I was very excited when I heard this book was coming out. I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean films almost as much as the ride itself. To get some background on Captain Jack Sparrow would be a great treat. I even recommended it to a fellow fan, sight unseen. In other words, I was predisposed to like this book.

But I did not. I gave it a try. I slogged through it to the very end, after a fashion. I fully read the first third, speed read the middle third and skimmed the last. If it weren't for the fan boy in me, yearning to learn what I could about Jack, I wouldn't have bothered.

It's overly long. The first part of the book is filled with flashbacks that bring the story to almost a complete stop. They are interesting bits, but it would have been wise to find another way to tell that even earlier tale of Jack's history. Perhaps that is the main flaw of this volume. It is trying to tell two tales.

There are other flaws. I noticed quite a few annoying word repetitions - multiple sentences on the same page that started with or contained the same phrase two, three, or more times. This offended my inner ear. And I'm not pointing out Jack's constant use of the word 'savvy', which I expected, but also found it annoying after a while.

This is not to say the book is not without its highlights. There is the kernel of a good adventure, or two, here. There are flashes of good characterization, both familiar - Jack, Barbarossa, Cutler Beckett - and new. There is obviously good research into these and into seamanship. The result, however, is overblown, badly structured, poorly written, and over long.

I was disappointed. Your mileage may vary. ( )

Jack Sparrow's history, leading up to becoming captain of the Black Pearl. Long, but worth the effort. ( )

Picturing Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow was easy to do with this book. It very much seems like things that Jack would do and would not do. Jack point of view about slaves really showed how he walks on a line between good or bad.

The mythology behind the magic, and history of the African island which was a little like Egypt also. It was fun to read about the lore but sometimes seemed hard to believe.

Part of the story I did not like was the man who was giving Jack his job on the ship. The point of view would go to the boss and he would think of his backstory and then the book would go into the boss’ past. This part of the book I could not picture having stayed in if it was made a movie. It also just seemed pointless. ( )

A pretty fun ride through the early days of Jack Sparrow, if not a long one. Two books in one with intertwining, related stories, from Sparrow's younger days, crafted by Crispin, a master of back story as she proved with the Han Solo books in the 90s. Crispin captures the feel of the movies and mixes in some historical accuracy and elements of swords & sorcery, including African characters, revisits from Barbossa and Davy Jones and, of course, British baddies as Sparrow tries to play it straight but finds he's almost too good for it. A romantic triangle, murderous fellow pirates, greedy slave selling EITC men and even Americans come along for the ride in an adventure that's worth the effort. Recommended. ( )