The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon: Reissued

The Pirates! #4

by Gideon Defoe

‘But, Pirate Captain, you love being a pirate', said Jennifer. ‘That's because I was looking at piracy through rose-tinted spectacles,' the Captain replied. ‘There's very little job security. The hours are terrible. And I keep finding barnacles in my belly button.' The Pirate Captain has finally had enough. Still reeling from the crushing disappointment at the Pirate of the Year Awards, he decides it's time to hang up his hat and ditch his cutlass. Begrudging followed by his sceptical but loyal crew, the Captain fixes his sights on a quiet life on the island of St Helena. But his retirement plan is rudely disrupted by the arrival of another visitor to the island - the recently deposed Napoleon Bonaparte. Has the Pirate Captain finally met his match? Is the island's twenty-eight mile circumference big enough to contain two of history's greatest egos? And will the Pirates be able to settle the biggest question of all: who has the best hat?

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Pirates, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gideon Defoe never meant to become an author. When Defoe bumped into a woman he had pursued during his time studying archaeology and anthropology at Oxford, they began chatting about what they were up to. Realising that his job temping for Westminster council was not going to win him any romantic points, he told her that he was writing a novel. She asked to see it, at which point he found that he really was writing a novel. His manuscript was originally circulated among friends, who photocopied it and passed it on until, eventually, it fell into the hands of a literary agent.

He was raised by his mother in the south of England. His late father wrote thrillers that featured a lot of sexy Russian spies seducing middle-aged men uncannily like him.

His mother says he is a direct descendant of Daniel Defoe. He says he won't be convinced until he has seen the family tree.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

After his crushing defeat at the Pirate of the Year Awards, the Pirate Captain has had enough. He wants to quit being a pirate and live a quiet life as a beekeeper on the island of St Helena. But the chances of him enjoying a peaceful early retirement are quickly destroyed when he meets Napoleon.


Much like in the previous book, this book continues the shift of the series to focus more on the settings and the historical figures. Though it’s executed better here than in the previous book as it feels more like a proper story as a whole, with a bit more focus on the plot. The comedy is still there though. The comedy definitely feels very silly and entertaining like in the previous books. The clash of egos leads to a hilarious rivalry between Napoleon and the Pirate Captain. Though the comedy is perhaps a bit more subtle and mature compared to previous books, with a very subtle critique on politics being a rock-solid theme that hides in the waves but is camouflaged by the childish rivalry on the surface.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your average humor book.


Be aware of the environment...

"Lads, in today’s world, given the industrial revolution and all, you have to start thinking ecologically. Remember that adventure we had with those Aztecs? Where, when they wouldn’t give us that big diamond skull, we burnt their entire jungle to the ground? Our carbon footprint must be gigantic."

How to meet island people...

'HELLO THERE. I'M THE PIRATE CAPTAIN,' said the Pirate Captain loudly, striding forward. He pressed the milk bottle top into the native's hand. 'PLEASE DON’T MISTAKE ME FOR A GOD. WE GOT IN ALL SORTS OF BOTHER THE LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED, AND FRANKLY THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH SACRIFICIAL LAMB'S BLOOD A FELLOW CAN DRINK. ANYWAY, HERE IS A SHINY MILK BOTTLE TOP. ALL THIS,’ the Captain indicated the island with a sweep of his arm, ‘MINE NOW. DO YOU HAVE A SISTER?’


Learn modern etiquette...

Social dominance among landlubbers is mainly established through throwing lavish parties and telling amazing anecdotes.

Experience despair...

‘Is this what our life is going to entail now?’ asked Jennifer glumly. ‘An endless series of polite dinner parties?’

Elections...

There’s not much point lavishing all this attention on babies when they can’t even vote for me, is there? I should be concentrating on the eighteen-year-olds. And you know which other bit of the electorate is often unfairly overlooked? Women. So really it makes a lot more sense for me to spend the morning kissing eighteen-year-old women.


Obscure facts about Napoleon...

Napoleon’s bedroom was tastefully decorated with lots of paintings of the great man himself. There was one of him standing on a pile of dead Spaniards with two women in chain-mail bikinis clinging adoringly on to his shoulders. Another showed him standing on top of a pile of dead Russians with two women in fur bikinis and Cossack hats clinging adoringly on to his legs.

More interesting history that few people know. Mention this at your next dinner party...

