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Start with Master and Commander (1969) and read the Aubrey–Maturin novels in the order Patrick O’Brian published them. There are 20 completed books, plus an unfinished 21st that was printed after his death. The series works like one long novel, so publication order and story order are the same thing, and skipping ahead costs you more than it does in most historical fiction.
Below you will find the full list with years and settings, an explanation of the odd way time behaves in the middle of the series, advice for readers who came in through the 2003 film, and notes on which editions make sense as a gift.
Reading on Kindle? Some titles in long series rotate in and out of Kindle Unlimited. Check the series page on Amazon before you buy each book separately.
The Aubrey–Maturin Books in Order
Titles below are the US editions published by W. W. Norton. Years are first publication. The last column gives the story period where it is well established, or the main theatre of action where the book sits in O’Brian’s stretched “1812” (explained further down).
| # | Title | Year | Period or main theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Master and Commander | 1969 | 1800–1801; Mediterranean, based at Port Mahon, Minorca |
| 2 | Post Captain | 1972 | Peace of Amiens, 1802–1803; England, France, Spain |
| 3 | H.M.S. Surprise | 1973 | Mediterranean, then Brazil and India |
| 4 | The Mauritius Command | 1977 | 1810; Indian Ocean, Mauritius and La Réunion |
| 5 | Desolation Island | 1978 | About 1811; voyage of HMS Leopard into the Southern Ocean |
| 6 | The Fortune of War | 1979 | War of 1812; Dutch East Indies, Atlantic, Boston |
| 7 | The Surgeon's Mate | 1980 | Halifax, the Baltic, Paris |
| 8 | The Ionian Mission | 1981 | Blockade of Toulon; Ionian Sea |
| 9 | Treason's Harbour | 1983 | Malta, the Red Sea, the Adriatic |
| 10 | The Far Side of the World | 1984 | Cape Horn, Galápagos, the Pacific |
| 11 | The Reverse of the Medal | 1986 | West Indies, then London |
| 12 | The Letter of Marque | 1988 | Atlantic, Azores, the Baltic |
| 13 | The Thirteen-Gun Salute | 1989 | Lisbon, then Java and the South China Sea |
| 14 | The Nutmeg of Consolation | 1991 | Dutch East Indies, New South Wales |
| 15 | The Truelove | 1992 | South Pacific (UK title: Clarissa Oakes) |
| 16 | The Wine-Dark Sea | 1993 | South Pacific, Peru, the Andes |
| 17 | The Commodore | 1995 | West Africa, the Irish coast |
| 18 | The Yellow Admiral | 1996 | Blockade of Brest; Napoleon’s abdication and escape from Elba |
| 19 | The Hundred Days | 1998 | 1815; Mediterranean and North Africa |
| 20 | Blue at the Mizzen | 1999 | After Waterloo; Sierra Leone, Brazil, Chile |
| 21 | 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey | 2004 | Unfinished; South America and the South Atlantic |
Readers in other countries will see one title difference. Book 15 appeared in Britain as Clarissa Oakes and in the United States as The Truelove, the name of a ship in the story. It is the same novel, so do not buy both.
Why Publication Order Is the Reading Order
O’Brian wrote the books in sequence and never went back to fill gaps. There are no prequels, no side stories and no spin-offs to slot in. Each novel picks up close to where the previous one stopped, and several end on an open thread that the next book resolves in its first chapters. The Fortune of War and The Surgeon’s Mate run on almost directly. So do The Far Side of the World and The Reverse of the Medal, and the closing run from The Thirteen-Gun Salute through The Wine-Dark Sea is effectively one long voyage split across four volumes.
The bigger reason is the characters. Jack Aubrey’s career, Stephen Maturin’s intelligence work, their marriages and money troubles all develop slowly over thousands of pages. A reader who jumps to a later book will meet ranks, wives, children and grudges with no setup. The individual plots are often less important than this running story of two men and their friendship.
W. W. Norton numbers the US editions in this order, which makes buying them straightforward.
The 1812 Problem: How the Series Stretches Time
The first six books move at a normal historical pace. Master and Commander opens in April 1800, and by The Fortune of War the story has reached the War of 1812. That book closes with the real fight between HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake off Boston on June 1, 1813.
At that rate O’Brian was about to run out of war. Napoleon’s final defeat came in 1815, and he still had many voyages he wanted to write. His solution was to stop the calendar. In his author’s note to The Far Side of the World, he asked readers to accept what he called hypothetical years, “an 1812a as it were or even an 1812b.” From roughly book seven onward, a dozen novels’ worth of voyages to the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Pacific, Australia and Peru all take place in a span that real history allows only a few months for.
Historical events catch up again late in the series. The Yellow Admiral brings in Napoleon’s abdication and his escape from Elba, and The Hundred Days is set during his return in 1815. Blue at the Mizzen follows Waterloo.
