Captain Blood Returns

Captain Blood #2

by Rafael Sabatini

Captain Blood Returns by Raphael Sabatini

Genres: Adventure, Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Pirates, Historical, Audiobook

296 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Rafael Sabatini (1875 - 1950) was an Italian/British writer of novels of romance and adventure. At a young age, Rafael was exposed to many languages. By the time he was seventeen, he was the master of five languages. He quickly added a sixth language - English - to his linguistic collection. After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. Sabatini was a prolific writer; he produced a new book approximately every year. He consciously chose to write in his adopted language, because, he said, "all the best stories are written in English. " In all, he produced thirty one novels, eight short story collections, six nonfiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and a play. He is best known for his world-wide bestsellers: The Sea Hawk (1915), Scaramouche (1921), Captain Blood (1922) and Bellarion the Fortunate (1926). Other famous works by Sabatini are The Lion's Skin (1911), The Strolling Saint (1913) and The Snare (1917).

Reviews

[Иван Величков · Rating 5 out of 5]

Продължението на „Капитан Блъд” оправда напълно очакванията ми. Ако предишната книга беше роман, следващ хронологията на живота на капитана - тази е съставена от отделни, кратки разкази, запълващи няколко дупки в биографията му на морски разбойник. Отново имаме разкошни морски битки, пиратски съкровища, спасявания на онеправдани дами, различни превъплащения на хитрия капитан, измъквания на косъм, гневни индианци и много финансово наказани недостойни противници.
Жалко е, че толкова малко от произведенията на Рафаел Сабатини са преведени на български. Несправедливо наврян в категорията „детска литература” , за сметка на фригидните романчета в така нареченото YA, авторите на които не могат да му стъпят на малкия пръст.
Препоръчвам на всички, които като мен не са открили до сега спиращите дъха приключения, историческата достоверност на епохата и мъжкият морал в произведенията на Сабатини.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories. I’m glad I finally got to read them.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Днес е ред на „Дневникът на капитан Блъд” – достойно продължение на своя предшественик и поредната приключенска класика в библиографията на големия Рафаел Сабатини! Интересното е, че вместо директно да продължава оригиналния роман, тук авторът ни предоставя възможността да се запознаем с „пропуснатите епизоди” – събития от живота на Питър Блъд, които по една или друга причина не са успели да намерят място в основния сюжет. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

More adventures of Captain Peter Blood. A great addition to the story and worth reading. This book really made me think how spectacular Blood would be as a television character. Too bad Hollywood is focused on lesser material.

[Mark Polino · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice companion set of short stories to go with the original Captain Blood. Read Captain Blood before you read this or you won't get it.

[Dave Belleville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent swashbuckling fiction. Blood is almost too perfect a character. Zero flaws. This doesn't stand out as much in the novel where several misfortunes stand in for a lot of the flaws. However, this book is actually broken up into several short stories that supposedly happened behind the scenes of the timeline of the first novel, which is a neat idea, but which also forces the reader to read 6-8 times as opposed to 1 time just how perfect and flawless this character is. Hit's you over the head a bit.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is inappropriatly named. It sounds like it will be a sequel to the great Captain Blood. But it is more just a bunch of compilations of individual adventures that occured while at sea. There is no story line to this book at all. It should be named Captain Bloods adventures so as not to mislead those of us who wanted to continue on with the awesome Captain Blood and his experiences.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it!!

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Captain Blood I was pleased to know I also owned this book. So I dived right in.

The book does not continue where book 'one' leaves off. No, it goes back in time from the few weeks after Peter and his crew leave their unfortunate circumstances and start life as pirates. You come to understand what was going on behind the scenes here and there and how certain characters ended up not part of Peter's adventures.

It was quick and fun and felt like it could be easily inserted into the original story. Each tale has it's own ending and Peter is quickly outsmarting his foes and saving his friends here and there.

