There is nothing like reading a great book for the first time. Master and Commander stunned me the first time I read it. The dialogue was nearly incomprehensible, and O'Brian's own narrative style uniquely obscure. I could not put it down until I figured out what the hell was going on.

Over the course of the series, O'Brian matures as an adventure writer, bringing the action into focus, and as an historical one, clarifying for his readers subtle points of etiquette or obsolete technologies. His mastery, however, is such that any clarifications come within the structure of the narrative and are never digressions; O'Brian is one of the least intrusive of authors. Also, over the course, he acquires the knack of ending his chapters and his books at the precise moment where to say any more would be to say too much. As a result, the stories being told seem to hang unresolved, nearly forcing the reader headlong into the next chapter or book.

I'm looking forward to the movie. Tim Dunlop recommends it.