On Stranger Tides

On Stranger Tides

1987 • 339 pages

Ratings16

Average rating3.8

15

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.

December 30, 2014Report this review