CAPTAIN BLOOD

9/10<br /><br />Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini is a riveting swashbuckling adventure novel which is very vivid in its depiction of pirates and their life at sea. It is not only a tale of misfortune, betrayal, treachery, and deceit but also of love, courage, allegiance, and friendship. <br /><br />Captain Blood is the protagonist of the novel. He is a great man - a just man, with honor and integrity. Blood was a medical man by vocation who eventually, under desperate circumstances, turned into a pirate - that too a gentleman pirate. Peter Blood was his full name when he used to practice his medical profession. But a misfortune fell upon him one day - he was arrested for treason against King of England. He was tried in the court and was sentenced to 'hang till death'. But Blood's fate was better than this - due to some lucky circumstances he was sent to Barbados as a slave along with hundred rebel convicts. It was here when he met Arabella - his love. But again circumstances takes a swift course and he is forced to escape from Barbados. I don't want to spoil the plot, but it is from here he goes to Tortuga - the safe haven, an island, for the escaped rebel convicts and pirates. And from Tortuga start the the great adventures of the Captain Blood, which in no time makes him the greatest and the most famous Pirate (or rather a gentleman pirate) who has ever sailed the seas.<br /><br /><br /><i>Highly recommended!</i>

<b>Old School</b>, feel good, <b>swashbuckling</b> derring do, performed with <b>style</b> and <b>panache</b>, and featuring a <b>larger-than-lifer</b> whose battle <b>savvy</b> and <b>intrepidity</b> are matched only by his <b>integrity</b>, his keen <b>intellect</b>, and his imperturbable <b>grace</b>. <br><a href="http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s207/sullypython/?action=view&amp;current=Errol_Flynn_007_Captain_Blood.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380366174i/718391.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>Captain Peter Blood</b>...is the <b>MAN</b>...and the myth, and the legend, and the whole kit and caboodle, and he deserves VIP seating within the <b>inner sanctum</b> of literature’s most <b>memorable heroic characters</b>.<br><br>No wonder Errol Flynn became a star playing this singular figure. <br><a href="http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s207/sullypython/Classics/?action=view&amp;current=captain20blood20errol20flynn20dvd20PDVD_006-01-1-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380366174i/718392.jpg" alt="Photobucket" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br>He’s everything the hero should be, and this novel is adventure as it was born to be done. <br><br>If you haven’t read this, do so. <br><br>If you have read this, may I suggest a re-read along while listening to the superb narration of Simon Vance, who performs the audio version to perfection. <br><br><b><u>PLOT SUMMARY</u>:</b><br><br>Set in the 17th century, during the reign of James II, Peter Blood, Irish physician and former solider, is wrongfully convicted of treason for providing medical attention to a rebel combatant. Kangaroo courted and sold into slavery, Blood quickly finds himself in Barbados as the property of the malicious Colonel Bishop. From there follows hardships...injustices...anger...seeds of romance...escapes...piracy...battles and strategy and tactics...blossoming romance...betrayals...booty...revenge...more battles...friendship...courage...more battles and more betrayals...a reckoning...and a final comeuppance that will have you whooping and fist pumping. <br><br><b><u>THOUGHTS</u>:</b><br><br>I loved it and sprained my jaw from excess grinning at the pure joy wafting off the pages. <br><br>The writing is polished and absorbing and very clever. Foregoing any hint of pretension or the use of overly ornate language, Sabatini simply goes about telling his story, and he tells it with skill, with wit, and with an eloquence at which you can not help but be impressed. <br><br>The man’s storytelling is fluid and flawless. <br><br>In addition, the story itself is so wonderfully deployed. The plotting is intricate and nuanced, yet remains inclusive and engaging throughout. True, Sabatini’s characters are somewhat married to their roles of white hats and black hats, but this is hardly a cause for criticism in this kind of tale, and even in this regard, there are moments of shading where splotches of gray appear. <br><br>And, of course, there is Captain Peter Blood. An attention-captivating, envy-inducing, singular aggregation of that which is cool. Sabatini never angers or disappoints the reader with Blood's decisions or actions. Blood never plays the patsy simply because he’s the “good guy,” he never makes you question his honor, he never makes you feel a twinge of uncertainty at the rightness of his cause. <br><br>He is the consummate hero. <br><br>4.5 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!<br><br>P.S. A big thank you to Richard for insisting that I read this, and hammering the order home by rudely sending me a copy. Well played, sir, you win this round.

