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by Wayne Thomas Batson Declan Ross is a reluctant pirate captain with a conscience - he loves the freedom of the open sea but has lost interest in the "sweet trade." Now Ross wants only to get his daughter away from the sea before she falls too deeply in love with the idea of being a pirate herself. It may be too late. Anne fumes over her father's reluctance to let her sign on as a full crew member. In the midst of this Anne finds a young castaway with no memories and signs of a vicious beating - then she must deal with her own jealousies as her father seems to welcome the young man almost as a son. Mix in "bad pirates" like bloodthirsty Captain Bartholomew Thorne and his fleet of ships and a mysterious treasure with powerful forces protecting it and the resulting book is exactly the type of fare to delight young men everywhere with the mix of action, humor, adventure, mystery, and moral dilemmas - it's a bit like combining Treasure Island with Pirates of the Caribbean. Even the look of this book is a treat with its moody cover and its gorgeous tinted pages. I found the mood and setting of the book particularly evocative, with wonderful sensory detail slipped in with such a deft hand that they never slow the plot for an instant. Because these are pirates (and some are very nasty pirates) there is considerable violence in the book, and although a bit cringe-worthy at times, none of it feels gratuitous. This book is published with Thomas Nelson, but there is nothing preachy in its approach to the religious elements of the text - the mysterious priest is properly priestly, but most of the inner turmoil is about moral choices, not religious ones. The only weakness I found was in the ending - without giving too much away, I just felt badly the ending that would have most satisfied the character demands was skirted around in order to leave room for a sequel. Still it's an exciting adventure tale for adolescents with a love of pirate adventures and mystery. |
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Isle of Swords