The term ‘vendetta’ comes from Corsica, which had a strict social code whereby any perceived insult would result in death. Between 1683 and 1715 it is estimated that a quarter of the population (30,000 people) were killed as a result. And in 1954 a donkey strayed into a neighbors garden, leading to a ten-year feud and two deaths.

And you thought that this was just a humorous story book. Why, by the time you have finished reading you could easily apply to a university.

Enjoy!

P. S. There is a list of more unpublished Pirates! books in the comments section below . . .

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite his "fantastically glossy and luxuriant beard," AND, his unequalled swaggering skills, the Pirate Captain has lost the coveted Pirate of the Year Award again . . . that makes almost as many times as Susan Lucci lost out on the Daytime Emmy. Perhaps it's time to consider a career move. Let's see . . . maybe a degree from Trump University would help?

Luckily, the Captain's archnemesis, Black Bellamy, shows up with a deal our luxuriantly bearded hero can't refuse - ownership of the "lush, tropical island" of St. Helena! There the Captain can relax and enjoy life as a beekeeper. He's rather delighted by this plan.

Half an hour later, Jennifer was back on deck, glumly telling the crew about the Pirate Captain's lengthy description of bee society and how, for the duration of the voyage to St. Helena, he planned to run the boat along bee lines, with him as the King Bee, half the pirates as worker bees, the other pirates as soldier bees and the cabin boys as grubs. He wanted to label all the ham as 'royal jelly' and have them feed it to him while he lay in his hammock not moving very much, apart from getting up from time to time to judge the quality of their waggle dancing. Much as they loved their Captain, none of the pirates were particularly keen on this idea.

Not long after arriving at their not-extremely-tropical destination, the Captain finds himself in a knock-down, drag-out battle with Napoleon as they both run for the Head of the Resident's Association.

This go-round was definitely not as funny as the previous piratey adventures, but I enjoyed the game of one-upmanship played by the two men. Smear tactics, phony conspiracy theories, and candidates who will say and do anything to get elected . . . that's gotta be fiction, right?

[Lissa Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly I have now finished all the Pirate books by Defoe and I can only hope he writes another one pretty damn quick! This adventure was among the best, laugh out loud fun and the running gag with the dedication is a joy even before the book starts! Not to mention the Index at the back, it had me in stitches! As to the adventure, when the Pirate Captain retires to the island of St Helena (a story in itself) he is soon in a feud with his nightmare neighbour next door, one Napoleon Bonaparte. The battle for the Chair of the Residents Committee threatens to become the Pirates' bloodiest fight yet! Great fun.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Pirates! return in their fourth adventure, this time to a desert island to raise bees and argue with Napoleon. Only they seemed to forget to pack the humour in their suitcase for this trip.

Far from the gut busting, rib bruising hilarity of previous adventures this one barely raised a smirk, fatal to a series that relies on its humour to sustain interest through its meandering "plots" and absurd situations.

There was a four year gap between this and the fifth instalment, here's hoping Defoe recovered some of his wit and enthusiasm in that downtime.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me a bit of George MacDonald Fraser's style and i enjoyed it a lot. Definitely going to look around for the other books in the series:) Just fun and silly.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, these books are pretty much the silliest things ever.

They’re satire, sure, but the satire is so silly, it’s lost most of its bite. And not that I’m complaining, mind you, because I laugh my ass off when I’m reading them. Every one of these books has the same basic structure: the Pirate Captain gets an idea or has a problem, the crew resists due to common sense, they run into one or two famous historical figures, have verrrry deeply silly adventures, and then everything is reset at the end. The pirates don’t have real names (except for Jennifer, the lady pirate who used to be a Victorian gentlewoman), but are instead called things like ‘the pirate with a scarf’, ‘the albino pirate,’ and ‘the pirate who liked kittens and sunsets.’ There are anachronisms EVERYWHERE. All the pirates are completely neutered. The worst thing any of them do in this outing is trick Napoleon into pretending he’s having a dream where he meets famous historical generals (and Napoleon remains entirely convinced it is in fact a dream).

Actually, it’s hard to convey just exactly how silly this book is, so I’m just going to give you some examples:

“The best thing about the seaside,” said the albino pirate, “is putting seaweed on your head and pretending you’re a lady."
“That’s rubbish,” said the pirate with gout. “The best thing about the seaside is building sexy but intelligent looking mermaids out of sand.”
The rest of the pirates, spread out on the deck of the pirate boat for their afternoon nap, soon joined in.
“It’s the rock pools!”
“It’s the saucy postcards!”
“It’s the creeping sense of despair!”

