadly form of Typhus around Jack's crew, causing an unscheduled stop in Brazil for extra medical supplies, but also to leave some of the crew whose ailments are most precarious. This whittles Jack's crew down by a huge amount, placing strain with a large portion of the journey to go.

Whilst in port, they encounter a wounded British vessel, who have encountered a Dutch ship, the 74 Gun Waakzamheid. Jack, being in what is being called an unlucky ship, and only 50 guns, tries his best to avoid the Dutch ship (I'm not writing that name again...) but they encounter each other, and after a game of cat and mouse, which take the ships into the 'roaring fourties', Jack manages to demast the Dutch ship and send her to Davey Jones Locker! Perhaps his boat isn't as cursed as it seems!

That is until the ship does a Titanic, some 100 years before Titanic does a Titanic, and hits an iceberg. Unlike the Titanic, however, the boat doesn't sink. It does lose its rudder, and starts to take on a huge amount of water, which the depleted crew man the pumps to stop the ship from sinking. As the situation becomes more precarious, Jack gives permission for the crew who wish to do so, to take the ship's boats and sail to safety, which another large number do, leaving the already beleaguered crew with even less men than before. Somehow, the crew manage to stop the leak temporarily, and fit a rudimentary steering device to the ship, allowing them to drift to the safety of the Desolation Islands, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where they ground the ship, and repair the hole, however they cannot fully fix the rudder, as they lack the forge and iron mongering tools, having ditched them over the side.

Help arrives in the form of and American Whaler, who whilst tensions run high between the two captains, offer their forge, whilst Stephen and his assistant provide some medical relief. With the ship repaired, the American Whaler departs, taking with them the American Prisoner, and Stepehn's assistant who is also American, as well as some false intelligence which Stephen hopes will get back to the Enemies of England.

The book just stops, just like with Clash of Empires. It's not a bad book per-se, but it's not my favourite of the series so far. I just don't think that a whole lot happens in the grand scheme of things. It could be a set up for the next novel, but right now it just didn't seem to be as great as it could've been.

The characters in the book, are well developed again, Jack being protected by plot armour from a potentially fatal wound, and also from his ship sinking. Without the plot armour, there would be no next book, as both Jack and Stephen would have perished.

Once again, Stephen is my favourite character, feeding false intelligence to the Americans throughout the book in his role as Intelligence Agent, he actually gets to do a lot of medical procedures in this book as well, highlighting his skill as a medic, and also as a naturalist with his fascination of the animals on Desolation Island.

Again, I enjoyed the book, but not as much as the previous four. it just didn't seem to go anywhere. I'm hoping that the next book will be a bit better.

Desolation Island: 2.5cm

Total Read so far: 37 books, 113.5cm

Total left to read: 79.5cm