The Wrath of Brotherhood

by Ozgur K. Sahin

After learning of his sister’s death at the hands of pirates, successful merchant Captain Roy Toppings sails to the Caribbean on a misguided mission of vengeance against the man who failed to protect her Spanish widower, Pablo Francisco.

In the climate of the Restoration-era Caribbean colonies, where scheming and stealth could yield a prize as readily as boldness and firepower, Roy's vendetta lands him and his small but talented privateer crew in the middle of political intrigue and a deadly invasion in the West Indies as the nations of Europe struggle to consolidate power in anticipation of new monarchs in England and France.

When Spain prepares a strike that could jeopardize all other commercial interests in the Caribbean, Roy must risk losing his chance at vengeance to fight for his nation and his fellow Brethren of the Coast.

414 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 27, 2013

About the author

I have been a writer since I was 18 years old, and have always been interested in all forms of discovery, whether internal or external, scientific, idealistic, or psychological. When I realized how little of an astrophysicist's time is spent on discovery, and how funding-dependent that is, I dropped my formal studies and focused on exploration through writing, meditation, and independent study of history, the sciences, and consciousness itself.

Much of the writing I have done (and left either unfinished or unpublished) is in the fantasy and self-discovery genres, and in addition to writing the two planned sequels to The Wrath of Brotherhood, I intend to produce a self-discovery/social commentary work hopefully in the next year. I also hope to eventually put my science background to work and get some sci-fi out there. I have a weekly column called "Elitism For All" in Calamities Press e-magazine.

I currently live in Minneapolis, so expect to see me at one of the many conventions we have here.

Reviews

[Conrad Zero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the hardcover of this book directly from the author. The hardcover has an awesome cover and beautiful maps in both front and back.

The first half of the book is essentially world building and character building regarding pirates and life in the Caribbean. I can't speak to any accuracy of the historical fiction-ness, but the world and characters felt very authentic to me. The second half of the book deals with a rising conflict that pulls a band of pirates (Including the beloved scoundrel, Captain Morgan) together to stop a military invasion.

The writing is very solid. Several POV shifts, but you never lose track of who is the primary character in any scene. Likewise, the goals of the characters are always clear. In fact, the characters often wonder / discuss the possible outcomes of upcoming situations, which makes the story very easy to follow, despite the often complicated nature of pirate politics LOL.

If you're looking for "day in the life of a pirate" it's all here. Crew hiring, ship combat, selling of stolen goods, raiding parties... single shot pistols to swordfights... cannon fire to the occasional lit-fuse grenade. The Wrath of Brotherhood contains more actiony, pirate-packed adventure than you can shake a cutlass at!

Those seeking realistic pirate adventure will enjoy The Wrath of Brotherhood.

[Wayne Turmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old fashioned pirate tale with a modern twist

Really enjoyed this ripping tale of privateers. The crew is not the usual batch of stereotypes and it's a promising start to a series. Dragged a bit in spots but overall fun. Getting the second book soon.

[Joyce Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pirates. Caribbean intrigue. Fast moving and filled with adventure. Great characters that pull the reader into their lives and their stories. Most important to me, a fascinating thriller without profanity. Ozgur K. Sahin finds plenty of words to describe the unsavory and savory people in this book, and he doesn't resort to vulgarities. With maps, and historical accuracy, this is a great book for anyone's library!

[Ozgur Sahin]

"For fans of pirate fiction there is a worthy new addition to the genre from Ozgur K. Sahin, The Wrath of Brotherhood. Set in the Caribbean at the time of the Restoration, the book, which is the first of a new series, introduces us to Captain Roy Toppings an English gentleman bent on revenge for the death of his sister.

"Roy and his first mate, an ex-slave, recruit a crew of local men and a native South American, later enhanced by some dutchmen, and set out to plunder Spanish possessions and shipping, but as he uncovers their invasion plot he must unite with other English ships to counter the threat.

"The book had a well written plot featuring both land and sea action and I particularly enjoyed the unusual mix of characters the author created. It held my attention well and I look forward to reading of their further adventures.

"Recommended."
-Review by David Hayes,
Historical Naval Fiction (website)
historicnavalfiction.com/general-hnf-...
[Reviewer received only a free copy in exchange for review.]