“All the best people aren’t appreciated in their lifetimes,” Scurvy Jake continued. “Look at Baby Jesus — nobody took him seriously. They thought he was a tramp!”

“Listen, do you know what I’d be doing if I was still a Victorian lady instead of a pirate?” Jennifer persisted.
The pirates didn’t have a clue, but the pirate with long legs tried a guess. “Having a shower?”

“Well, I think it’s very exciting to have Mister Napoleon as a neighbour,” said the albino pirate. “I mean to say, he almost conquered the whole of Europe.”
“And I ate the whole of that mixed grill that time. Not ‘almost ate,’ you’ll notice. I finished the job,” said the Captain with a scowl, moodily buttering his Weetabix.

“It’s not the same on dry land,” muttered the pirate with a nut allergy. “Without the romance of the sea, pirating just seems like quite antisocial behaviour.”

And then of course, there’s the Pirate Captain and his impeccable logic:

“Baby kissing is a tried and tested way of getting votes, Captain.”
The Captain didn’t look convinced. “Thing is, number two, what’s the voting age nowadays?”
“It’s eighteen, sir.”
“Exactly!” The Pirate Captain waggled an informative finger. “So there’s not much point lavishing all this attention on babies when they can’t even vote for me, is there? I should be concentrating on the eighteen-year-olds. And you know which other bit of the electorate is overlooked? Women. So really it makes a lot more sense for me to spend the morning kissing eighteen-year-old women.”

Napoleon is pretty great, too. At one point he writes this fake suicide letter in an effort to discredit the Pirate Captain, after a giant squid washes up on the beach:

To Whom It May Concern,

I cannot go on any longer. I know people think us giant squid are just unfathomable monsters of the deep, but we have feelings, too. And it is time the world learned the terrible truth. For several years now the Pirate Captain and I have been carrying on an illicit affair. Many times I have asked the Pirate Captain to do right by me, but he refuses, always telling me that he cannot be seen having a relationship with a giant squid because of the harm it would do to his public image. Also, sometimes he hits me. Anyhow, just yesterday I discovered I was pregnant with the Pirate Captain’s secret love child! I told the Pirate Captain about this and he flew into a rage and said he would never help support his half-squid/half-pirate progeny and then he hit me some more. So now I am going to commit suicide by beaching myself.

Goodbye, cruel world
The Giant Squid

Really, that’s all I have to say about this book.

[Woodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth adventure featuring the Pirate Captain (he of luxuriant beard, an open face, a stentorian nose, and fickle whims) and his crew: the pirate with a scarf, the pirate in green, the pirate with a nut allergy, the pirate who likes kittens and sunsets, Jennifer, and more. In previous (mis)adventures they rubbed elbows with Charles Darwin, Captain Ahab, and communists. Here, the Pirate Captain finds himself in competition with Napoleon to become the next head of the St. Helena Residents' Association. This stuff is extremely silly and I giggle nearly constantly as I read it. Like the previous books the chapter headings have nothing to do with the story and include such titles as Crashing Zepplins For A Living, Under Brazil By Submarine, Inside a Hydrogen Factory, and Why Are Bridges? This book also includes a helpful index which has no real relation with the rest of the book and includes such entries as:

Big leaves, 121

Ukulele, PC mistakes for guitar and assumes he has grown giant-sized, 155

I'm also fairly certain that the author is a clever fellow (though perhaps lonely) due to footnotes such as this:

Finding out people's opinions on neurophysiology can be a great way of deciding whether they're idiots or not. For example, if your boyfriend or girlfriend ever claims that "we don't even use 90 per cent of our brains!" then you should leave them as soon as possible.

and bits of conversation such as this:

Napoleon frowned. "Surely by that logic anybody can declare themselves a success no matter how useless and ineffectual they are? You know, like homeopathy."

I may have to re-read some of the earlier books in this wacky series. It's been five years since I read the first two anyway.

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beef comes from bees! That's why it's called beef!

