Pirate Latitudes - BookWyrm

Mass Market Paperback, 448 pages

English language

Published Oct. 19, 2010 by Harper.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-192938-0
OCLC Number:: 666514140

From one of the best-loved authors of all time comes an irresistible adventure of swashbuckling pirates in the New World, a classic story of treasure and betrayal.The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses.In this steamy climate there's a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease—or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.Word in port is that the galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in a nearby harbor. Heavily fortified, the impregnable harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of the Spanish king himself. With …

From one of the best-loved authors of all time comes an irresistible adventure of swashbuckling pirates in the New World, a classic story of treasure and betrayal.The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses.In this steamy climate there's a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease—or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.Word in port is that the galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in a nearby harbor. Heavily fortified, the impregnable harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of the Spanish king himself. With backing from a powerful ally, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy outpost and commandeer El Trinidad, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of island legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he even sets foot on foreign shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure. . . .Pirate Latitudes is Michael Crichton at his best: a rollicking adventure tale pulsing with relentless action, crackling atmosphere, and heart-pounding suspense.

24 editions

mikerickson@bookwyrm.social reviewed Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

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2 stars

Generally I prefer giving smaller and lesser known authors a chance; the big names are doing just fine without my business. But occasionally - and maybe against my better judgment - I'll try my hand at one of those books that just has a giant picture of the author with no text as the entire back cover, as if that's endorsement enough to read it. For my first go-around with Crichton, this was not a great showing.

I thought I liked pirates going into this, but now I'm second guessing myself. Or maybe I just don't like adventure stories as a genre, where the focus is the action and it's just expected that the characters will be functionally the same people at the beginning and the end of the book. Development clearly was not the goal here, but it's also hard to stay engaged when your protagonist is almost …

Generally I prefer giving smaller and lesser known authors a chance; the big names are doing just fine without my business. But occasionally - and maybe against my better judgment - I'll try my hand at one of those books that just has a giant picture of the author with no text as the entire back cover, as if that's endorsement enough to read it. For my first go-around with Crichton, this was not a great showing.

I thought I liked pirates going into this, but now I'm second guessing myself. Or maybe I just don't like adventure stories as a genre, where the focus is the action and it's just expected that the characters will be functionally the same people at the beginning and the end of the book. Development clearly was not the goal here, but it's also hard to stay engaged when your protagonist is almost comically infallible and capable of meeting every challenge without fear of failing. Nothing is ever resolved with a "yes, but..." sort of outcome, it's just a continuous run from one scene into the next for its own sake.

Also, things are played, well, maybe not historically accurate but at least credible for a good chunk of the book until there's a kraken encounter that cannot be explained away as anything other than a giant sea monster. Also, just a piss-poor utilization of most of the female characters in the book, who seem mostly to exist as either prizes to be fought over, sexual distractions for bad guys, or victims of rape. This read like something I thought was first published in the 1950's era of pulp paperbacks, not 2009.

This is not a book that could be written today. Not because it would generate too much controversy, but because audience desires have, thankfully, progressed to want something more substantial than what I got here.

Subjects

Literature & Fiction