[Christopher Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, imagine some one gives you the best gift in the world (Captain Blood). Now imagine they turn around and give you something better...

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Днес е ред на „Дневникът на капитан Блъд” – достойно продължение на своя предшественик и поредната приключенска класика в библиографията на големия Рафаел Сабатини! Интересното е, че вместо директно да продължава оригиналния роман, тук авторът ни предоставя възможността да се запознаем с „пропуснатите епизоди” – събития от живота на Питър Блъд, които по една или друга причина не са успели да намерят място в основния сюжет. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Rosava Doshchyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Що не кажи, а друга частина сподобалася мені набагато більше. Перш за все, це збірка окремих оповідань із піратського життя капітана Блада без надмірного драматизму, як це було у першій. Кожна історія оповідає про окрему пригоду чи випадок. І тут не тільки історії успіхів, але й невдач.
Неабиякий розум Пітера Блада розкривається наповну, він здатен вибратися цілим та неушкодженим навіть з полону. Хоча, як і всі люди, він інколи піддається емоціям і робить помилки, та все ж може впоратися з їхніми наслідками.
Маю зазначити, що Рафаель Сабатіні досить іронічний. Взяти хоча б оповідання "Відплата за зраду", де Блада на Тортузі хапають двоє піратів, аби отримати за нього винагороду в іспанців, а в результаті вбивають один одного через жадібність. Всі лиходії, так чи інакше виявивши нечесність до Блада чи його людей, зазнають покарання через свою ж дурість. Як на мене, це чудовий фінал для подібних історій.

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories is not a sequel per se to Captain Blood; it goes back in time and tells stories of Captain Blood’s exploits during his time as a pirate on the Arabella. If you’ve read Captain Blood and know how his story turns out, it’s a lot of fun to go back and see some of what he was doing during the gaps in that narrative. And of course, being Captain Blood, he was mostly going around being awesome and shrewd and getting himself and other people out of tight spots. Michael Maloney’s narration is just as fabulous as in the first book; it’s tons of fun, and our whole family enjoyed it.

[Noor Jahangir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a kind of a prequel of Captain Blood, but not entirely. It features more of the Captain's escapades, starting with how he becomes a buccaneer after first arriving in Tortuga and finishing well before his governership of Jamaica.

The stories are well-written, but are very loosely connected, much like the original, giving a slightly broken progression for the book. But Captain Blood is as marvellously and genius as ever so it is still a very entertaining read but lacks the closure of the original.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not quite as good as the first book about Captain Peter Blood, but only because it is a series of short stories about the adventures of the pirate instead of one long tale. The characters are just as exciting as ever as well as the villains just as villainous. It is still hard for me to read short stories, even if they’re all about the same person, but this book was entertaining. I especially enjoyed the story about Captain Blood’s capture. It seemed very O. Henry-esque. Overall, this was a pretty good pick up and have a fun read sort of book.

[Robert Magness · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Captain Blood is the cleverest and most charming character of every story. It's a treat to read and it's fun to place the stories in the middle of his regular story. I would love to see all these stories compiled and turned into mini-series on Masterpiece Theater.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The continuing saga of that swashbuckling genius and eloquent hero, Capt. Peter Blood. These are the episodes that didn't fit with the flow of the main novel and present enjoyable, albeit disjointed, material to further delight the fan of daring tales of the sea.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked these short stories which take place concurrently with the events of the original novel. Probably people who didn't care for the novel as much as I did would also not enjoy these stories which flesh out some of the details of Blood's time as a buccaneer.

[Nazarii Zanoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Перша частина мені сподобалася якось більше. Друга якось дивно продумана, як я зрозумів, наче це шматок із того, що відбувалося під час "піратських буднів" Блада. Тут бракує глобальніших поворотів сюжету, хоча все й надалі так само добре продумано в кожній окремій історії

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

More terrific stories of Captain Peter Blood and his crew of virtuous pirates! Clever, tightly plotted and exhilarating. Swashbuckling at it's finest!