It's not easy to keep a joke funny over the course of four books, even volumes as brief as Gideon Defoe's pocket-sized Pirates! series. But somehow, improbably, this fourth adventure of the Pirate Captain and his jolly crew is even more giggle-inducing than what came before. Not only has the plot reached new levels of absurdity - this time around the Pirate Captain makes a rash decision to give up the nautical life in favor of beekeeping - but the Captain and his luxurious beard have finally met their match in exiled dictator Napoleon Bonaparte, who Defoe renders as vain, petty, and absolutely hilarious.

As the rivalry between the Captain and Napoleon becomes all-consuming, spiraling out from tall tales to a monster-drawing contest and culminating in a hotly-contested local election, the gags come flying at a furious pace, inducing groans and guffaws in equal measure. Yes, you've seen a lot of them before: even the characters have begun to notice they're repeating themselves. But Defoe succeeds in subverting his own cliches and keeps his story moving along nicely. Long live the Pirates!

[Qt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one; possibly my favorite of the series so far.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Gideon Defoe’s pirate books. Humor is such a tricky, subjective thing. I generally don’t go for things that get too cartoonish and outré, at least when this is combined with an attempt at making me care about the characters and invest in their progress. I have a hard time caring about cartoons. Human comedy and droll narration are more my style. Until a book goes so far beyond that pale that it goes totally round the bend. Then I’m back in, all the way. That’s what the Pirate books do. They are giddy, loony, ridiculous, delightfully inspired nonsense, crammed with sight gags, outlandish fancies, and the kind of infantile, elastic-faced hijinks of a Bugs Bunny Cartoon or a Monty Python episode or Marx Brothers movie. In this installment, the Pirate Captain, in a funk after losing the Pirate of the Year award to some corporate ass-kisser, decides to hang up his cutlass and take up bee-keeping on the island of St. Helena. Sadly, his attempt to retreat from the pressured popularity contests of piracy backfires when he is joined in his island retreat by the insufferably perfect Napoleon. Never mind the plot. Defoe is just very good at tickling the funny bone with images like a butter covered pirate swaggering around in a thong, or the fabulous Pirate King punctuating a sentence by punching a Great White shark in half. Defoe keeps filling your glass with this smartly stupid, intoxicating nonsense until you are tipsy, drunk, blotto, and laughing all over yourself.

[Jenny Maloney · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, I think this is one of my favorites in Defoe's Pirates! series. Who would've thought that the Pirate Captain's true competition was the egotistical, not-as-short-as-you-think European dictator?

I wish I had more to add, other than "Really enjoyed it!" But that's pretty much how it goes down. I liked it. The story perked up an otherwise dull afternoon, and made me want to see the movie. My only really wish is for Defoe to hurry up and write more adventures, because I finished this one* and immediately started hunting around for the next one.

*Also, footnotes.

[Keli · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I was looking through my tags I realized I have no idea how to categorize this book. It's absurdist, droll and even has some grammer humor. I really appreciate a book that can pull off grammer humor. The footnotes were informative and hilarious.

However, as much as I enjoyed this book, I'm not sure I'm going to fall all over my self for the entire Pirates! series because I'm sure it's a lot of the same.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gang is back as the Pirate Captain is fed up after he is passed over for Pirate of the Year award and decides to take up bee keeping on St. Helena's. There, he and Napoleon become the neighbors who try and one up each other and hilarity ensues. If you liked Gideon's others works, you'll feel the same about this. Easy light read, worth it for the laughs.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but I laughed just as much while reading this one as the earlier Pirates! books.

[Timothy Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

The funniest one so far. Yarrr.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

There just aren't that many books that are genuinely laugh out loud funny. The Pirates! books are. This isn't my favorite in the series but I still enjoyed it a lot.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yarrrrrrr!!

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What seems like years ago now, probably because it was, I remember seeing a few of Gideon Defoe's Pirates! books at Half Price Books and thinking they looked rather fun. I promptly forgot about them because do you realize the number of books I look at on a daily basis? It's seriously staggering. But shortly thereafter Lauren Willig mentioned them in passing as being hilarious so this confluence of events led me to order the first two books, handily sold as one volume, and I put it on my bookshelf and promptly forgot about them again. Fast forward to 2012 and Aardman Animation has adapted the first book for the screen. David Tennant, Hugh Grant, Russell Tovey, no wait, not Russell Tovey in the US, grumble, grumble, but once again I thought of the books and again promptly forgot. For some reason all my encounters with Gideon Defoe's work was promptly forgotten until his third book, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists, was picked out of the hat for book club in 2016. Not being one to start in the middle of a series I picked up my copy of the first two books, promptly fell in love, ordered the next three books and plundered my way through them all.

