Not My Favorite: The Unknown Shore is the story of Tobias and Jack, two unlikely companions who, after enlisting in the royal navy are subject to so many trials and tribulations at the end of the novel I was surprised that they survived with their sanity intact. The novel starts off mildly enough, but after they are castaway, things begin to go rapidly downhill. As if the gruesome descriptions of scurvy were not enough, the reader is treated to watching characters starve to death slowly, under the iron fist of a stupid, and selfish captain.

Frankly, my greatest disappointment was that O'Brian did not show us what happened to the cruel and heavy-handed captain Cheap, who deserved to be eaten by cannibals at the very least.

Good, but not great, and not something I would want to read again.

I've heard people describe The Unknown Shore as a kind of 'practice run' of the whole Aubrey/Maturin relationship from Patrick O'Brian's monster series of Napoleanic War books. This is, indeed, accurate: the Jack and Toby of The Unknown Shore are practically identical to the Jack and Stephen of Master and Commander, except about ten years younger and, of course, swallowed up in an entirely different adventure.

A classic shipwreck adventure, anyway. I have read all the Aubrey/Maturin books, yes, so I am calculated to like this thing, but I have to admit that it's the kind of story that would appeal to a large number of people. More accessible than any Aubrey/Maturin book, because it requires no prior knowledge; packed with various exciting adventures; set in a totally strange location; Mutiny-On-the-Bounty-style capers among the crew (though not nearly as well-developed as in Bounty or in Pitcairn's Island) (and don't worry, I'm not ruining anything for you-- this information is on the back cover). Anyway, can easily be described as 'rollicking'.

As for negatives, I have none. Not as gripping as any Aubrey/Maturin book, but that's because we haven't had time to get to know these characters yet. The reason his other books are so absorbing is that by the time he'd gotten into the Aubrey/Maturin cycle, he'd convinced us to care quite deeply about his two heroes. Here the heroes are a bit sketchier, probably because they're about seventeen. However, still quite good. Would recommend it to kids, too: none of the sex and scandal from the Aubrey/Maturin books shows up here, for some reason. ( )

An interesting aside from the Aubrey Maturin series, this book follows the fortunes of Jack Byron, a midshipman, and his surgeon friend Toby. They seem like models of a younger Aubrey and Maturin. The opening is extremely funny - more humorous then just about any other O'Brian book, getting the boys off land to sea. Once on the sea, they sail the Wager, a lunk of a ship, and are shipwrecked on the west coast of southern Patagonia. The second half of the book is a tale of incredible hardship and the crew fractures into groups and slowly dies off. They are lucky to find natives that will help them out of their dilemma, but at time the natives are almost worse than simply succumbing to death. I can't imagine surviving hardship described by O'Brian. It was a very good read. I'd like to better understand where this comes in O'Brian's ouvre... seems like it could have been a prototype for Aubrey Maturin that he shelved and alter pulled out of retirement. ( )

not A/M but a good working protype - west coast of South America (circa 1750?), a bluff, hearty midshipman and a surgeon’s mate that’s none too seamanlike but very intelligent ( )