I mentioned last week that I was reading The Great Passage by Shion Miura (translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter) which I finished this week. It was touch and go. I finished it on Friday night thinking that book club was on Saturday, which it was, but then it was postponed to next week. That, of course, means that I finished a week early.
I started reading Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown, which is the next Cook the Books selection. I have read a few chapters and so far it is a lot of fun. I think I am going to enjoy it.
I also started reading another book yesterday, just because I could. Bree from All The Books I Can Read is a big fan of Karen Swan and has read many of her books. I have tried reading this author before but I really didn't enjoy it. However, I generally trust Bree's taste in books so I thought I would try another one. And this one, The Christmas Secret, has grabbed my attention from the first chapter. In fact, it is calling my name right now.
I'm watching...
Nothing really
Life
We went to get our second vaccination today so whilst there hasn't been a lot of activity this weekend, things are definitely heating up on the social life front.
The Time : The Golden Age of Piracy - 1716. The Place : The Pirate Round - from the South African Coast to the sun drenched Islands of the Caribbean. Escaping the bullying of his elder half brother, from the age of fifteen Jesamiah Acorne has been a pirate with only two loves - his ship and his freedom. But his life is to change when he and his crewmates unsuccessfully attack a merchant ship off the coast of South Africa. He is to meet Tiola Oldstagh an insignificant girl, or so he assumes - until she rescues him from a vicious attack, and almost certain death, by pirate hunters. And then he discovers what she reallyis; a healer, a midwife - and a white witch. Her name, an anagram of "all that is good." Tiola and Jesamiah become lovers, but the wealthy Stefan van Overstratten, a Cape Town Dutchman, also wants Tiola as his wife and Jesamiah's jealous brother, Phillipe Mereno, is determined to seek revenge for resentments of the past, a stolen ship and the insult of being cuckolded in his own home. When the call of the sea and an opportunity to commandeer a beautiful ship - the Sea Witch - is put in Jesamiah's path he must make a choice between his life as a pirate or his love for Tiola. He wants both, but Mereno and van Overstratten want him dead. In trouble, imprisoned in the darkness and stench that is the lowest part of his brother's ship, can Tiola with her gift of Craft, and the aid of his loyal crew, save him? Using all her skills Tiola must conjure up a wind to rescue her lover, but first she must brave the darkness of the ocean depths and confront the supernatural being, Tethys, the Spirit of the Sea, an elemental who will stop at nothing to claim Jesamiah Acorne's soul and bones as a trophy.
The Golden Age of Piracy lasted just under 50 years in the late 17th/early 18th century. It is a time that is hard for a modern reader to imagine - the news is months old when you first hear it, if you leave your home country there is every likelihood that you will never see it again, no mobile phones, electricity etc. Luckily, the modern reader can immerse themselves in the imagined world of books to get just a small taste of what life might have been like three hundred years ago.
Captain Jesamiah Acorne started life in a semi-respectable family - his father was a plantation owner in the Carolinas - but when his parents die, he is forced to flee from the sadistic older brother who has hated Jesamiah from the first time he saw him as a young child. Luckily for Jesamiah, he has found a natural home on the bridge of a ship, a pirate ship to be more precise. When we first meet Jesamiah, he and his crew are getting ready to board a ship with a view to clearing it of all of its cargo.
Little does he know that on the ship that he is aiming to plunder is Tiola Oldstagh, a young girl with knowledge much older than her true age because she is a white witch. Tiola is heading for a new life in South Africa, escaping from the legacy of a tragic end to her parent's lives. With her skills in midwifery and medicine, Tiola is bound to find a welcome awaiting her in her new home, accompanied by her companion Jenna. What Tiola knows for sure is that her destiny is bound tightly to that of Jesamiah Acorne even though he has no clue who she is, or even that she exists at their first meeting.
Click on the image to visit more stops on the tour
There are several factors that good pirate stories need - adventure, danger, lots of rum - and this book has it in spades. This book is a heady mix of history, adventure, romance and fantasy.