[Brett Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wrath of the Brotherhood is a work of fiction set in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy. We follow an English captain and his privateer crew on their adventures. There are interesting threads to the plot without being needlessly complicated. There are some interesting characters, and the dialects add flavor to somewhat flat dialog. This is clearly the start of what could be a very great adventure. It is the promise of more adventures to come that has me excited. In summary this was an interesting, quick read that left me wanting more.

[C. E. Linares · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such a great time reading this book!

Characters like Roy, Ajuban, and Coya were introduced to the party at a nice pace, which ultimately results in plenty of antics that are just pure fun. The author also does a great job of balancing world building throughout the story, and uses every opportunity to make description purposeful. I'm a slow reader but I didn't feel as if description ever really got in the way of plot.

I found myself rooting for our heroes quite a bit, but I personally became quite attached to Coya. By the end of the book I was nearly reading just for her and to see what would happen to her. Of course I love them all but it is the author's careful attention to cultural nuances of her Inca background, and how that brings her to the character we see on the pages, that was truly both a surprise and a treat to me. Still, that care wasn't just isolated to her character either. I feel as if the entire cast was very organic given the setting - Ajuban became another favorite. This was a major draw in for me.

I love historical/nautical fiction, but this one checked all the boxes for me: pirates, a Captain with a hidden dark side yet a respect for his crew, unlikely heroes of all kinds, and quick thinking antagonists. I highly recommend this book!

[Christopher Gerrib · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased the hardcover version of this book from the author. I have to say, it is a very handsome book, well-edited and produced. More importantly, I found that the content was worth the price and matched the presentation.

The book is set in the height of the first wave of piracy in the Caribbean, the mid-1600s. Pirates were then what we would now call state-sponsored terrorists, and were employed by the other European powers to harass the Spanish. In what's probably the only major historical error, Englishman Roy Topping's sister marries a Spanish diplomat. Her disappearance prompts Topping to go to the Caribbean as a pirate both for vengeance and to find out what happened to her.

Other then that unlikely event (and many real pirates had equally unlikely origins) the novel is accurate, and runs along at a quick pace. One of the things I really appreciated is that the novel accurately notes that pirate crews were a mixture of races and nationalities. Overall, I found it an entertaining book.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun to read!

I bought this and it's sequel last year at a comic and toy show at the local mall, talking to the author himself and got his autograph in each book, thank you Mr Sahin for talking with me, it definitely helped me decide to get the books!

The story was a rousing swashbuckling adventure, which really felt very real and appropriate for the period. Many of the characters were quite good, and the dialogue between them was often witty and funny!

Much of the story was very riveting and wouldn't let you put the book down! Cannot recommend this highly enough! Go buy this book now! Especially if you see the author at an event somewhere, he's nice, and won't bite!

[Maria Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gifted a copy of The Wrath of Brotherhood and wasn’t sure if I would like the subject matter. I was surprised to find myself excited to get back to the book each time I put it down. I read for hours each day until I finished. I found the story lines easy to follow and found myself trying to guess where the story would go. I was seldom correct.

Often times I find male writers unable to catch the true heart of their female characters, but Ozgur really got it right. I learned quite a bit about the Restoration era, including the difference between pirates and privateers, the politics between various European powers of the time and the impact in the Americas.

I’m looking forward to reading his next books. This is an author I will continue to follow as he continues to write.

[Rae Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible character driven, story driven, high seas action and intrigue story and I adored every minute of it! The characters are all relatable and interesting and make you want to keep learning more. The battle scenes are impeccably described and you feel as if you are there with the characters!

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Roy Toppings had planned to live a relatively peaceful life plying a small shipping route between England and the Continent, but the murder of his sister by pirates set him on a different course, and now he’s a privateer operating out of Port Royal.

Roy’s quest for the man who he blames for his sister’s death has to be put on hold for the moment. It seems that the Spanish are up to something big, and the Dutch colony of Curaçao is in imminent danger. Can the crew of The Constance and their new-found allies save the day?

This is the first novel by Minnesota writer Ozgur K. Sahin, and the first in a projected “The Brotherhood of the Spanish Main” pirate fiction series. The setting is the Caribbean Sea circa the Restoration of Charles II in the 17th Century.

It’s interesting to compare the character attitudes to earlier pirate-themed works I’ve read. Captain Toppings is remarkably non-sexist and -racist for his time, as well as anti-slavery a good century ahead of most people. He’s hired Ajuban, an African ex-slave, as his first mate, and soon signs on refugee Incan woman Coya as a scout. The crew is rounded out with other quirky characters, most with “nice” personalities. One character is depicted as being more romantically inclined towards Coya than she’s comfortable with, but this is shown entirely from her point of view and as of yet he has confined himself to attempting to talk to her when she doesn’t want to.

