The Yellow Admiral

Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 18

By: Patrick O'Brian

Narrated by: Patrick Tull

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

While surviving life-threatening adventures at sea, Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin find life on land to be even more perilous. Aubrey has dimmed his prospects of an admiralty by his erratic voting in Parliament. He is on even worse terms with his wife, Sophie, when his mother-in-law ferrets out a trove of old personal letters. Fortunately, Maturin brings news that the Chileans need the two seafaring friends to train their navy.

Fresh, dynamic, and breathtakingly alive, The Yellow Admiral continues O'Brian's reign as king of historical fiction. Narrator Patrick Tull's accents enhance O'Brian's elegant language, eccentric characters, and authentic nineteenth-century atmosphere.

Don't miss the rest of the Aubrey/Maturin series.

©1996 Patrick O'Brian (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC.

Critic reviews

"O'Brian is at the top of his elegant form here." (Publishers Weekly)
"The best historical novels ever written." (The New York Times Book Review)
"They display staggering erudition on almost all aspects of 18th-century life, with impeccable period detail." (Times Literary Supplement)

Another Amazing Book

This is an amazing story in an amazing series! Never thought I'd enjoy anything this much.

Gotta Get 'Em All!

Seriously, I'm loving every one of these. Patrick Tull is the BEST reader for these books.

Great story but.....

The story is fantastic but, the narrator is hard to listen to. Way to up and down and speaks with seemingly a mouthful of food.
Would have finished the story had the story been told by someone with less personal voice add lib.

The End Nears

The war is coming to an end, time is running out and soon Jack will either be yellowed, a great fear of his, or be stuck on the Post-Captain's list until the end of his days. The need to distinguish himself and elevate his position to be able to hoist his flag as an admiral of the fleet is great but despite his desperate efforts he is blocked at every attempt. After months of guarding the English coast and news of the war finally coming to an end he gains an incredible opportunity to distinguish himself over in South America with a classic Maturin mission. However while he is at the very beginning of this mission Napoleon escapes from his imprisonment on the island of Elba and the war is back on.

I absolutely loved being able to listen to this story while at the same time seeing real history unfold and gaining an insight to some of the potential thoughts and emotions people at that time would have had. O'Brian weaves another incredible tale of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr Stephen Maturin and I am so excited to listen to the next book as our favorite characters make the mad dash to the Rock of Gibraltar in an attempt to prevent dangerous French naval action and exercise the opportunity to distinguish themselves.

​A Bit Off Course

​It always takes me a while to get back into Aubrey–Maturin series because there are so many books and after 17 novels, it's a bit hard to keep track. #18, "The Yellow Admiral", went a bit off course. The first half was a tad bit too political and there wasn't enough action in the sea. I did enjoyed the description of the food and Patrick O'Brian's vivid picture of 19th Century.

As for Patrick Tull's vocal skills, I found him to be annoying this time. I've been listening to him well over 200 hours, talking about the Navy, acting out each characters and explaining the settings. I appreciate Recorded Books using the same narrator and keeping the same tone throughout the series though.

Wanders

I have enjoyed every book in this series and looked forward to reading this chapter of the Aubrey/Maturin series. The 18th book in the series finds Jack and Stephen either dealing with politics and relatives on land or a spiteful admiral on blockade duty. Unfortunately, like blockade duty, the book wanders around with no real direction. The detail and insight into the period is up to O’Brian’s usual standard and Patrick Tull’s narration is exceptional as it has been throughout the series. Not a lot of action in this one.

have read and listened over and over

Where does The Yellow Admiral rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

top

Have you listened to any of Patrick Tull’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

yes
its same quality

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

i listen to it at bed time

Any additional comments?

all the books of aubrey/maturin are great. patrick tull bings another great dimension.

All of them are good

Pretty mediocre story line but performed brilliantly. Love the nautical realism but seriously, Jack can't be that incompetent on land! Still, love every book in the series. I just prefer more at sea and less at land.

SUPERB O’Brian

Have done every book to date in sequence and all have been excellent historical novels with great insight into character personalities. Am getting sad that I am nearing the end of the series. Aubrey, Maturin and their creator will live forever!
-RM

Blockades with the Bellona

"Everyone knows that on a large scale democracy is pernicious nonsense - a country or even a county cannot be run by a self-seeking parcel of tub-thumping politicians working on popular emotion, rousing the mob."
- Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral

Many rate this near the bottom of the Aubrey-Maturin series. There isn't anything very exciting happening (a few minor skirmishes, naval politics, domestic politics, etc). The war is winding down, Captain Aubrey finds himself serving under an admiral who doesn't like him and who is in conflict with him in some local politics. It is a bridge novel, in many ways, but even with ALL of that it is still magical in parts.

The relationship between Aubrey and his wife provides some moving prose, and there is a whole section where Aubrey is explaining to Maturin about the politics and economics of the common which was one of the best exegesis on the conflicts surrounding common lands, inclosures, rival interests, etc. Basically, O'Brian is showing off a bit. In the Commons Act of 1876 a mechanism was provided for inclosing common lands and fields. Since this novel takes place around 1814, this was an issue that was relevant to land owners and peasants all across England, and O'Brian gives the issue a weight and (dare I say) a beauty that is impossible to find in an economic history of the issue. I loved this book, and probably gave it an extra star, just for the way O'Brian discussed this issue. It was fascinating without completley hijacking the book. Like many of O'Brian's divergent stories or subjects, they all seem to fit the narrative AND also exist almost distinct from the story too. This way of writing reminds me a bit of Hugo's unabriged Les Misérables, where Hugo would often trail off for 80-120 pages to discuss the battle of Waterloo, or the history of a convent, etc. Obviously, O'Brian's scale is a bit smaller than Hugo, but the effect is very similar.