Based on your recommendation and those of others I've just had a look at, I will read these books. As another Tolkein fan. I must point out that comparing Historic Novels with Fantasy Novels is a little unfair. Patric O'Brian had a wealth of documented fact with which to write his novels, Tolkein created his world largely from his imagination, which is an infinitely more complex undertaking[/quote]
No longer content to stay on topic, I will take this opportunity to point out that once you have sampled the PO'B books, you better will understand comparisons between him and Tolkein. For instance, PO'B can write female characters and portray scenes of love in many forms in his books. That alone sets him above Tolkein, in my opinion. As well, I feel that P'OB has a finer sensibility of how to create an epic storyline. Not that all the LOTR stuff wasn't epic, but I always felt the story ending was telegraphed all the way throughout the series. All of the characters' fates are tied inextricably to what happens to the ring, and nothing is resolved until Frodo manages to destroy it. (Spoiler!) On the other hand, although we know how the Napoleonic Wars end up, there's a lot more leeway for unexpected things to happen to the main characters in the Aubrey/Maturin series. In fact, the end of the wars and the flourishes of peace could possibly be the undoing of Jack Aubrey, as all Hell typically breaks loose when he is left to his own devices on land.
As for Tolkein's inspirations, my Tolkein-historian-geek brother-in-law would be better to answer that than me. With the exception of invented languages, Tolkein probably "made up in his head" about as much story content as PO'B, as Tolkein relied on a lot of Nordic and European mythology to base his characters and languages on.
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