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Kit has such a lovely character development. He is moral and fair to his bones, but has a very rigid understanding of what is right, and let's just say his pirate crew helps him open his eyes
Its also lovely in how realistic about hiw diverse the pirate crews were, and the various reasons people had for joining piracy. It is honest about how some pirates were real pieces of shit who just wanted to hurt people, but also that some pirates had literally no other choices. Just. That's some great pirate content, yall
The relationship is such a delicious slowburn too!! Wonderful and dynamic, where you rub your hands together and go 'OHOHO' the first moment Kit realizes that maybe, just maybe, he wants to get railed by the hot pirate captain, his old notions of morality be damned. And it made me cry!! Goddamit did it make me cry at one point!!! How were they so soft!!! I love them so much!!!
"Do what you must, my love, and go with my blessing." I CANT DO THIS
Also the secondary cast was so good!!! I esp love the gay married welshmen who basically adopt Kit as their annoyingly moral son, the grumpy ship surgeon, or the really badass and capable black navigator. Theyre such great bunch. Also the villains were real villainous, damn
Fair warning, theres some sexual assault, internalised and external homophobia, and of course a fair amount of descriptions of naval battles and related violence!
He estado dándole vueltas a este review durante un par de semanas. De hecho, lo empecé el mismo día que terminé de leer porque después de administrar el rating de dos míseras estrellitas, me veía en la obligación de decir el porqué y allá fui... sin existo. Porque no es un mal libro, porque no está mal escrito, porque está bien documentado. Porque no se merecía dos estrellas así que subí a tres y dejé el asunto estar. Es un libro al fin y al cabo y un review que nadie leerá, pero ahora (en la ducha donde todos tenemos nuestras mejores y peores ideas) he decidido que debía decir algo, remarcar una cosa que me irrita demasiado como para mantenerme callada: la gente perfecta.
Ah, sí. Las grandes almas de moral intachable y orgullo inquebrantables me irritan.
Digamos, que la persona más perfecta de este libro no es un pirata, maravilloso, pero digamos que se rodea de piratas (todos en contra de su voluntad POR SUPUESTO) que son, en el fondo y no tanto, hombres de gran moral y principios intachables. Ehhhh. Nop. Ya, ya. Todos sabemos que los piratas no eran los "Robin Hoods" de los mares y no eran grandes caballeros que quería el dinero para abrir un hospicio para huerfanos en Nassau. Tampoco eran todos unos sanguinarios buscando matanza, muchos elegían esa vida porque era más libre que la anterior y, probablemente, muchos se arrepentirían, claro. Habría de todo, pero mataban y asaltaban barcos. Fact. Ya, ya... en el libro siguen haciéndolo, pero obviamente Kit (el más perfecto de todos: nuestro protagonista) se opone moralmente porque es obligado a todo esto (SEÑORES) y es, ante todo, un hombre de principios. Muy loable, muy bonito.
No me interesa.
¿Por qué? Bueno, la gente perfecta me irrita. Mucho. Me irrita tanto que no me las creo. Nadie es perfecto, nadie tiene una moral impecable y, de hecho, esa gente que se cree moralmente superior a los demás suelen ser los peores. Ah, sí. Kit no es perfecto porque acaba sucumbiendo a la pasión. MEEEEEEEEEEC. Inténtalo de nuevo. Nop, porque no hace nada malo. Si nos ponemos en la premisa que tirarse a otro hombre es deshonroso, no sé que hacemos aquí así que nope, señor, sigue siendo perfecto hasta el final. Y no me gusta. Y me irrita.
Me gustan los personajes que comenten errores, que tienen un poco de maldad dentro, que son capaces de ser malos por el simple hecho de serlo. Es posible, no os engaño. Me gustan mis personajes un poco cabrones, un poco hechos mierda. Me gustan mis personajes buena gente, pero capaz de pegarle una patada en la boca a quien se lo merezca. Me gusta el gris. Me gusta lo que es verdad y, lamentándolo mucho, aun no he conocido a nadie que sea perfecto y no tengo una tacha en su curriculum vitae. Los habrá, supongo, pero no quiero leer sobre ellos. No quiero a chicos malos PERO QUE (Siempre hay un pero que "pero que no era culpable", "pero que lo hizo por amor", "pero que, al final se descubrió, siempre fue un hombre de gran moral", "lo culparon de la muerte de su mujer y vivía atormentado por ello, pero que al final todo se solucionó y vivieron felices y comieron perdices", etc,). No, no. Si eres un cabrón, vale. Si eres un buenazo, vale. Pero no seas perfecto. No me gusta, no te aceptaré, me aburriré de ti y tu perfección.
Por eso no me gustó el libro, por eso me aburrió el protagonista, por eso le di dos estrellas, pero tuve que cambiarlo porque, vuelvo a decirlo, no está mal escrito, está bien documentado, y, probablemente, sea una lectura maravillosa para el 90% de las personitas que ponen sus manitas en él. No para mi.
Nope.
Lo siento.
Took me so long to finish... it was not a story for me. The sea vocabulary was difficult to understand and the main issue for me was that through 75% of the book I was conflicted regarding MCs' relationship: I was feeling that Kit was demeaning himself with Griffin! The proud, honorable navy man soiled by proximity to murderous pirates... At the end, it gets better but it felt rushed. Overall I was left out of both the general ships story and the relationship building...
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood
Minor: Homophobia
Challenging because of my limited knowledge about ships, pirate world and terms that used were absolutely so new to me that I had to stop and google, then continued reading which ruined my whole experience. Besides, narrator was Penrose, one of the main MCs, who just knew things on page but didn't explain further so I as well, the reader, could understand the point. Sometimes, Penrose was confused and that left me confused. Lol. So, most of the time, I had to read a few pages again and again to ensure I didn't miss the point in previous chapters and things that happened didn't add up immediately only to make sense later, it honestly sucked the whole fun out of it for me.
I was also frustrated that romance (although as sub-plot) between Penrose and Griffin was so underdeveloped for how long the book was. Griffin was way too mysterious for Penrose, hence, to me too. Griffin didn't get a POV, Penrose was struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and refused to act on his desire for a very long time. So, I, for the life of me, could not understand why he chose Griffin
It could be a 'me' problem since lots of people obviously enjoyed this book. Maybe what I need is a beginner friendly pirate story with simple writing. Lol. I don't know. Anyway, unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as expected and it truly bugs me!!! 😩
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Kidnapping
I was worried Kit would be too much of a damsel, and that his self-righteousness would drag on the whole book and become tiresome. To my surprise, neither ended up being a problem at all, and I grew quite fond of him by the end. Same with Griffin - I had some reservations about him in the beginning, but needn't have worried. I love when characters manage to surprise you.
I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy - the “good” pirates are romanticized and the “bad” pirates are vilified. A bit of a conveniently tidy divide, when the reality would have been much more messy, but to its credit, it doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of piracy. I enjoyed it very much.