Blood! Blood ! Blood! Captain Blood the fiercest pirate since Blackbeard (But Blackbeard was real and Bl... never mind) . After helping a wounded rebel in England in 1685, a bad decision always when on the losing side, however the future buccaneer was a dedicated medical practitioner, he will learn. Physician Peter Blood, an Irishman narrowly escapes hanging, when captured, treated very harshly though . Eventually sent to the British West Indies instead, as a slave on the island of Barbados dead men can't make money for the Crown. Peter was spotted by Arabella, the exquisite niece of the sugar plantation owner Colonel Bishop, who bought him and the games begin. Not liking the work he leaves without permission , not a grateful man with a group of friends, I must admit no gentlemen in the whole set. Before you know it Blood becomes a pirate of the Caribbean, the legendary sea thieves celebrated by some nations and despised by others. All depended on the flags of the ships attacked, no Spanish vessel is safe from these bands of marauders . Making their base in Tortuga a French island off the coast of Haiti and protected by them, for a share of the plunder . The Frenchmen look the other way, quite lucrative bargain indeed for a few killings. High adventures on the Caribbean waters follows as the ambitious captain, modeled after the notorious to same and brave, patriotic, noble to others Captain Henry Morgan, like many books about sea raiders. Magnificent scenes of ships battling, the action exciting and the gruesome carnage unending, both on land and sea the conflict brutal under the warm tropical sun<br />until the conclusion. You are there experiencing it, hearing the sounds of cannons roaring the smoke hiding the damage, feel the masts crumbling hitting the decks as the screaming sailors succumb...When his enemy the evil King James the Second is overthrown later, in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 the brilliant Peter, rather good at his new profession can go back home with Arabella, the lady is reluctant and needs a lot of persuasion... if only he can locate the buried treasure. Dig , dig, dig Captain...The Italian Rafael Sabatini was the best writer of pirate tales ever, many authors tried the genre but none could top the gifted man, his great novel a classic in this is proof of that undeniable fact,<br /> he had an unique talent, love of the sea and fun doing them, it showed.

<b>”On the crest of the dunes behind them, in sharp silhouette against the deep cobalt of the sky, they beheld a tall, lean figure scrupulously dressed in black with silver lace, a crimson plume curled about the broad brim of his hat affording the only touch of colour. Under that hat was the tawny face of Captain Blood.”</b><br><br><a href="https://photobucket.com/u/jkeeten/p/9c62d1ce-9db2-4903-85d7-82773d6b415b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1604068173i/30310154.jpg" alt="Captain_Blood" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><b>Errol Flynn plays Captain Blood in the 1935 movie version of this book.</b><br><br>Doctor Peter Blood has settled down in Bridgewater to a quiet life of contemplation while tending to his geraniums when he is summoned to help the wounded rebels who have been fighting against the forces of James II. This conflict is called The Glorious Revolution of 1688, which might indicate to you who eventually wins. Peter Blood can’t care one whit about this civil war. He has had his fill of war when he served in France and would find war a frivolous pursuit if it weren’t so deadly. <br><br>While helping the rebel wounded, he is captured. Though Blood makes the case that he takes the Hippocratic Oath very seriously, the judge finds that by providing aid and comfort to the enemy much more seriously. He is sentenced to hang. His sentence, along with his fellow “conspirators,” is commuted to transportation to the crown’s plantations in the Caribbean. This isn’t leniency, but purely for financial gain. Why waste so much free labor at the end of a hangman’s rope? <br><br>Once in Barbados, Blood proves his worth as a doctor, which gives him more freedom of motion than his fellow slaves. The overseer's daughter, Arabella Bishop, learns of his plight and develops sympathetic feelings towards Blood. He and some of his friends escape the island and fall in with pirates. Blood is an intelligent man, and it doesn’t take long for his pirate brethren to discover his value as a tactician and learn to respect his courage. He is soon elevated to the captaincy, and thus begins the bloody reign of Captain Blood, held only in check by his own adherence to a conscience. <br><br>There are battles in this book described so vividly by Rafael Sabatini that they give me chills, but the moment where I felt that thrill in my stomach that sent a harpoon from my current self back to my ten year old reading self was this one. <br><br><i>”Levasseur, his hand on his sword, his face a white mask of rage, was confronting Captain Blood to hinder his departure. <br><br>‘You do not take her while I live!’ he cried.<br><br>‘Then I’ll take her when you’re dead,’ said Captain Blood, and his own blade flashed in the sunlight.”