Napoleon escaped his exile at Elba and gained a huge army as he marched up from the south coast of France to Paris, unseating Louis XVIII.

Aubrey and his convoy are given the mission to destroy shipyards supporting Napoleon along the Adriatic Coast and to stop that money, if it indeed has been raised, from reaching its destination.

"[2] Many authors write fictional tales set in the dramatic Hundred Days after Napoleon escaped his exile and induced a conclusive end to the long wars, but "O'Brian has added a clever fictional twist" with the plot bringing the reader to North Africa on a hunt for a galley full of small gold ingots to release a large army of mercenaries to increase the odds of Napoleon's large and rapidly re-built army winning.

"[4] The novel's "prose moves between the maritime sublime and the Austenish bon mot, "a man generally disliked is hardly apt to lavish good food and wine on those who despise him, and Ward's dinners were execrable".

"[5] Again, the author's staying power as a writer is commended: "O'Brian continues to unroll a splendid Turkish rug of a saga"[5] A key to the success of the novel is O'Brian's "invention of dual heroes, the bluff and ultracompetent Aubrey being always accompanied by his eccentric ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin", and although the Napoleonic Wars have come to a close, this time for good, the ending of the novel suggests it is not the last adventure for Aubrey and Maturin.

Fitted out, Commodore Aubrey's squadron meets at Gibraltar with Admiral Lord Keith, who updates him on Napoleon's success at Paris and the armies gathered on land.

Jacob rejoins near Porte di Spalato where they meet another French frigate, whose captain, like so many, does not want to declare for Napoleon but fears he will win.

Following up the pressure put on banks not to loan to the small shipyards, they lay out gold to push disgruntled dockworkers to burn new French ships along the coast, which is effective.

Jacob befriends Ahmed Ben Habdal, who reveals that Pasha sent a contrary message to the Sheikh of Azgar, to have the gold carried by a fast-sailing xebec from Arzila, near Tangiers, captained by an Algerian corsair via the Strait of Gibraltar straight to Durazzo.

The galley sees three armed ships, and Murad Reis, her captain, fires on the frigate, destroying one gun, and killing Bonden, the coxswain, as well as Hallam, a midshipman.

Returning victorious to Gibraltar, the Surprise sees the town exploding fireworks, and learns that Napoleon has lost in the Low Countries, fully beaten.

Ali Bey sends word he wants the gold; he is killed and the new Dey, Hassan, admits the xebec fired first, and asks for a loan to consolidate his position in Algiers.

Jack Aubrey's squadron The title refers to the Hundred Days, a period when Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba and temporarily returned to power in France.

Kirkus Reviews finds brilliantly rendered clashes at sea, yet the strong point of the novel is the "utterly convincing evocation of early 19th-century Europe".

"[4] Publishers Weekly notes that "the prose moves between the maritime sublime and the Austenish bon mot, "a man generally disliked is hardly apt to lavish good food and wine on those who despise him, and Ward's dinners were execrable"."

A key to the success of the novel is "his invention of dual heroes, the bluff and ultracompetent Aubrey being always accompanied by his eccentric ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin".

Like the rest of the series, what gives the novel distinction is the "rendering of the internal lives of the characters--his loving and apt portrayal of their rich mix of feelings and experiences".

To the history of Napoleon's victorious return to France, building a huge army in weeks, and a strategy to defeat the allies once joined against him, "O'Brian has added a clever fictional twist.

Aubrey and Maturin set sail for Chile in the Surprise to undermine Spanish colonial rule there, promoting the independence movement, to gain an ally for Britain.

Diana's death leaves Stephen completely shattered, unwilling to eat or speak for long periods of time, but he pulls himself together to foil Napoleon's latest plot.

As part of the last military action in this story, the coxswain for Aubrey, and frequent helper to Maturin, Barret Bonden, is killed instantaneously by the one cannon shot from the xebec.

A measure of goodwill and luck are restored on the ship when Maturin wires the bones together to make a skeletal hand - even more sinister looking, which pleases the crew.