On Stranger Tides

🎵 Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. 🎵

I was doing a marathon of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and when I got to On Stranger Tides, I was surprised to learn that it was based on a book--<i>this</i> book.

I actually haven’t heard of this novel, even though it’s a classic and winner of multiple awards. It’s inspired more than Pirates of the Caribbean; the classic point-and-click games from Lucasfilm, Monkey Island, were also inspired by Tim Powers’ fantasy story (according to Wikipedia, at least). After learning about this, I wanted to read it first before watching the movie. I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest. The only thing I knew about the story inside was what the official blurb told me. A complete blind dive into this book.

It was a delight through and through!

I was expecting a fun and solid adventure, and that's what I got! I didn't expect to be so enthralled with the adventure and even with the characters. I mean, some parts even got me a little emotional, and I was so surprised when it happened. It was a case of where I didn't even see it coming. I was listening to the story on the audiobook, nodding along and thinking "yes, this is all quite interesting. This is pretty fun to listen to." I wasn't expecting to get as emotionally invested as I did. Until the very last seconds of the book, I was on the edge of my seat and listening intently, begging and hoping that Jack and Beth would make it out okay.

The story has a great progression; it started as what you'd expect for a typical sea-faring excursion and then ramped it up with fantastical elements. I saw the skeleton pirate on the front of the first edition cover and was intrigued. When the heck does that come into play in this book, which seems like a jaunty old tale of a crew of misfits sailing the seven seas? And then when it did start happening...how exhilarating! The atmosphere, the tension, it all made for excellent listening. This book has all the great aspects of a good adventure story: action, thrills, a helping of magic, and a dash of romance.

I very much respect Powers' prose, too. His imagery was excellent; even listening to it painted such vivid pictures for me. The scene in the jungle...I won't say any more, but one of my favorite parts of the story. Incredibly chilling, creeped me out at certain points.

I have a huge soft spot for anything with a touch of whimsy in it, and On Stranger Tides is no exception. My favorite part is that there are a couple of points in the story that are borderline ridiculous, but because Powers still gives them weight, they don't come off as contrived or something made for simply a throwaway gag. There's a part with some puppet strings and an old magician...once again, I will not spoil it. But if you know, you know. It was equal parts hilarious and exciting.

Overall, the book is the hallmark of a classic adventure. I can see why it's been seen as a significant source of inspiration. "Fun" describes this book perfectly, in my opinion. If I have any complaints, it's that I do wish we learned a bit more about Elizabeth Hurwood, to get the same kind of devotion towards her that Jack does. There are things to admire about her, but in a book where a lot of characters get the chance to open up about their backgrounds, Beth was conspicuously blank to me. Admittedly, there are things in this book that I think haven't aged well. Some of the descriptors of the black characters in the book were a little weird. They're not outwardly malicious, and I would hesitate to say outright racist. With a little acknowledgment and introspection, it doesn't detract too much. Perhaps you could make the argument that because this book is set in the 1700s, it reflects the attitudes of the people during those days. And honestly, none of the black characters from what I remember are outright slaves and tend to be treated as equals to everyone else (if made fun of, but once again, they're not the only ones). One of these black characters I found to be a compelling character in his own right, and for a book set in the 1700s, I think that's neat!

Honestly, my biggest complaint comes from the audiobook reading of it. It was mostly fine, but some of the voices that the narrator did were very grating. Sure, it was immersive, but having to hear a screechy falsetto or hearing him anytime Shanks spoke wasn't a pleasant listening experience.

But a very, very fun book. Now, I'm a little sad. I feel like I made a mistake reading this book before watching the corresponding Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I'm sure I'll like the book much more and the movie much less.

I kind of wish I'd read the research for this book instead of the book itself. All the stuff surrounding the main story is fascinating – voodoo magic and life in the Caribbean towards the end of the Pirate Era – or at least exhaustively well-researched – all the sailing and nautical stuff. And the idea of mashing up magic and pirates is such a great one, obviously, that it inspired games and movies. But the story itself just kind of devolves into genre fiction.

And it's jarring (at least in 2014) to see such a lousy damsel-in-distress role for the only two women characters, even after obvious attempts to turn the women into Strong Female Characters. Plus he has this weird, petty hatred of overweight people – any description of someone weak-willed, corrupt, or foolish invariably mentions how fat he is. Or “mincing,” which is a whole different kind of unfortunate.

With so many really solid images, a fantastic setting, exhaustive research, and interesting details, I just wish the book hadn't been so neatly tied up and so completely predictable.

This was a pretty fun pirate romp that kept me engaged. I listened to this as an audiobook, and highly recommend doing so as the narrator made it all the better. It doesn't have the deepest of plots, and it's obviously far fetched, but it's a pirate book, and a damn good one at that. Highly recommend for pirate fans.