This was Patrick O'Brian's 12th book in the Aubrey/Maturin series.
First off, I enjoyed it. There were still contrived details (i.e., Aubrey just happening to have completed the soundings of some distant harbor while he was blockading it in the distant past) yet overall things fit together.
There is one odd bit about Maturin, though. In the preceding books, he is presented as not having a clew about sails, ships or sailing and yet in this edition, O'Brian has him finding his sea legs (or "sea brain"), at last.
On pages 80-81, he discusses schooners and masts with Martin, apparently being able to identify some boat as a schooner based on its mast arrangement. He goes as far as comparing his skill with identifying birds based on "size, eye-stripe and voice", yet in other books Stephen frequently must correct him in this matter. Has he mastered one term and then allows Martin (who appears to know of these matters if not actually know them) to flounder without the actual answer?
On page 109, he goes as far as venturing to give his opinion of he desired approach to St. Michael's. Does all of this come about due to his ownership of the Surprise?
On page 136, Stephen has supper with Sir Joseph and we are told that when Blaine asked to hear how the Surprise captured her prizes, "Stephen fought the battle over again in the usual naval way, with small pieces of bread on the table-cloth". Yes, it is important to note that Stephen was not stuffed down in the hold awaiting broken bodies and splinters to extract (as he normally would have been found). I simply find it hard to believe that he is lubber (and duffer) in one book and highly nautical in the next.
All of these criticisms are minor overall. The book is soundly written, it has an engaging plot, some old wrongs are righted (with satisfying results) and we get a deeper understanding of Maturin and his love (one of the more cardboard aspects of the book). Of course, if you're this far (over halfway) in the series, you've got too much invested to not keep reading!
I do not yet own the next one (yet), so it may be some time before I am able to write about it.
Aubrey/Maturin