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The Blurb On The Back:
Nine-year-old James and his sisters come from a family with a proud history of never having done anything exciting or adventurous, much to James’s annoyance.
He longs for adventure but gets more than he bargained for when a ruthless pirate captures his father. James, Elizabeth and Emily find themselves stranded on the enchanted island of Tortuga – where the children of pirates live while their parents are off roaming the high seas.
The siblings must band together with a motley crew of orphan pirates-in-training to plan a dangerous rescue mission that takes them from shark-infested waters to explosive ocean battles to the brink of Davy Jones’s Locker … not to mention a sneaky search for the most legendary pirate treasure of all time.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
S. L. Westgate’s debut historical fantasy novel for children aged 9+ (the first in a trilogy) shows a lot of research on historical pirates, includes a lot of action and has some nice ideas with the magical pirate school but there’s an awful lot going on here and it affects the pacing (which is very uneven in places) while also cramming in a lot of characters (some of whom I lost track of) such that I’m not sure I would rush to read on.
Nine-year-old James and his sisters come from a family with a proud history of never having done anything exciting or adventurous, much to James’s annoyance.
He longs for adventure but gets more than he bargained for when a ruthless pirate captures his father. James, Elizabeth and Emily find themselves stranded on the enchanted island of Tortuga – where the children of pirates live while their parents are off roaming the high seas.
The siblings must band together with a motley crew of orphan pirates-in-training to plan a dangerous rescue mission that takes them from shark-infested waters to explosive ocean battles to the brink of Davy Jones’s Locker … not to mention a sneaky search for the most legendary pirate treasure of all time.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
S. L. Westgate’s debut historical fantasy novel for children aged 9+ (the first in a trilogy) shows a lot of research on historical pirates, includes a lot of action and has some nice ideas with the magical pirate school but there’s an awful lot going on here and it affects the pacing (which is very uneven in places) while also cramming in a lot of characters (some of whom I lost track of) such that I’m not sure I would rush to read on.
