Purple Pirate

Tros of Samothrace #6

by Talbot Mundy

Last serialization to Tros of Samothrace saga, a Greek freedom fighter who aided Britons and Druids in their fight against Julius Caesar.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction

367 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon) was an English-born American writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as the author of King of the Khyber Rifles and the Jimgrim series, much of his work was published in pulp magazines.

Reviews

[Robert MacKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the unfortunate title, I enjoyed this pseudo-historical novel set mainly in first century BCE Egypt. Plenty of action and political intrigue as the various factions struggle for dominance. The sixth and final installment of Mundy’s Tros of Samothrace series.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second volume (don't know why Goodreads says it's #6) in the Tros trilogy. The first volume, Tros of Samothrace engaged on several levels: good action, exotic adventure, and some ideas from theosophy worked into the druidic philosophy of pre-Roman Britain. It also had some accurate sketches of people such as Caesar and Cato the Younger. This second volume, Purple Pirate, doesn't match up. The terrible title comes from Tros's purple cloak he wears in battle--like Caesar's red cloak that identified him on the battlefield as a rallying point and a target. Otherwise, few ideas permeate the text; it's a series of long, long discussions punctuated with the occasional sea battle. The descriptions and characterizations of Cleopatra and Cassius, meanwhile, barely register. And while Mundy does his usual good job of providing historical detail to Roman life and seafaring, his invention for this story is an outlandish failure. That is, the creation of a version of Cleopatra's real life half sister, Arsinoe has her in this Mundy version installing a double on the throne of Cyprus, while the real Arsinoe seeks anonymity and a new hidden life as Tros's wife. All that becomes a bit difficult, however, when the real Arsinoe decides to clad herself in shiny new armor and take on a new name, Hero. It just might be that a woman clad in new armor calling herself Hero just might draw some attention. And then there is the story. I don't know what story actually exists. Tros and Hero boat around Alexandria and the Egyptian coast after fleeing Cyprus and then make a trip to Rome. Everything ends with a sea battle in Alexandria. Cleopatra is saved and Tros has made an ally, at least a partial ally, out of Marc Antony. And then? . . . nothing. There is a third book in the series, Cleopatra. I'll hope it is better.