</i><br><br>Isn’t Levasseur a great name? There is also Cahusac, Hagthorpe, Wolverstone, Pitt, and one of Blood’s most ruthless enemies, Don Miguel de Espinosa. I love this line to describe Wolverstone: <i>”There was a great historian lost in Wolverstone. He had the right imagination that knows just how far it is safe to stray from the truth and just how far to colour it so as to change its shape for his own purposes.”</i> Wolverstone is a storyteller, and Sabatini with that line also alludes to one of his own best qualities as a writer. He knows how to tell a story. <br><br>There is this great conversation at the beginning of the book <i>The Club Dumas</i> when two booksellers are discussing their favorite Sabatini book, and Lucas Corso declares his preference for <i>Captain Blood</i>. These are seemingly throwaway pieces of dialogue that probably don’t resonate with most readers, but it is the author speaking to a certain type of reader. Perez-Reverte is reassuring me that I am going to enjoy this book. The movie <i>Ninth Gate</i> is based on that book. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, you really should. <br><br>This book is probably most famous for inspiring the 1935 movie starring Errol Flynn and directed by the <i>Casablanca</i> director, Michael Curtiz. Sabatini helped with the screenplay. I’ve not seen the movie in decades, but now that I’ve read the book, I certainly want to watch it again. <br><br>There is romance in this book as Peter Blood tries to win his way back to respectability so he could dare to hope to one day win the hand of Arabella Bishop. There <i>”’I do not number thieves and pirates among my acquaintance, Captain Blood’, said she.”</i> It’s a dagger through the heart and I want to yell, Should he have stayed a slave? There are so many missed opportunities for them to reconcile as each misinterprets the other’s true intentions. The plot device of win the girl, lose the girl, and hopefully win her back is definitely in play. There are several moments when it feels all is lost, but the hardest moment is when Blood himself begins to believe that he can’t win. We’ve seen him overcome so much that we can’t hardly stand to see him so low. <br><br>I recently read Michael Dirda’s book <i>Browsings,</i> and he reminded me of how much I enjoy reading the books from the age of storytelling that spanned from the late 19th century and into the early 20th century. One of the many books he mentions in <i>Captain Blood</i> (1922), and I’m nearly tearing my hair out at the thought that I’ve never read it. How is this possible? <i>Treasure Island</i>, a book filled with pirates, was the book that made me a lifelong reader. I would have snapped up a copy of this book as a preteen and would have probably read it twice back to back, as I tended to do in those days with a book I really enjoyed. All's right with the world: I’ve finally read <i>Captain Blood,</i> and I fully intend to read other Sabatini books as well. <br><br>So there is some purple prose, with the best example being the use of the word empurpled. I found myself smiling as it continued to show up in the text. Sabatini didn’t have a computer program to tell him how often he used or overused a word. Another is irradiate, which had my modern brain thinking of nuclear exposure, but, of course, in those days the word was used differently. <i>"Sunlight streamed down through stained glass, irradiating the faces of family and friends."</i> I must say, though, that I now have a hankering to use empurpled in something I’m writing. Of course, it is one of those words that gives an editor a chubby as they slash it from your text. The audacity of this Keeten fellow to use a word like that! <br><br>This book stirred up a lot of memories for me of those many wonderful moments in my childhood when a book, like a tornado, swept me up and gave me dreams of an expansive, exciting life. <br><br>If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.jeffreykeeten.com">http://www.jeffreykeeten.com</a><br>I also have a Facebook blogger page at:<a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten">https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten</a> and an Instagram account <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/">https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/</a>

<img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1494621970i/22734824._SX540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I have read this book so long ago that I nearly forgot some events in it and to my joy, I was reminded about this great book while stalking awesome updates of excellent <b>pirate captain Craig</b> and wonderful <b>pirate lady Dawn</b>. Thank you :) This book was a great find after the torture in Black Company and I fell into a nice BR with Craig. What attracted me some years ago and gave me pleasant moments in the reread, is that the story is written in old-fashioned English and the pace of action is just fabulous. Alongside with beautifully written descriptions of people, nature and sea battles, it’s a great read :)<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1494217792ra/22694424.