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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Buen relato si te gustan las historias de aventuras...
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Same feeling as when I finished "Birds of Prey". This is classic summer fare and if that's what you are looking for, jump right in. Simplistic, unrealistiic and absolutely entertaining and what's wrong with pirates, Zanzibar and the African bush? Solid 3 stars and you know what you're getting. Fun !
This one took a few years for me to get to. Mostly because I was a very inexperienced, impatient reader when I started it. But I'm glad I stuck with it until the end. I learned a lot about writing descriptions from this book, as well as a glimpse of what sea trade must've been like (in the extreme though) during the time of King William.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This isnt my usual cup of tea but my colleague raved about his books and leant me one, then the library added a whole bunch of the audiobooks so I figured why not.
This is a large book. I spent what felt like an eternity listening, reached a thrilling conclusion and felt satisfied with the plot. I then realised I still had 21 hours to go! There's more plot in this than an entire series of books. It's exhausting.
There's also a lot of very uncomfortable racist and xenophobic characterisation and stereotypes. It's hard to tell if the intent is to portray the era it occurred in or not (I'd like to be generous and say this is the case) but it just felt unpleasant to read. Dorrie's conversion to Islam and character development felt the most honest thing in the book all for him to immediately throw it away as soon as he saw another white face. Urghh.
I can see why people read these 'epics' but I'm happy to leave it at that.
This is a large book. I spent what felt like an eternity listening, reached a thrilling conclusion and felt satisfied with the plot. I then realised I still had 21 hours to go! There's more plot in this than an entire series of books. It's exhausting.
There's also a lot of very uncomfortable racist and xenophobic characterisation and stereotypes. It's hard to tell if the intent is to portray the era it occurred in or not (I'd like to be generous and say this is the case) but it just felt unpleasant to read. Dorrie's conversion to Islam and character development felt the most honest thing in the book all for him to immediately throw it away as soon as he saw another white face. Urghh.
I can see why people read these 'epics' but I'm happy to leave it at that.
I kept waiting to enjoy this book but instead it made me dread my nightly bedtime reading. Yes, plenty happened in the well-paced plot but there was absolutely zero character growth or nuance. The good guys were all very, very good and the bad guys were unredeemably abhorrent. At the exact halfway mark, I realized I did not give a shadow of a damn about any of the characters or their fates. Off to the thrift store this one goes. I will never feel even a tiny urge to continue reading it.
Awesome book that takes place from the 1790s-1830s. A great look at the shipping industry of the time, especially the trading between the English, Dutch, Africans, and Arabics. I really liked how Smith handled the many cultures that intersected at the time, and the story of the Courteney family was totally compelling. Great read.