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun!
Captain Blood's character is well suited to the short story form. I almost like this collection better than the original novel.

[AlegnaB † · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 - I thoroughly enjoyed this. The narrator, Michael Maloney, did a good job, although he narrated quite quickly. I listened to most of the book on 1.0x speed, which is highly unusual for me.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 32 for the Telephone Book Club! Dz. and I really enjoyed this tale of swashbuckling adventure, and we were both pleased to see that it took place during Blood's piratical reign, instead of after the events of the first book. Each chapter is a self-contained story (although sometimes two chapters will be strung together to make one big story), and there was just the right amount of action and daring-do. If you had said to yourself I really enjoyed reading Captain Blood, but I wish there had been more piracy and less politics, then this is the book for you!

While Dz. has been known to nod off during some of the tamer stories we read, he kept awake for the entire adventure this time around, which is in and of itself, a great compliment to Sabatini's work. However, while we both enjoyed the book very much, we had a complaint to share about the final story.

We had just finished reading about how Blood finally defeated Captain Easterling (a wonderful villain, by the way!) when Dz. commented about Morgan's treasure--first thought a hoax and now revealed to be real--what had happened to it? Did it really get sunk when Wolverstone destroyed the Avenger? And did Easterling and Galloway manage to sneak any aboard the Hermes? Apparently, it was lost. After all that hype, the treasure was gone. But, then, Dz. asked about Easterling. And we read back over the passage, but no, it appears that while Blood had left him to the mercy of the other pirates, we never found out what happened. Since the ending felt abrupt enough as it was, we were equally disappointed that we didn't get a firm handle on what happened to Easterling and the treasure. Did Blood manage to retrieve any of it? Was Easterling killed or will he come back in The Fortunes of Captain Blood? We have no idea. Of course, the one good thing is that we've decided to read the third book, since inquiring minds want to know the scoundrel's fate.

All in all, a good book and well worth the time. We both enjoyed it immensely, and I'm almost sorry to see it at an end. At times, the adventures called to mind another story that Dz. and I both really enjoyed: The Mark of Zorro, so I would recommend that to readers who enjoyed this one, too.

[Oreon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Гідне продовження, чи, скоріше, заглиблення у події першого роману. Бо ж події відбуваються у той самий часовий проміжок, що й у «Одіссеї капітана Блада», а саме відтоді коли він з товаришами прибув на Тортугу і ще не вирішив, що робити далі, і до того як він здобув кохану і став губернатором. Роман складається з окремих новел, але дві історії-новели займають по два розділи. Так, перші два розділи - це історія, як знайомство з негідником капітаном Істерлінґом визначило подальшу долю Блада і його команди; другий випадок - оповідання про сімейку де-Кулевен.

А ось Арабелли, дівчини, а не корабля, у цьому творі обмаль - немає зовсім 🙂, якщо не рахувати здається єдиного побіжного згадування. Натомість противники Блада здебільшого змальовуються тупими і недолугими, хоч можуть мати високі чини і статуси. Та це виглядає радше кумедно ніж напружує. Іншим трендом є описи самого Блада у вишуканому темному костюмі гаптованому сріблом, із підкресленою білизною мереживних манжет бла-бла-бла і блиском у ясно-блакитних очах, що кочують із оповідання в оповідання, які кожного разу звучать трохи по-новому, при цьому залишаючись у сталому тренді.

І, насамкінець коротко по сюжету: 1. Негідних Істерлінґ підштовхує Блада до піратського ремесла; 2. Блад гідно протистоїть Істерлінґу та здобуває свій перший скарб; 3. Блад перейменовує захоплений у іспанців корабель «Сінко Льягас» на «Арабеллу» і допомагає захистити від нападу іспанської ескадри англійську колонію; 4. Перша спроба зради капітана Блада за винагороду; 5. Сухопутна вилазка Блада за іспанським золотом; 6. Сюжет трохи відходить безпосередньо від Блада, зосереджуючись на одному із його близьких друзів і спільників; 7. Бладу (що дивно) не щастить, зокрема він рятує даму від підлого іспанця, що її викрав, але виявляється, що дама з іспанцем були спільниками; 8. Блад змушений повернути даму законному чоловіку, але ж за нього призначено велику винагороду і його впізнають; 9. Фінальна розбірка з Істерлінґом , чи то пак фінал Істерлінґа.