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Characters. Remembering my first read of this book, I know I was stunned a bit as starting the book I imagined that I’ll be thrown into the harsh sea battle times from the very start and instead I found a kind and calm gentleman, smoking a pipe and tending his flowers, who enjoys his life as a simple doc. I know that back then I checked the blurb at the back of the book a couple of times, to see if I’m still to have some piraty read :) But…<br><br><b> <i>'Life can be infernally complex'</i> </b><br><br>17th century, injustice, war, slavery……that are the core factors to make life more complex to anyone. But this calm gentleman gets his share of various adventures, too. Experiencing all the struggle and making his new life aboard his ship, the Arabella, he remains true to himself, especially in doing the right things, protecting the innocent and helping others. Sometimes for too much as <b> <i>'He's chivalrous to the point of idiocy'</i> </b>. That leads me to conclusion that “Captain Blood” is quite a predictable story about a great hero gentleman as justice wins after all. I view it as an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. <br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1494621970ra/22734825.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I’m not a great fan of romance, especially old-fashioned dragging one, so I had a couple eye-rolling moments when reading the passages about the eternal love. This led me to another trouble I found in “Captain Blood”. A strong kick-ass heroine. I admit, Miss A is a strong female, she has great character features indeed, but what annoyed me a bit is that despite playing an important role in the story, she has only a couple of scenes for her personality to bloom. I’d have wanted her to kick some ass, make some plotting with unexpected twists. But I know that this book was written quite a long time ago, when kick ass heroines weren’t very widely incorporated into books :)<br><br>Narrative. Choosing a playdate with Captain Blood you’ll experience grand piracy, scheming, fab sea battles, near misses and some old-fashioned love. There's def a tasty treasure, a gulp of politics and a dash of romance for you in store in this fast-paced fun adventure. Mr. Sabatini really knows how to command words :) <br> <br><b> <i>'An intelligent observation of the facts of human existence will reveal to shallow-minded folk who sneer at the use of coincidence in the arts of fiction and drama that life itself is little more than a series of coincidences. Open the history of the past at whatsoever page you will, and there you shall find coincidence at work bringing about events that the merest chance might have averted. Indeed, coincidence may be defined as the very tool used by Fate to shape the destinies of men and nations.'</i> </b><br><br>To sum up, I can put Rafael Sabatini books with such masters of adventure like Alexandre Dumas and Robert Louis Stevenson. I admit this author present the story in his own, different way but his sea adventures and awesome pirates are definitely worth a playdate.<br><br>P.S. I just loved and laughed hard when I met one character, it was a short acquaintance but really fun one.<br><br><b> <i>'You said you vould show us zome vine dings. Vhere are dese vine dings?'</i> </b><br><br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1494621970i/22734826._SY540_.png" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

Captain Blood, scourge of the high seas!<br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1584418882ra/29116753.gif" width="400" height="303" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Maybe 3.75 stars? This is a tough one for me to rate. <br><br>Peter Blood is an Irish physician living in England in the late 1600s. When the Duke of Monmouth rebels against King James, Blood wants nothing to do with the rebellion, but when he treats some of the rebels for their injuries and is caught by the king's men, he's sentenced to be hanged by the infamous judge, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jeffreys,_1st_Baron_Jeffreys" rel="nofollow noopener">Judge Jeffries</a>. His death sentence is commuted to a sentence of slavery in the sugar cane plantations of the Caribbean. <br><br>Peter Blood is bought at a slave auction by Colonel William Bishop, a truly horrible man whose only good points are that he lets Blood practice medicine rather than slaving in the fields (it makes Bishop more money) ... and that he has a beautiful niece, Arabella. <br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1584419448ra/29116768.gif" width="400" height="280" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Peter Blood and Arabella get to know (and like) each other, but Blood knows that his position as a convict slave makes any relationship hopeless. He and his buddies hatch a plan to escape, but when a Spanish force attacks the town, it might just be Blood's chance for something more exciting and lucrative.<br><br><i>Captain Blood</i> is a fine adventure novel, about a good man turned pirate due to mistreatment by King James, a hanging judge and ruthless slaveholders, but trying to keep his honor as much as possible. Because lurrve (and also because he's simply an honorable man). Lots of sea battles and romantic drama here. It reminded me a lot of <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/136116.The_Scarlet_Pimpernel" title="The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy" rel="noopener">The Scarlet Pimpernel</a>, another old adventure/romance novel, but with more oceans and ships, fewer Frenchmen and guillotines, and rather better writing.