Even at age 83, O’Brian was still creating fresh and rewarding episodes as this, the nineteenth in the Aubrey/Maturin series, makes evident. Here he succeeds in grafting his familiar, ever compelling principal characters to an historical event of tumultuous significance: the final defeat of Napoleon. The result is an entertaining, exciting, and intriguing exercise in “what if” history. Our only concern is now that our heroes have whipped the French, what is O’Brian going to come up with for Jack & Stephen – they’ll only get in trouble if they come to shore.