[Herman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Blood Returns: By Rafael Sabatini, This whole series of which this is book 2 is an unknown classic, Really enjoyed this just as much as I enjoyed the First Captain Blood a man of knowledge and world adventurer who like another of my favorite seafaring adventure series Bloody Jack finds a stage for numerous stories during the early 1700 and 1800's aboard the Spanish Main. A male fantasy adventure series I think it would appeal to women as well since it's strength is in it's writing and well constructed and psychological plots for in spite of all the maritime nomenclature it's primarily about people their fears, desires, and fallacious plots, Captain Blood is like a clinical psychologist before such a thing existed and he reads people like a book allowing himself to escape a trap or save a lady, or capture a prize that no-one else can see or hope too achieve. It's an uplifting and merry set of tales which are real page-turners good old-fashion writing from a time when people use to read more and therefore I believe the writers were of a caliber just a cut above most of what passes as light entertainment today, with Rafael Sabatini being a cut above the writers of that period, a very solid writer, that somehow didn't receive the attention his work deserved I'm looking forward to reading more of these stories which I believe were written over the years for weekly magazine's which were popular back in the day. Probably why his work hasn't reached up to being view with the pantheon of writers like Mark Train, Victor Hugo, Somerset Maugham, and Roger Kipling, writers who are better known but I feel Sabatini works comes off well in comparison. I give this a solid four stars.

[Rosi Petrova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Пиратите, казват, са безмислостни, безкрупулни, несправедливи, алчни и жадуващи да причиняват зло. Но... не и Капитан Блъд. Дон Педро Сангре или както искате го наречете. Той е точно обратното на тези прилагателни. Той е честен, справедлив, търсещ не само своето, а общото благо. Виждайки девойка в беда, ще се вкара в опасност, но ще и помогне. Той не може да гледа да умират невинни хора, само заради едното богатство или заради отмъщението на един човек. Връща се и помага да бившия си кораб, който го е изоставил, за да преследва изгубено съкровище, тъй като същия бивш кораб попада под обсега на безмилостен пират. Приключенията постоянно съпътстват Капитан Блъд.
Препоръчвам горещо! 🙂

[Clinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read my second of the Blood series, I can say that Captain Blood is my favorite seafarer. This collection of short stories continues the excellence of the first book. Blood continues to amaze me with the way that he extricates himself from the most impossible situations. I regret that Sabatini wrote just three in the series, compared to the numerous stories of Hornblower, Ramage, etc. I'll be starting Fortunes of Captain Blood shortly and anticipate another five star rating.

[Donald Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a teenager, and probably a couple of times since. Recently listened to an audiobook version.

Sabatini is very readable. His portrayal is romantic, which is to say, not even close to reality. A noble pirate who only attacks the Spanish? Not likely.

But for pure escapism, Sabatini is fun to read. This book is a collection of short "further stories" of Captain Blood, just to give Captain Blood fans a little bit more of their hero.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Or "How Captain Blood Outsmarts Everyone". But that's okay, is half of what makes it fun to read. This is a set of short stories, more or less, about things that happen in-between the major events of the novel. More cleverness in these, and less swashbuckling. But in the end, Captain Blood still gets the better of his enemies.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is not a true sequel to the original novel, but rather a collection of stand alone short stories. They take place throughout the time frame of "Captain Blood" and reference several of the original characters in passing. It's still a good read if you want to read more adventures of Captain Blood and his crew.