The Books Insiderindependent audiobook data
Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian

Desolation Island: Audiobook

Book 5 of the Aubrey/Maturin series

According to The Books Insider's catalog data, the Desolation Island audiobook runs 13.1 hours unabridged, narrated by Patrick Tull (about 8.7 hours at 1.5× playback speed).

13.1listening hrs
Historical (Fiction)store shelf
2008released
Free for new listeners

The instrument When will you finish it?

Based on 13.1 hours of listening.

Days to finish Desolation Island at common listening paces
Your paceYou'll finish in
30 min / day27 days
1 hour / day14 days
2 hours / day7 days
1 hour / day at 1.5×9 days

Part of The Audiobook Finish-Time Calculator: the same instrument for any audiobook we measure.

What our data says

  • At 13.1 hours, it runs longer than 77% of the 13,430 Historical (Fiction) audiobooks in our catalog.

Catching up on Aubrey/Maturin

This is book 5. Books 1 to 4 run 66.1 hours before it; books 1 to 21 run 265.7 hours in all.

BookTitleLength
1Master and Commander16.8 hrs
2Post Captain19.5 hrs
3H.M.S. Surprise15.9 hrs
4The Mauritius Command14 hrs
5Desolation Island13.1 hrs
6The Fortune of War13.2 hrs
7The Surgeon's Mate15.1 hrs
8The Ionian Mission15.1 hrs
9Treason's Harbour12.9 hrs
10The Far Side of the World14.6 hrs
11The Reverse of the Medal10.4 hrs
12The Letter of Marque11.6 hrs

About as long, on the Historical (Fiction) shelf

2,417 Historical (Fiction) audiobooks in our catalog run within 10% of this length. The most popular on the store:

Computed from 409,794 English-language unabridged audiobooks in The Books Insider catalog (store data read November 3, 2026). Lengths are the store's own running times. Methodology.

About this listen

Desolation Island is book 5 of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series: a 13.1-hour unabridged recording, read by Patrick Tull, released February 6, 2008, on the Historical (Fiction) shelf.

The listen at a glance

Length
13.1 hrs
Narrated by
Patrick Tull
Released
February 6, 2008
Format
Unabridged audiobook
Language
English
Store shelves
Historical (Fiction)
Series
Aubrey/Maturin #5
ISBN
9781436100366

How to listen to Desolation Island free

New members at audiobooks.com get three free audiobooks with the trial.

Separately, the store's catalog carries more than 10,000 audiobooks that are always free to stream.

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Questions listeners ask

How long is the Desolation Island audiobook?

Desolation Island runs 13.1 hours unabridged. At 1.5× speed that drops to roughly 8.7 hours.

Is the Desolation Island audiobook free?

Yes, for new listeners: the trial starts you with three free audiobooks.

Who narrates Desolation Island?

Desolation Island is narrated by Patrick Tull.

Is Desolation Island worth listening to at 1.5× speed?

At 1.5× you'd finish in about 8.7 hours, saving 4.4 hours.