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A Singular Captain
tyrant, hero, fanatic, or perhaps all three, ferdinand magellan is a towering figure in world history, and its greatest sailor. a singular captain with an iron will, he overcame the hatred of his former king, put down mutinies, weathered storms, discovered the strait that bears his name and survived the dreaded scurvy only to fall victim to the fatal flaw in his character: religious hubris.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
Kindle Edition
First published July 27, 2013
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 29, 2013
I picked this up as a freebie from Smashwords.
I knew very little about Magellan before reading this novel. I knew who he was, from school history classes, but at the time I went through school, there was a very strong bias towards British history. Magellan wasn't British, so he got a mention, but little more than that. So this book, a fictional account of his journey to the Spice Islands, was certainly fascinating.
The story itself seems to be pretty close to what is known of that final voyage. Many, if not all, of the characters were real historic figures, and the author does a very good job of filling in the gaps and making the characters come to life. Pigafetta, the Italian who joins the expedition as a supernumerary, and who ends up providing the chronicle of the voyage, was a sympathetic central character, a nice contrast to the stern Magellan. There's plenty of action and peril, and the author provides a good portrait of the travails and hardships of such an expedition, weaving politics, religion and loyalty (or lack thereof) together to create a compelling narrative.
If you're interested in Magellan, exploration, maritime fiction or historic fiction, this is worth a read.
I knew very little about Magellan before reading this novel. I knew who he was, from school history classes, but at the time I went through school, there was a very strong bias towards British history. Magellan wasn't British, so he got a mention, but little more than that. So this book, a fictional account of his journey to the Spice Islands, was certainly fascinating.
The story itself seems to be pretty close to what is known of that final voyage. Many, if not all, of the characters were real historic figures, and the author does a very good job of filling in the gaps and making the characters come to life. Pigafetta, the Italian who joins the expedition as a supernumerary, and who ends up providing the chronicle of the voyage, was a sympathetic central character, a nice contrast to the stern Magellan. There's plenty of action and peril, and the author provides a good portrait of the travails and hardships of such an expedition, weaving politics, religion and loyalty (or lack thereof) together to create a compelling narrative.
If you're interested in Magellan, exploration, maritime fiction or historic fiction, this is worth a read.
Displaying 1 of 1 review