Oh, he's great fun -- a total scoundrel but he always comes up smelling like a rose. A friend of mine (history major and fan of the Victorian era) turned me on to the series; it's like a land-based -- and MUCH funnier -- Master and Commander. Amazingly historically accurate, too, even the parts that sound unbelievable: when the first volume came out in 1969, ten of the 34 reviews thought it was a real memoir :)