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Pirate Legend
It's been a while since I last posted anything, I haven't had a lot of free time lately, but what free time I have had I have been using to keep a promise I made last July. Last year I posted about an interview of Mark Keating about his series of historical pirate fiction books set in the Golden Age. I have finally found some time to read the first book titled “The Pirate Devlin”, and this is finally the review I promised in the comments of that article many months ago. Unfortunately those comments didn't survive the site upgrade, but the article and my promise did.
I went into this book not knowing quite what to expect, I have been very disappointed with the recent trend for everything pirate to involve supernatural hokum to try and cover over the fact that pirates weren’t the lovable, happy go lucky clown Jack Sparrow type, but were real men with real strengths and real weaknesses. Most were simply trying to make the best of a bad situation and just trying to survive the circumstances that had been forced upon them, they did what they had to do to survive. The book is set toward the end of the Golden Age, and England has begun the military build up to attempt to rid the Caribbean of pirates. It's obvious to me that Mr. Keating has done a lot of research for this book, both pirate history and naval history, as well as European political history, and he ties it all up nicely and presents it in a very readable and very enjoyable book!
The Pirate Devlin tells the story of Patrick Devlin, born an Irishman, he is sold by his father while he is still a boy and grows up a butchers apprentice and poacher. Mr. Keating has created a very authentic background for Patrick, and he spends much of his life dealing with circumstances that are well beyond his control and is eventually forced into serving as manservant to the captain of an English frigate. It is here that Devlin learns the skill that will save his life and open up the world before him, navigation. Devlin's frigate is taken by surprise by pirates and he is eventually captured and is offered a chance to join with the pirates. During his first action in his new life, the pirates take a small French sloop whose crew holds the secret to a large cache of gold. Devlin finds the map of an island hidden in the boots of one of the Frenchmen and keeps it secret till the time is right.
News travels fast, and the English government, fearing the French money may be used to fund yet another Jacobite plot against the crown, has designs on the treasure as well and dispatches a warship to secure the island and the gold. And of course, the British East India Company have their own plans as well. The captain of the English warship is Devlins old master, and he is hell bent on putting Devlin back in his place. There are plenty of plot twists to follow, and they are written quite well. There is also quite a bit of action both on land and at sea! As with most books, the beginning is a bit slow, but it does pick up rather quickly and I had a tough time putting this book down!
I won't give away anything about the end of this book, but it does set it's self up quite well for a sequel, and there are at least two more books in the series. This is not a perfect book to be sure, it is Mr. Keatings first novel, and at times that does show. There are a couple of parts where the pacing seems a bit off and some of the situations seem a bit forced. The character development, while quite adequate in most cases, doesn't go far enough in others. Taken as a whole though, The Pirate Devlin is a very authentic look at pirate life. It is a good read and well worth picking up, I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
I went into this book not knowing quite what to expect, I have been very disappointed with the recent trend for everything pirate to involve supernatural hokum to try and cover over the fact that pirates weren’t the lovable, happy go lucky clown Jack Sparrow type, but were real men with real strengths and real weaknesses. Most were simply trying to make the best of a bad situation and just trying to survive the circumstances that had been forced upon them, they did what they had to do to survive. The book is set toward the end of the Golden Age, and England has begun the military build up to attempt to rid the Caribbean of pirates. It's obvious to me that Mr. Keating has done a lot of research for this book, both pirate history and naval history, as well as European political history, and he ties it all up nicely and presents it in a very readable and very enjoyable book!
The Pirate Devlin tells the story of Patrick Devlin, born an Irishman, he is sold by his father while he is still a boy and grows up a butchers apprentice and poacher. Mr. Keating has created a very authentic background for Patrick, and he spends much of his life dealing with circumstances that are well beyond his control and is eventually forced into serving as manservant to the captain of an English frigate. It is here that Devlin learns the skill that will save his life and open up the world before him, navigation. Devlin's frigate is taken by surprise by pirates and he is eventually captured and is offered a chance to join with the pirates. During his first action in his new life, the pirates take a small French sloop whose crew holds the secret to a large cache of gold. Devlin finds the map of an island hidden in the boots of one of the Frenchmen and keeps it secret till the time is right.
News travels fast, and the English government, fearing the French money may be used to fund yet another Jacobite plot against the crown, has designs on the treasure as well and dispatches a warship to secure the island and the gold. And of course, the British East India Company have their own plans as well. The captain of the English warship is Devlins old master, and he is hell bent on putting Devlin back in his place. There are plenty of plot twists to follow, and they are written quite well. There is also quite a bit of action both on land and at sea! As with most books, the beginning is a bit slow, but it does pick up rather quickly and I had a tough time putting this book down!
I won't give away anything about the end of this book, but it does set it's self up quite well for a sequel, and there are at least two more books in the series. This is not a perfect book to be sure, it is Mr. Keatings first novel, and at times that does show. There are a couple of parts where the pacing seems a bit off and some of the situations seem a bit forced. The character development, while quite adequate in most cases, doesn't go far enough in others. Taken as a whole though, The Pirate Devlin is a very authentic look at pirate life. It is a good read and well worth picking up, I give it 4 out of 5 stars!