The thing is, I've always had a soft spot for pirates. This started quite young with my parents reading Irene Haas's The Maggie B. to me. A young girl wishes for a boat to travel the world in with her little brother. I wanted a boat just like it for myself. A pirate ship in miniature with flora and fauna and the coziest rooms you could ever imagine that weathered all storms. As I grew up there were Lego pirate ships and Playmobil pirate ships that actually floated helmed by my Star Wars figures. There were hideouts down by the railway tracks and in my back yard with hammocks, just like on a real pirate ship. There were other books too like Peter Pan and The Princess Bride, and tons of movies from The Goonies to Muppet Treasure Island to Hook. Finally there was Pirates of the Caribbean, opening night at Point Cinema on the UltraScreen with my girlfriends. Some were there to see Johnny Depp, some to see Orlando Bloom, and some to see an anvil three stories tall. I was there for the pirates!

But these Pirates! by Gideon Defoe, they are a breed apart. They are the love children of Blackadder and the briny deep, with historical cameos thrown in just as much as historical accuracy is thrown out. With this lovability that makes you just want to take them home give them a big feast predominately of ham and tell them a good bedtime story before tucking them in for the night. Gideon Defoe's writing combines the wit and love of footnotes of Terry Pratchett with the absurdity of Monty Python. Yet it's so uniquely his own that while I can draw comparisons all day it will never do justice to a series of books that need to be read for their hats and their love of ham. And I'm not joking that once you start you won't be able to stop until you've read them all. From Darwin and Bobo, the "man-panzee," to Ahab and what hunting the great white whale does to the Pirate Captain's sanity, to Wagner trying to blacken the name of Communism, to beekeeping on St. Helena where Napoleon causes quite a ruckus, to Byron and the Pirate Captain forming a true bromance while the Pirate Captain tries to woo Mary Godwin away from Shelley, you will just pillage your way through Defoe's prose.

Yet what makes this series really unique is that, aside from them being kind of hopeless as pirates, is that the characters names aren't really names, instead being character descriptions. There's the Pirate Captain and his faithful number two, the pirate with a scarf, there's the pirate in green, the pirate with rickets, the albino pirate, Jennifer, and every one's least favorite pirate, the pirate in red. While this could be viewed as just a humorous joke at the readers expense, I mean, think how many times we as readers when faced with a new story with oodles of characters has picked up on a character trait to remember them all by? Instead I don't think it's about readers and the inability to remember names, instead I think it's a clever conceit. While yes, there is a bit of poking fun at stereotypes, I think it actually goes beyond this and is making the character archetypes. The Pirate Captain is THE DEFINITIVE pirate captain. He's the only one that matters, suck it Black Bellamy! Just like the pirate with a scarf is the perfect number two, and the pirate in red is the perfect red shirt for us to hate on. These are the lovable essence of all the pirates we wanted to sail the high seas with as a kid and therefore we gleefully go with them wherever that may be. Even if there might be ghosts. And we all know how scared pirates are of ghosts!

In fact I think that the film by Aardman Animation, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, is doing a disservice to the books. While these pirates are true characters by making them cartoonishly animated it has turned them into caricatures. This movie has lessened them. In the books they are larger than life fiendish friends, on the screen they are a kind of boring movie. Which is really odd when you consider that Gideon Defoe wrote the screenplay. When I think back to when I first saw the movie, it in no way made me want to rush out and read the books, which is such a shame. Think of all those people out in the world who are judging these books based on that movie? The movie has far more "presence" and it's overshadowing these lovely, sweet, and comical adventures. When reading the books I thought how much they reminded me of the TV series Galavant. There's an absurdity and a gallantry and a sense of humor that makes it similar to The Pirates! Plus done as live action, there's a basis in reality with having actors like the brilliant Timothy Omundson bring the characters to life. This humor works best with the dichotomy of the absurd versus the real. Which leads me into my next point, when is there going to be a live action movie with Timothy Omundson as the Pirate Captain?