The plot breezes by with an acceptable level of coincidence, but the one concern I have is that the crew’s luck is a bit too good–one or two well-timed setbacks would have ratcheted up the tension. Perhaps this will happen in the sequel, since there’s a very obvious hook.

There is talk of torture, and it’s made clear that the privateers will resort to it if they must (there’s a minor character who does this professionally), but none occurs on-stage.

Some use of dialect is genre-appropriate, but I know it ticks off some readers.

That said, although this book was written for adults, it should be okay for pirate-loving junior high readers on up. I like the handsome hardcover edition with endpaper maps, but the perfectly acceptable ebook version is more affordable and will also help keep the author fed.

A good first novel, recommended for fans of pirate tales.

[Frederick Crook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not your everyday pirate adventure book. This one’s been written with a deeper thinking, businesslike acumen, and politically savvy. Savvy? No? Well, let me say that the characters are vividly created and quite believable. The lives of privateers and their ways of conducting business were in-depth, reminding me, oddly enough, of one of my favorite video games, “Sid Meier’s Pirates!”, for my PSP. Trading for profit between more than one willing buyer is tricky, and Captain Roy Toppings, the main character, is a master of it. As such, his crew is well provided for, even Coya, their sole female member.
There’s action aplenty, with well-thought out and detailed ship-on-ship combat. It’s all very exciting and plausible. The main plot gets wonderfully complicated with the taking of hostages, the theft of the ransom by Coya with the help of Ajuban, the first officer, and the ultimate confrontation at the climax of the tale, where said hostage’s information brings about a fantastically executed battle.
Whew. Yes, a lot goes on in this book and if you want to get an idea of what a successful seventeenth-century pirate had to go through, beyond all the Swashbuckling, Cutlass waving, and rope swinging craziness, Ozgur Sahin has it covered in diamonds.
Now, there were times where I felt that some details could have been left out. Occasionally, the inner thoughts and feelings of a character were a bit too in depth, and there is an underuse of punctuation throughout, but the content of this novel was at no time compromised. For a first novel, this is epic and a great time if you love the pirate life. I give it 4 ½ out of 5 stars.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, when I first saw Ozgur Sahin in person, I couldn't resist buying his book. He sat with a few other authors at a local convention in Minnesota, but his setup was shouting with activity! He had old maps of the Spanish Main set out, with toy ships and doubloons scattered across them. I walked up thinking he was promoting a board game!

I'm glad I bought it. Not only did I feel I learned a lot more of piracy and privateers of the Caribbean than I did from other sources, but it was also full of fun adventure. It follows the exploits of an English merchant-privateer, Capt Roy Toppings, as he hunts for profit and revenge against Spanish vessels. The second main character is Coya, a native woman who's presence makes some sailors shun the voyage. Coya, however, is a very strong female lead and proves to be critical to their successes. The Captain's First Mate is a freed black man, further expanding on the diversity of the crew.

Even the minor players in the book possess intelligence and resourcefulness. The combat is stunning and descriptive...without anything that I would describe as 'too graphic'. I still had some reservations about certain aspects of the story, but not enough to detract from the 5 stars.

[Stryder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young master writer in the making.

The first chapter or two reads a bit slow as the scene is set and the major characters introduced. It's worth it to keep going because once the story hits its stride you're sucked in to high action with great character development. At that point you read until you run out of story, while the main plot is resolved there's plenty left in limbo to make you wish the second book was already on your shelf. I will be purchasing this book again in print for my father.

[Scarlet R · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a few chapters to immerse my brain in this book. Historical fiction is not my typical norm, but it was recommended to me by a friend. I was readily able to set aside my prejudices and thoroughly enjoy this novel. I consider it a mark of a successful work of fiction if when, by the last few pages, i'm sad to see the characters narrative conclude, and left wanting to know more! Good read! More than worth the pittance of a price.

[Sue Ansell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long book which did not move very fast. Good plot.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting but writing needs polishing.

[Christopher G Kluver · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book shows the writer has promise but needs more practice. The text is entirely without editing errors. But here’s the problem. We get more tell than show. There seems to be no driving reason for some of the characters to do what they are doing. The characters feel very Mary Sue. All difficulties are too easily surmounted.