It is however not all plain sailing. Where the book was strongest was in the imagining of the pirate life. Jesamiah is no Captain Jack Sparrow blithely careening from disaster to disaster and still managing to remain unharmed. Jesamiah faces very real consequences for is actions - injuries, arrest and more. I also enjoyed the flavour of the towns that are visited throughout the course of the book. Places like Nassau and Cape Town and the coast of Madagascar. I also enjoyed a cameo appearance by William Dampier - a man who spent some time exploring the Australian coastline before the continent was properly claimed as an English possessoin.
What didn't work so well for me were the mystical elements - the craft that Tiola uses throughout the book, and most particularly the addition of Tethys to the storytelling. She is the sea and she demands payment from those who dare disturb her.
It feels as though I have been reading Helen Hollick's books for a very long time, but a quick look at my handy spreadsheet tells me that I first encountered her books only just over two years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed her Arthurian Pendragon's Banner trilogy and also A Hollow Crown about Emma, queen of England in the time before William Conqueror invaded England. Whilst I liked the characters of Jesamiah and will eventually read more of their adventures, I think I prefer the more straight down the line historical fiction that the author does so well.
There are two more books already published in this series, Bring it Close and Pirate Code, and another book on the way soon called Ripples in the Sand.
This review is being cross posted at Historical Tapestry today and tomorrow we have a guest post from Helen as well as the chance to win a copy of a book from this series. Here at my blog though, I thought I might have a little fun with the pirate theme!
The most famous fiction pirate around at the moment would have to be Captain Jack Sparrow - a character who provided inspiration to the author.
An earlier film, Captain Blood, featured Errol Flynn buckling his swash
but I thought I might take you back to the early 80s to a simpler time when Christopher Atkins was a teen heart throb and to a movie that is so bad it is good! There are much better songs from The Pirate Movie, but this one showcases the pirates in all their...erm....glory.
One Saturday morning I stumbled across this being showed on one of the movie channels here and I watched it. I suddenly realised that not only does the movie star quite a few Australian actors, but also parts of it were filmed in the stately home that is about 10 minutes away from where I live!
So Friday was international Talk Like A Pirate day! Before you can be a pirate though, you need to get your pirate name:
My pirate name is:
Mad Dog Bonney
Part crazy, part mangy, all rabid, you're the pirate all the others fear might just snap soon. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!
Of course, talking about pirates I could link up to pictures of Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom, but if you have had small kids any time in the last 10 or so years, and you have had any exposure to any of the songs by the Wiggles, then you may be just as familiar with this pirate ... Captain Feathersword!
My favourite line in this song? Watch him dance in his pirate pants!
On a calm moonlit night, as the scent of jasmine and pine embraced the island of Ascension, the pirate prince Lazar di Fiori returns with lethal grace to avenge what was stolen from him: his kingdom, his birthright, his soul. . . .
Allegra Monteverdi, the daughter of Lazar's sworn enemy, proves an uncommonly powerful adversary. She throws herself on his mercy, her courage and beauty touching his cold, unforgiving heart. He agrees to spare the lives of her family--but only if Allegra sails away with him as his captive. For his quest for vengeance still burns fiercely, and he will settle for nothing less than Allegra's body and soul.
Alone at sea with this dark, intriguing man, moving between seduction and fear, Allegra gazes into eyes as deep and mysterious as the night and sees who this pirate really is. Lazar--the prince of her childhood dreams. Though he was rumored to be murdered years ago, she always believed someday he would return. But it will take more than her love for this pirate prince to bring peace to her beloved home. For Lazar must face the demons of his shattered past--if he is to forge the destiny that is theirs to claim. . . .
Not too long ago on someone's blog (and I am thinking it was either on Suisan's or Kristie's but I can't remember for sure!) the call went out for good pirate romances...and this book was mentioned.
