Bob

This abridgment is very choppy. It's difficult to track of the characters or follow the flow of action. It's like watching an abridgment of

Jack Aubrey is a more believable character.
Hornblower is a pale foreshadowing of the lusty, commanding, confident commander in Patrick Moore's series.
Hornblower as a Master and Commander is introspective and virginal. He's just not compelling.
Lt. Bush takes the place of Dr. Maturin as Hornblower's foil. He's a more convincing character than Hornblower.
The story itself revolves around the usual naval daring-do. The episode of the capture of the semaphore is an example of the bloodlessness and just too much convenient genius of Hornblower.
I'll probably stay with the series for a while, depending on how tired I get of Hornblower's saccharine personality.

An audio book is the wrong format for this book. It's essentially a list and short bio of various diseases and/or their vectors. An audio presentation is way too linear and cannot be indexed for what you want to see.