For a reader, the practical effect is small. Ages, seasons and dates in the middle books do not add up if you check them against each other, and some readers enjoy keeping track of the contradictions. The internal sequence of events stays consistent, which is another reason to read in order: the timeline only makes sense as a chain of books, not as a set of dated episodes.
Where to Start, and Whether You Can Begin With H.M.S. Surprise
We recommend starting with Master and Commander. It introduces Aubrey and Maturin at their first meeting, at a concert in Port Mahon, and covers Aubrey’s first command, the sloop Sophie. The opening chapters are dense with sailing terms, and O’Brian does not stop to explain them. Our advice is to let the jargon wash past on a first pass. The story is easy to follow even when the rigging is not.
A common question is whether to start with book three, H.M.S. Surprise, since it follows a single long voyage and introduces the frigate used in the film. You can do this. You will lose the first meeting of the two leads, Aubrey’s early career and much of the backstory around Diana Villiers, who matters for the rest of the series. If a reader has bounced off Master and Commander once, trying H.M.S. Surprise and then going back to books one and two is a reasonable fix. For anyone starting fresh, book one is still the better choice.
Readers who arrive from the film sometimes want to begin with The Far Side of the World because of the title. That is book ten, and starting there means missing nine books of history between the two men. Treat the film as an introduction to the world, then go back to the beginning.
The Film vs the Books
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) was directed by Peter Weir, with Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. It borrows its title from two books and its plot mainly from the tenth novel, with scenes and incidents taken from Master and Commander and H.M.S. Surprise.
The main changes are factual and easy to list:
- The film is set in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. The novel takes place during the War of 1812.
- In the book, the Surprise hunts the American frigate USS Norfolk. The film replaces her with a French privateer, the Acheron.
- Maturin’s work as a British intelligence agent, a central thread of the novels, is left out.
- Diana Villiers and Sophie Aubrey do not appear.
The film received ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won two, for cinematography and sound editing. No sequel followed. In 2021, 20th Century Studios announced a prequel based on the first novel, with Patrick Ness writing the script. In October 2024, studio president Steve Asbell said the studio had a script and was still looking for a director. We found no confirmed director, cast or release date in the reports we checked.
Companion Books
Two reference books by Dean King, published by Henry Holt, are aimed squarely at readers of this series.
A Sea of Words is a lexicon of the naval terms, ship types, food, medicine and people that appear in the novels. Its full subtitle calls it a lexicon and companion to the complete seafaring tales of Patrick O’Brian,. The third edition (2000) covers the 20 completed novels. It is the most useful companion for a new reader who wants a quick definition without leaving the story for long.
Harbors and High Seas, written with naval historian John B. Hattendorf, is an atlas with maps drawn for each novel, tracing the voyages and the ports the characters visit. It suits readers of the middle books, where the ships cover most of the globe.
For readers who are curious about the meals, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas, published by Norton, works through the food mentioned in the books.
Buying the Series as a Gift
For someone who has not read O’Brian, the simplest gift is a single copy of Master and Commander. Norton keeps the individual novels in print as trade paperbacks, and they are also sold as ebooks. A first book lets the recipient decide whether the style suits them before committing to twenty volumes.
For someone who already loves the books, or who has read them from the library, a complete set makes more sense. In 2004 Norton published The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels, five hardcover omnibus volumes in a slipcase that contain all 20 finished novels plus the text of the unfinished 21st, close to 7,000 pages in total. Search for it here: Browse box sets and collections on Amazon. Check the listing carefully, since sellers also offer mixed sets of individual paperbacks under similar names.
If you are adding to a partial collection, note the US title of book 15, The Truelove, and remember that 21 is a short, unfinished text that is best kept for last.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Aubrey–Maturin books are there?
Patrick O’Brian completed 20 novels between 1969 and 1999. A 21st, left unfinished when he died in 2000, was published in 2004 as 21 in the US and The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey in the UK.
Is The Truelove the same book as Clarissa Oakes?
Yes. Book 15 was published in Britain as Clarissa Oakes and in the United States as The Truelove. The text is the same novel.
Do I need to read the books in order?
Yes, if you can. Each book continues the story of the last, and the characters’ careers and relationships develop across the whole series. Publication order is the correct order.
Which book is the 2003 film based on?
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World draws its main plot from the tenth novel, The Far Side of the World, with material from Master and Commander and H.M.S. Surprise. It moves the setting to 1805 and makes the enemy ship French rather than American.
What is in the unfinished 21st book?
The US edition, published by Norton, prints the roughly three chapters O’Brian had typed and edited, followed by text from his handwritten manuscript, with a facsimile of the handwritten pages alongside. The story follows Aubrey, now an admiral, in South American waters. It breaks off mid-story.