To my relief, Patrick O’Brian returns to form in The Wine-Dark Sea, which picks up almost immediately after the disappointing The Truelove. Lots of stuff happens, as part of a coherent story; that stuff arising from human action flows from much more natural characterizations; and a long-pending plan is finally carried out. My only quibble is that the last sequence doesn’t fit as smoothly with the plot of the main book, but it does round off a longer arc, so I can see why it’s there.
I find I have fewer and fewer non-spoiler comments to make about these as the series progresses, just because I’m not sure where to draw the line. But this was a good installment in the series, and I think will hold up even after the relief of non-shark-jumping fades.