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misterjay's review against another edition
3.0
Welcome back to Castle Perilous. All, well most, of our favorite characters are back after a twenty year hiatus and up to their old antics. There is inadvertent magic, time travel, zombies, and philosophical musings about love, piracy, and life's purpose.
The Pirates of Perilous strikes a welcome balance between catching the reader up on old friends antics, closing loopholes left from previous volumes, and telling a good adventure story. The format is the same, short chapters built around a given character or small group of characters in a given location, with jump cuts to build suspense.
What's a little bit different here is that at 300 plus pages, there is a full third more novel than in many of the previous volumes. DeChancie uses this space to get inside the characters heads a little bit more and to weave in another sub plot or two. There's also a better sense of continuity in this book; with its references to past adventures and absent characters, it could act as a series closer (and a more satisfying one than Bride of the Castle at that), although I hope it doesn't.
It's a welcome return and one that every fan will enjoy. Whether it will be equally as welcome to reader who comes to Castle Perilous fresh and without having read the earlier works, I can't say. I hope it does. I hope it comes as welcome bit of light reading that garners praise and, more importantly, sales because I want people to love these books as much as I do. Maybe if enough people do, we won't have to wait 20 years for book ten.
The Pirates of Perilous strikes a welcome balance between catching the reader up on old friends antics, closing loopholes left from previous volumes, and telling a good adventure story. The format is the same, short chapters built around a given character or small group of characters in a given location, with jump cuts to build suspense.
What's a little bit different here is that at 300 plus pages, there is a full third more novel than in many of the previous volumes. DeChancie uses this space to get inside the characters heads a little bit more and to weave in another sub plot or two. There's also a better sense of continuity in this book; with its references to past adventures and absent characters, it could act as a series closer (and a more satisfying one than Bride of the Castle at that), although I hope it doesn't.
It's a welcome return and one that every fan will enjoy. Whether it will be equally as welcome to reader who comes to Castle Perilous fresh and without having read the earlier works, I can't say. I hope it does. I hope it comes as welcome bit of light reading that garners praise and, more importantly, sales because I want people to love these books as much as I do. Maybe if enough people do, we won't have to wait 20 years for book ten.
lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The Castle crew have to deal with mysteriously appearing magical powers, disappearing worlds, time travel, two types of zombies, pirates, slavers and more. It was nice to see the gang back together again, although I would have liked more Gene and Snowy interaction. It was nice to see Linda get a romance, as it were, for once. As usual, it is best not to think about the magical explanations too hard. There were nice touches of humor and DeChancie's inventiveness is present, as well. The attitude towards women is still a bit dated and a touch misogynistic, but it is better than in some other books. This is the last book in the Castle Perilous series, and I was a bit sad to finish it. While this is not the best book in the series, it is a solid entry.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Misogyny, Cannibalism, Classism, Slavery, Racism, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Drug use, and Sexism
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