Take a photo of a barcode or cover
winterpirate 's review for:
On Stranger Tides
by Tim Powers
Update: This review probably isn't very helpful if you haven't read the book. Rereading this review after forgetting what the book was about, I don't understand much of it. Oops.
I should start by saying that even though this novel is nearly 26 years old I wouldn't have heard of it had they not based the fourth film in my favourite series, Pirates of the Caribbean, off of it. Having said that, I should say that I didn't find too many similarities between the stories so I am reviewing the book, NOT the movie.
Powers evidently put an awful lot of research into this novel. The nautical terms and historical technicalities all seemed to be in their proper place, with the allowance of the fantasy elements. I feel like this was a good story from the perspective of someone looking into those fantasy elements, but I didn't particularly enjoy it as someone who loves pirate stories. It was almost too romanticized, and too fantasy-oriented for my tastes. Also, I thought it had a weak ending.
I did appreciate Powers' character building skills. Johnathan Chandagnac develops quite creatively into Cook Shandy, and eventually Captain Jack Shandy. I liked the mentioning of “Ann Bonny” though it took me until page 200 before I said “Oh, THAT Anne Bonny!” at the point where Calico Jack was also mentioned. I also liked the reference to Thomas Hobbes, and his writing on Leviathan, when The original take on Blackbeard was also entertaining and his
Overall, four stars for the writing and three for the story.
I should start by saying that even though this novel is nearly 26 years old I wouldn't have heard of it had they not based the fourth film in my favourite series, Pirates of the Caribbean, off of it. Having said that, I should say that I didn't find too many similarities between the stories so I am reviewing the book, NOT the movie.
Powers evidently put an awful lot of research into this novel. The nautical terms and historical technicalities all seemed to be in their proper place, with the allowance of the fantasy elements. I feel like this was a good story from the perspective of someone looking into those fantasy elements, but I didn't particularly enjoy it as someone who loves pirate stories. It was almost too romanticized, and too fantasy-oriented for my tastes. Also, I thought it had a weak ending.
I did appreciate Powers' character building skills. Johnathan Chandagnac develops quite creatively into Cook Shandy, and eventually Captain Jack Shandy. I liked the mentioning of “Ann Bonny” though it took me until page 200 before I said “Oh, THAT Anne Bonny!” at the point where Calico Jack was also mentioned. I also liked the reference to Thomas Hobbes, and his writing on Leviathan, when
Spoiler
Shandy is trying to sneak past the Navy to Jamaica and refers to himself as the philosopher and Woefully Fat as Leviathan.Spoiler
death and reincarnation were certainly not what I had expected when thinking of Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. I was slightly confused when Hurwood was reincarnated though. I thought Blackbeard was Ulysse, not Benjamin.Overall, four stars for the writing and three for the story.