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jaceyMark Keating: Fight for Freedom
Set in 1717, this is a pirate book, hence I was drawn to it on the shelves in Tesco, not my usual bookstore.
The blurb on the front cover tells me that this is, 'Set to be the Sharpe of the high seas,' but sadly Patrick Devlin is no Richard Sharpe. He lacks the gritty panache and rough-hewn romanticism that characterises Richard Sharpe and despite rising surprisingly (but not entirely credibly) to lead a pirate gang in very short-order, he's just not a scrapper like Sharpe. Sorry, but that blurb does this book no favours at all.
Devlin was born into poverty and sold as a servant. His undoubted intelligence and ability to grab random information and turn it into an on-the-job education of sorts are what set him above most servants, but despite that he doesn't make any effort to leave his master, Coxon, a Royal Navy captain, until Coxon is taken ill and remains behind in Africa while the ship sails to England under the second in command, encountering pirates along the way. Devlin turns pirate when faced with the choice of turning or dying and from there - in next to no time and due to the previous leader being accidentally left behind for dead - ends up as a pirate captain. Until that time, happy or not, he's been content with his lot in life and even seems to have been regarded fondly as a loyal servant. So no firebrand, this Devlin, but an opportunist only.
Sure he has learned (by watching the captain) to navigate, almost a magic art as far as the pirates are concerned, and has some good ideas, but mostly it's chance that gives him his start in the pirating business and other people who save his bacon when things get sticky. He tends to look bright most of the time becauae the pirates are largely drawn as incredibly stupid as well as ill-educated.
Coxon, now fully recovered but embarrassed by the loss of his ship is sent to bring the Pirate Devlin to heel and protect a treasure chest belonging to the East India Company. I had rather expected some swashing and buckling, but what we get instead is a somewhat shifty ruse, a bit of play acting, some stealthy killing, a lot of wondering what to do next and finally an ending which isn't exactly a crackling big finish. Devlin is by no means an Errol Flynn, a Burt Lancaster or even a Johnny Depp. He's certainly not a Sean Bean in pirate garb.
Sorry. I wanted to like this but I had to force myself to keep reading. Disappointing.
Set in 1717, this is a pirate book, hence I was drawn to it on the shelves in Tesco, not my usual bookstore.
The blurb on the front cover tells me that this is, 'Set to be the Sharpe of the high seas,' but sadly Patrick Devlin is no Richard Sharpe. He lacks the gritty panache and rough-hewn romanticism that characterises Richard Sharpe and despite rising surprisingly (but not entirely credibly) to lead a pirate gang in very short-order, he's just not a scrapper like Sharpe. Sorry, but that blurb does this book no favours at all.
Devlin was born into poverty and sold as a servant. His undoubted intelligence and ability to grab random information and turn it into an on-the-job education of sorts are what set him above most servants, but despite that he doesn't make any effort to leave his master, Coxon, a Royal Navy captain, until Coxon is taken ill and remains behind in Africa while the ship sails to England under the second in command, encountering pirates along the way. Devlin turns pirate when faced with the choice of turning or dying and from there - in next to no time and due to the previous leader being accidentally left behind for dead - ends up as a pirate captain. Until that time, happy or not, he's been content with his lot in life and even seems to have been regarded fondly as a loyal servant. So no firebrand, this Devlin, but an opportunist only.
Sure he has learned (by watching the captain) to navigate, almost a magic art as far as the pirates are concerned, and has some good ideas, but mostly it's chance that gives him his start in the pirating business and other people who save his bacon when things get sticky. He tends to look bright most of the time becauae the pirates are largely drawn as incredibly stupid as well as ill-educated.
Coxon, now fully recovered but embarrassed by the loss of his ship is sent to bring the Pirate Devlin to heel and protect a treasure chest belonging to the East India Company. I had rather expected some swashing and buckling, but what we get instead is a somewhat shifty ruse, a bit of play acting, some stealthy killing, a lot of wondering what to do next and finally an ending which isn't exactly a crackling big finish. Devlin is by no means an Errol Flynn, a Burt Lancaster or even a Johnny Depp. He's certainly not a Sean Bean in pirate garb.
Sorry. I wanted to like this but I had to force myself to keep reading. Disappointing.
