OK, so I broke down and bought all the books in the series after finishing
the two I had on the shelf. The bookstore owner just chuckled, the swab,
when he saw what I had in my hand. Apparently O’Brian fans come into his
store with an addicted gloss to their eyes needing the next fix in the
series. And, boy, can I see why. I thought I’d slowly drift thru the series,
maybe one a month, and take my time. But no, I am actually finding myself
staying up a night to finish one so I can go on to the next. And the
suspense with the whole Diane/Stephen thing is killing me.

Will has reviewed the books three or four times in the last few years and I
suggest you go and read his thoughts.

I can only add that if you are new to the series, muscle your way thru the
first book (Master and Commander) just to get the characters down and then
proceed on. Skip liberally if you need to but still retain the sense of
storyline. O’Brian gets over the need to explain ever jib, spar and sail on
a ship and moves the action along much better after he gets the series
going. Maturin also develops depth as the series progresses and so far as I
can tell, becomes almost more interesting than Jack Aubrey. He certainly is
a good foil to the heavily muscular naval setting in the books.