January 2012, Bloomsbury
224 Pages,Paperback
Review copy
Humour with almost pantomime violence
Summary from Bloomsbury
Just make sure we've got plenty of hams on board. I didn't really enjoy our last adventure much because we ran out of hams about halfway through. And what's my motto? I like ham!
It is 1837, and for the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain and his rag-tag pirate crew, life on the high seas has gotten a little dull. With nothing to do but twiddle their hooks and lounge aimlessly on tropical beaches, the Captain decides it's time they had an adventure.
A surprisingly successful boat raid leads them to the young Charles Darwin, in desperate need of their help. And so the pirates set forth for London in a bid to save the scientist from the evil machinations of a diabolical Bishop. There they encounter grisly murder, vanishing ladies, the Elephant Man - and have an exciting trip to the zoo.
It is 1837, and for the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain and his rag-tag pirate crew, life on the high seas has gotten a little dull. With nothing to do but twiddle their hooks and lounge aimlessly on tropical beaches, the Captain decides it's time they had an adventure.
A surprisingly successful boat raid leads them to the young Charles Darwin, in desperate need of their help. And so the pirates set forth for London in a bid to save the scientist from the evil machinations of a diabolical Bishop. There they encounter grisly murder, vanishing ladies, the Elephant Man - and have an exciting trip to the zoo.
The Mole's Review
This book came as a bit of a surprise to me because the books I normally review for Nayu's Reading Corner are books for the younger reader and this one felt wrong although the title and cover did sort of cover the 'children's' genre. So I checked with the author who said "Adults! But also kids who don't mind plots that don't exactly hang together." Whew! I breathed a sigh of relief. So why did I query?
There is nothing not to like about this book... the characters, the little footnote 'factoids', the maps, the hams.... nothing!
My overall feeling was of Pythonesque humour and when I heard it was to be a film I cast John Cleese as the Pirate Captain, Eric Idle as the pirate with the scarf and Michael Palin as Jennifer and I am convinced it would work. A truly laugh out loud and (more annoyingly) read out loud when others are trying to do something that doesn't involve reading "Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists".
Enjoy this book - I most certainly did!
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