05 January 2008

Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe

Strange (like of all Wolfe's stories, really). It is about a young man who just falls from the near future back into the height of piracy in the Caribbean. In many ways, it's a reaction to all the overly romanticized pirate stories in the world, although there are still a lot of these elements to be found. The main character is an interesting chap... he was brought up really tough in early life (his father was a mafioso) but then sent to a monastery for schooling. So he's humane, but able to make hard calls too. When he finally gives in and becomes a pirate, he still tries to be as good as he can (i.e. preventing loss of life, freeing slaves, protecting prisoners from his crew).

Recommended if you like Wolfe's books (if you don't know, this is probably not the best place to start).

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