<br><br>My big problem with <i>Captain Blood</i> is that there's just so much unexamined racism here. You have to take into account that this was written in 1922, but clearly Sabatini had a lot more problems with white men being enslaved than "negroes" - he never questions the latter at all (though granted, the novel is set in the 1600s), and the black characters are all completely stereotypical, mindless slaves, just background to the main story. It made parts of the novel tough sledding for me. You have to be able to give those parts a pass to really enjoy this novel.<br><br>March 2020 buddy read with the Retro Reads group!<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1581142162ra/28924098.gif" width="300" height="200" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

4.5★<br><br><b>With the world in crisis, this is the sort of escapist reread I needed!</b><br><br><blockquote> <a href="https://imgur.com/RrBbX2y" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1521230785i/25225146.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a> </blockquote><br><br>Unjustly convicted after the Monmouth rebellion for an act of humanity,Dr Peter Blood is transported to the Caribbean &amp; becomes a slave to the cruel Colonel Bishop. The colonel has a lovely niece...<br><br>On about my tenth read I still loved this book, although it doesn't hold up to rereading as well as the author's <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/938105.Scaramouche__Scaramouche___1_" title="Scaramouche (Scaramouche, #1) by Rafael Sabatini" rel="noopener">Scaramouche</a> did. The hero and heroine are both appealing characters <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="eb0ff90d-ec0d-442c-aef6-60ec98e86691" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="eb0ff90d-ec0d-442c-aef6-60ec98e86691"> although man, Blood really needs to let go! One remark by Arabella colours his actions for chapters. And chapters. And...</label> I loved the physical description of Arabella - I could see her in front of me. So far all the Sabatini's I have read have given his heroines very varied descriptions.<br><br>While there are exciting parts where I could scarcely bear to put the book down, there are also parts that drag. Sadly the heroine appears only in Peter's thoughts for large chunks of the book. I knocked half a ★ off my rating, but keep in mind if you are more a reader of the historical than the historical romance genre things that bothered me may not bother you. <br><br><blockquote> <blockquote> <a href="https://imgur.com/59uqgVc" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1547280079i/26905161.png" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a> </blockquote> </blockquote><br><br><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://wordpress.com/view/carolshessonovel.wordpress.com">https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...</a></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]></["br"]>

Many of you who've read some of my reviews know that there is another Sabatini book that is a long time favorite of mine. But while this one isn't my top all time favorite it's still excellent...well, it's Sabatini of course.<br /><br />Rafael Sabatini is one of the great adventure writers of all time (though it's not all he wrote, it's what we're discussing here). While the sea genre and the pirate genre in particular isn't one I routinely seek out there are books of this "type" I like immensely. For instance I'm a huge fan of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books. Here we're discussing Captain Blood, possibly the premier pirate novel. <br /><br />The book was not at the time it was first written Sabatini's most popular though it did ride the success he was currently enjoying (having been popular in Europe for a while and then being "discovered" by Americans). The book is today possibly his best known work largely because of the 1935 Movie staring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland (justly by the way. This is one of those rare occasions when the movie comes close to doing the book justice. The book is better, but the movie is good. It follows the general story only collapsing one main plot point for time.) Today the movie still shows up regularly on Turner Classic Movies and is available to buy.<br /><br />I think it's fair here to say that I can't recommend this book too highly. It's a good story told with a fairly solid historical background. If you've read Sabatini before you'll see some of the plot devices he likes to use, misunderstanding, judgmentalism backfiring...daring do.<br /><br />Really this book has, "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles"...okay no giants per se and no obvious miracles, but there are people murdered by pirates. From the word go when Peter Blood is taken and wrongly condemned to the very final climax of the book it doesn't often slow down to take a breath. You get to know the characters and the book is driven by both them and it's plot. Peter may be a bit of an over achiever in the story...but hey doesn't the world need some over achievers?<br /><br />So grab those flintlocks, strap on your sword, rapier or cutlas and pull on those swash top boots. Time to open this book and be part of high adventure. Enjoy.

