Genre: historical fiction; adventure
Plot Summary: The adventures of Captain Blood—gentleman doctor, turned rebel– continue to exasperate fellow pirates and the Spanish Main!
My Book Review: My enjoyable experiences with the first two Captain Blood books (Captain Blood; Captain Blood Returns) led me to the third and final installment of the trilogy by Rafael Sabatini. As it was with #2 in the series, the short story adventures of #3 take place within the time frame of #1.
However, I was a little disappointed in this one. The exploits are still witty and exciting, but I could have done with more sword fighting, battle scenes, and tales of Blood’s comrades. Instead we get much more solo adventures of Peter Blood and how he cleverly navigates the upper hand in various situations such as freeing a slave, seeking revenge, or helping damsels out of their distresses. Books 2 and 3 could have been better if they’d featured Blood’s love interest, Arabella. But they do include other females of both good and ill repute that provide some feminine interest.
One troubling issue was that although enslaved whites in the Caribbean (political prisoners) were viewed as a terrible thing by the Captain, blacks in slavery did not seem to bother him or effect the same kind of sympathy. I would have liked to have seen his abhorrence toward ALL slavery.
The Peter Blood books all contain much swearing, but the author keeps us from hearing the worst of it. The Captain is always chivalrous and considers himself as answering to a higher moral code than most other seafaring rapscallions or government authorities. This particular book contained five or six short stories (lengthy chapters). It was hard to determine which story was my favorite, as each one seemed just as interesting as the last. However, it did become difficult to keep all the different villains straight and I would often forget who characters were from one chapter to the next. I’m sure in a few months, I won’t remember any of it—but the best part of the adventures was the exciting atmosphere itself!
This book will complete your Peter Blood-lust. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t as great as the preceding books.
booklearned 