Aubrey–Maturin series Times" Best Seller list. These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to the English literature canon. The 2003 film "" took material from books in this series, notably "Master and Commander", "HMS Surprise", "The Letter of Marque", "The Fortune of War", and particularly "The Far Side of the World". Russell Crowe played the role of Jack Aubrey, and Paul Bettany that of Stephen Maturin. Patrick O'Brian's "The Golden Ocean" (1956) and "The Unknown Shore" (1959) both depict fictional pairs of young men, loosely
The Far Side of the World wars in sequence, as the first six novels did. Patrick Reardon, writing in the "Chicago Tribune", reviewed this novel and the previous one, "Treason's Harbour", as paired, one two-volume novel. He notes that "O`Brian writes about people, not characters." Though there is action, there are battles, the author gives the reader "the everyday meat of life, about emotions that are deep and complex, and are more important than the plot," and he "writes historical novels without the swashbuckling." The marooned captain of the "Norfolk" reminds Aubrey of the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, in which the British Navy captain acted badly toward a