This is definitely a book to read if a reader likes pirate/swashbuckling novels. The setting, characters, scenes, and dialogue took me back to the 17th century in a time of political turmoil and wild seas and locales where the wars between countries play out in a very personal matter. And Peter Blood, the main character is one that claims your affection and doesn't let go. I sometimes find reading on the Kindle a chore, but with this story, I got so sucked in, that before I knew it, it was ending. And I had a smile on my face as I read the last sentence.<br /><br />Captain Blood is not a predictable read, at least for me. I literally didn't know what was going to happen from one scene to the next. I loved reading about Peter rely on his wits and face each obstacle with courage and determination, always working towards the end goal, even when it didn't seem in sight. He is a charismatic character who kept me captivated, through his quick thinking, and his powerful manner of expressing himself. Although Captain Blood is a pirate, he is very much a man of honor, for his profession. He is, in my opinion, the preferred antihero. One who doesn't let go of his sense of honor, even if it doesn't necessarily follow the established rules. And because of that, I rooted for him.<br /><br />The one part that didn't sit right with me as I read, was how a distinction was made between Peter Blood and the English captives sold into slavery and the negro slaves. As though they were too good to be slaves when the negroes weren't. I realize that it was the ideas of race at the time, but that doesn't make it right. Slavery to me is wrong, period. It doesn't make it more wrong when the enslaved is a white man versus a black man. I wouldn't presume to call the author a racist. I think he was painting a realistic picture for the times, and I can't fault him for it. I personally find the idea of racial superiority offensive, and it can slap me in the face even in the context of a historical work. Overall it was a pebble in my shoe as I read, but not so much I couldn't read the book. <br /><br />Otherwise, I enjoyed this novel. I've always had a yen for pirate stories, and it's great to go back and read a classic in the genre. Rafael Sabatini is an author who writes this type of story well, so I'll be back to read more of his books.

oh heavens. i dislike admitting that am not 100% cynical about things, that life will all its ignominy and disappointments, vacillations and cupidity has not yet extinguished my ability to dream of freedom and unfettered joy, that there might still be a heart under all this bravado... but there it is, that little squeak that i cannot suppress. oh, captain blood! how you have undone me! <br /><br />captain peter blood is a little wild. he loves the poetry of horace. he's sharp-witted, and impudent; a cunning strategist. he cuts a fine figure in black clothes and flashing eyes. he has the misfortune to lose his liberty for doing the right thing, and his heart to the niece of the reprehensible man ostensibly made his owner, a woman never wooed because she was too companionable and frank with men. he stands by his word and turns himself inside out to protect the men who serve under him and the woman he loves. to satisfy his unattainable lady's ideas of honour, he tries to give up the pirate life that was the only option left him, only to find that men pursuing outwardly honourable professions are in fact privateers in sheep's clothing. he is surrounded by hot-heads, morons, and avaricious s.o.b.s who somehow have the world in the palms of their hands and try as he might, he sees no way to escape his sorry fate. he decides to give up and get really stinking drunk. but then it all changes on a dime, as fate is wont to do, and he gets a chance to turn it all around <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="44925bd2-456a-4e93-b398-d8d462fce683" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="44925bd2-456a-4e93-b398-d8d462fce683"> and he gets his happy ending, and for a moment i forget all the heartbreak and pain and loneliness because my heart is so full for him</label>. and so i squeak. <br /><br />and should you fear that i have become an utterly romantic fool, i proffer this, in quick strokes: this novel is a boisterous tale set in the 17th century concerned with pirates and adventures on the high seas. the book breaks down into three parts -- the creating of a pirate, his success, and then his end. it's dated and contains some vile racial descriptions i could have done without (not from captain blood, thank heavens!) but the book generally reflects the attitude of the time, and while there is prejudice and nationalism rampant on the spanish main, the book doesn't dwell on it, and it is easy enough to acknowledge, disparage, and move on from this into the spirit of the book, and the heart of its protagonist, whose charms it's clear that i for one, could not resist.