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

TPIAAWN is not the best piece of literature out there. However, it is a damn entertaining one. The fourth book in Defoe’s The Pirates! series sees the Pirate Captain growing tired of his pirating ways and after losing the Pirate of the Year contest, decides to give up his life at sea and devote his life to bee keeping. The Pirate Captain and his crew then retreat to St. Helena and quickly become to most popular residents on the island until Napoleon shows, thus sparking an epic battle. An epic battle of egos that is. The Pirate Captain and Napoleon constantly try and one-up the other and this is were the book starts to fail.

There is very little seafaring, swashbuckling or jokes about ham. For the adventure doesn’t leave the island and fails to create an adventure-esque feeling. Fans of the Pirates! series will most likely enjoy this book because the humor is still there. Surprisingly no jokes about Napoleon being short. Weird. If you have never read one of Defoe’s classic novels, may I recommend you go read The Pirates!: An Adventure with Scientists first and work your way up to this one.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a breath of fresh air to read after struggling to finish Paolin's book Brisingr. This was lighthearted, easy to read, and FUN!!! I love Gideon Defoe's pirate books. In this one - after loosing the Pirate of the Year contest, he's tricked into buying a "tropical island" in the Atlantic (yes the Atlantic) by his arch nemesis - St. Helena's. He decides to give up pirating in favor of bee keeping and he - along with his trusty pirates - settling in St. Helena's. It's not long that Napoleon is deposited as a prisoner on this island and the Pirate Captain and Napoleon enter into a war to upstage one another.

A great, fast, read. I read it in about 2 hours. My one criticism - the footnotes. They are usually the funniest part of these books. They were a let down this time around. They just didn't have the same flair that they generally do!!!

[Dot Gumbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the previous adventures in Gideon Defoe’s Pirates serious, this is a very short enjoyable shot to the hippocampus. It’s playful and vocabulary building (I had previously not encountered the words gamine, or eldritch – sheltered life I lead). However, in comparison to the other books it feels fairly empty. Napoleon is played fairly straight, avoiding playing him as an outrageous Frenchman, he comes across as a mega-lo-maniac of no fixed abode (which perhaps he is, given that he is exiled at this point in his life, but that aside).

If new to the series I recommend dipping your toe with any of the other Pirates! books.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on pirates. I mean it was hilarious!! Don't read this if you are expecting Blue Beard; however, if you want to read about pirates who go for a night on the town and are caught getting out of the carriage possibly flashing because they may not be wearing underclothes. Or if you wonder what happens to a crew if the captain decides to take up beekeeping, then this story is for you!

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only had two disappointments with this book, both in the index. 1- there was no reference to ham cured with maple syrup. clearly the pirates need to go on a Canadian adventure to remedy this. and 2 - the author seems to think that girls aren't impressed by books about pirates.
Also, I wanted the chapter of letters to the editor to go on forever and it did not. So I guess there were three disappointments.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe I forgot to review this book when I read it! I'll just say, then, that I utterly enjoyed this one, much more than their adventure with scientists. The whole beekeeping thing is comedic gold (hell, the flag alone makes this book a favourite in our house!), and Napoleon and Pirate Captain in a battle of egos is fun reading as well. If you want to read one of these books, I say start here.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The highlights of this episode:

The Pirate Captain is building a bee hive: "I'm nearly done...I'm just making my bees a little library. I don't really expect them to read much - it's more of a social thing, somewhere for them to network, pick up other bees, that kind of stuff."

This one included in the back a hilarious fake index. My favorite listing: "Pikachu: pirates catch, pg.23; pirates come to love, pg.55; pirates spit-roast, pg.88."

[Stephanie Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, the Pirates. This book, a follow up to The Pirates! In an Adventure with the Scientists! is about as awesome as the title implies. Which is to say, extremely awesome. But maybe I'm just saying that because I have a crush on the Pirate Captain, especially when he is trying to become a beekeeper.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the weakest of the Pirates! books, but still v. enjoyable. Shame that my copy was so riddled with inexcusable spacing errors, resulting in things like 'mints hips' (instead of 'mint ships').

[Billy Biggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is a lot of fun! It's a great formula, and I'm not sick of it yet. I will still read the next book in the series. However, I was admittedly disappointed. Napoleon was pretty good, but not great. The setting got tired. Better luck next time.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a bit of a change of pace, this installment of the ongoing Pirates! adventures takes place almost entirely on land. And in one location. On a small, featureless island. But it still counts as an adventure, because the title says so.