If I had the energy I would do the rest of this post in pirate talk....but I'm too tired tonight, and besides our pirate, also known as Prince Lazar di Fiori didn't even have a pet parrot!
Lazar was just a young boy when he escaped from the massacre that killed the rest of his family, who happened to be the King and royal family of Ascension. Now he has returned to his homeland with vengeance on his mind. He is determined to get revenge on the man he blames for his family's destruction, and he has chosen his weapon well - his enemy's daughter Allegra. His plan doesn't quite work, and he ends up having to take her back to his ship as his captive, and as he makes his escape, his life is about to change dramatically.
It takes a while for Allegra to believe that Lazar is who he says he is, but once she does believe, she takes it upon herself to try and convince him that Ascension needs him, and that he will make a great King. She also begins to fall in love with the man that she knows wants to sleep with her, but who really is such a gentleman that he is willing to wait until she is ready to give herself to him! And as the feelings begin to grow between them, so does the despair, because if Lazar goes back to Ascension and claims his birthright, he can no longer be Allegra's due to a formal engagement that was negotiated many years before when he was still a young boy.
This book really has it all...not only is our hero a pirate, he is also a handsome prince. There are battles of wills between our hero and heroine, sea battles, land battles, daring escapades such as when Lazar has to go back to his nightmarish past to claim his ring so that he will be able prove his identity to the people of Ascension, hot sex and so much more!
If there is any criticism I would say that the ending was a bit rushed, but other than that I really enjoyed it! This was my first read by Gaelen Foley. I have already got the next book in this trilogy out, and I am very much looking forward to reading it. I also have to say that the author's website is really very good. Very easy to use, and lots of interesting titbits to be found there.
Well done darling, well done!! (Sorry, obscure Australian Idol reference there!!).
The second book in the Sea Wolves series and the follow up to Master of Seduction, although it appears that they were published the opposite way around. I don't mind the odd pirate story...can anyone say 'Ahoy there me hearty?
Love on the High Seas
He is the Sea Wolf, a dreaded pirate who stops English navy ships and frees impressed American sailors. Few know Morgan Drake's name, and none guesses at his past. Except, that is, a nosy Savannah reporter named Serenity James. Determined to protect his secrets at any cost, Morgan sets sail for Savannah...and Serenity.
All her life, Serenity has longed for adventure. As a woman, though, she's lucky even to be tolerated in her father's newspaper office. Then she's kidnapped by the bold, sexy pirate whose story fired her imagination, and his embrace Serenity finds adventure beyond her wildest dreams.
SS James is quite an unusual woman. She is pretty independent, works in her father's newspaper, and has published a story about the legendary Sea Wolf. Her ideas about his background have come so close to the truth that Morgan believes that she has managed to life the veil of secrecy around his identity, thereby putting himself and his men in danger. As soon as she sees the Captain she is captivated by his good looks and his charms, but even they can become a bit wearing when you have been kidnapped by his accomplices and forced to spend time on a boat that is seemingly becoming smaller and smaller, with fewer places to hide from the person who you are really attracted to!
The camaraderie between Jake (the hero from Master of Seduction) and Morgan was a highlight of this book, which is a bit unfortunate considering that it is a romance between Serenity and Morgan, but a lot of the other relationships were too....convenient. For example, Serenity becomes instant best friends with a woman who tries to teach her about the art of seduction, even though she spends barely two days with.
This book had mildly amusing moments scattered throughout it, but most of the time it felt like a book of half developed ideas, or maybe it was poorly executed ideas....either way, it fell short of the mark for me. The writing was clunky, almost to the point where to me it felt as though every second sentence might have been taken out, leaving just a semblance of the passage. For example, the battle scene, lasted one page. Now I don't want to read pages and pages of dialogue describing a battle, but at least take us there to see what the characters are seeing, and feel what they are playing.
Both the scenes where Morgan and Serenity finally acted on their attractions, and the final scene were contrived and the final scene in particular felt rushed and unconvincing to me.
