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Trophy Chase #0
Blaggard's Moon
From the author of highly praised Trophy Chase Trilogy comes this exciting swashbuckling tale of a pirate sentenced to die for the crime of mutiny.
As he awaits his fate, this pirate (none other than the delightful Smith Delaney from the Trophy Chase Trilogy) ponders his life and the events that have brought him to this fate.
In the process of remembering, and in grappling with mercy and justice as they have been played out in his life, a tale is spun, a tale of true hearts wronged, noble love gone awry, dark deeds done for the sake of gold, and sacrifices made for love. In the end, our pirate will come face-to-face with himself, with his own death, and with a God who promises grace where none is deserved.
Readers of Christian fantasy will once again be swept away by Bryan Polivka's compelling storytelling abilities. As Publisher's Weekly said of the author's first book, "readers will be flipping pages eagerly."
As he awaits his fate, this pirate (none other than the delightful Smith Delaney from the Trophy Chase Trilogy) ponders his life and the events that have brought him to this fate.
In the process of remembering, and in grappling with mercy and justice as they have been played out in his life, a tale is spun, a tale of true hearts wronged, noble love gone awry, dark deeds done for the sake of gold, and sacrifices made for love. In the end, our pirate will come face-to-face with himself, with his own death, and with a God who promises grace where none is deserved.
Readers of Christian fantasy will once again be swept away by Bryan Polivka's compelling storytelling abilities. As Publisher's Weekly said of the author's first book, "readers will be flipping pages eagerly."
373 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2009
8 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
George Bryan Polivka
6 books53 followersGeorge Bryan Polivka was raised in the Chicago area, attended Bible college in Alabama, and ventured on to Europe where he studied under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. He then returned to Alabama where he enrolled at Birmingham-Southern College as an English major.
In 1986, Bryan won an Emmy for writing his documentary, “A Hard Road to Glory,” which detailed the difficult path African Americans traveled to achieve recognition through athletic success during times of racial prejudice and oppression.
Bryan moved to the Baltimore area where he worked with Sylvan Learning Systems, (now Laureate Education). In 2001 Bryan was honored by the U.S. Distance Learning Association for the most significant achievement by an individual in corporate e-Learning. Bryan is currently responsible for developing and delivering new programs for Laureate’s online higher education division.
In 1986, Bryan won an Emmy for writing his documentary, “A Hard Road to Glory,” which detailed the difficult path African Americans traveled to achieve recognition through athletic success during times of racial prejudice and oppression.
Bryan moved to the Baltimore area where he worked with Sylvan Learning Systems, (now Laureate Education). In 2001 Bryan was honored by the U.S. Distance Learning Association for the most significant achievement by an individual in corporate e-Learning. Bryan is currently responsible for developing and delivering new programs for Laureate’s online higher education division.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 15, 2010
Smith Delaney is a man who is awaiting his demise. This is a novel, of Delaney remembering a story in vivid detail of how things went from one place to another in the world of vast pirating and pillaging where the townsfolk saw no end of terror. Polivka weaves an intriguing tale as a master storyteller that brings images easily to the mind's eye of a reader and keeps one ceaselessly thirsting for more.
Many a book can grab me and pull with the never-ending page turning drama to a finish. This book is different. I was drawn and curious and could not unravel the tale fast enough, but the way the story was told in vivid detail and description causes one to take the tale at a leisurely pace. As a scene unfolds, it is almost necessary to full let it soak in from the words on the page to the reader's eye and then the synapses of the brain. Each section brings a mini story and intrigues a bit further.
An adventure of pirates, murder, fights, romance, true love, revenge, and justice prevail. All through out, the story is enticing and pulls a reader to one way of thinking and then changes your mind to another. Mixed in the story in a very non-nagging manner is a fabulous undertone of what is coming... Where are your actions taking you and how will they affect the outcome of your life?
It is a thrilling ride filled with the sounds of splashing waves and crying gulls with the scent of salt water to one's nose and I recommend it to many for a leisurely yet full of adventure ride. I am grateful that I was able to start my reading adventures of the Nearing Vast world through this prequel to the Trophy Chase trilogy. Now I am even more grateful that I have the first and third of the trilogy on my shelves waiting for me, and now must find a way to acquire the second novel. Then my adventure will be complete!
Many a book can grab me and pull with the never-ending page turning drama to a finish. This book is different. I was drawn and curious and could not unravel the tale fast enough, but the way the story was told in vivid detail and description causes one to take the tale at a leisurely pace. As a scene unfolds, it is almost necessary to full let it soak in from the words on the page to the reader's eye and then the synapses of the brain. Each section brings a mini story and intrigues a bit further.
An adventure of pirates, murder, fights, romance, true love, revenge, and justice prevail. All through out, the story is enticing and pulls a reader to one way of thinking and then changes your mind to another. Mixed in the story in a very non-nagging manner is a fabulous undertone of what is coming... Where are your actions taking you and how will they affect the outcome of your life?
It is a thrilling ride filled with the sounds of splashing waves and crying gulls with the scent of salt water to one's nose and I recommend it to many for a leisurely yet full of adventure ride. I am grateful that I was able to start my reading adventures of the Nearing Vast world through this prequel to the Trophy Chase trilogy. Now I am even more grateful that I have the first and third of the trilogy on my shelves waiting for me, and now must find a way to acquire the second novel. Then my adventure will be complete!
June 9, 2022
4 stars - English Ebook
Pirate Smith Delaney finds himself atop a tall post in the midst of a tropical lagoon waiting for a particularly gruesome death to arrive in the form of savage mer-monkeys. Attempting to keep his thoughts from the flesh-hungry piranha in the waters around him, and the imminent arrival of the Onka Din Botlay -- rippers of bone - Delaney casts his thoughts to and fro in hopes of finding a solution to his desperate predicament. Rather than discovering a clever means of escape, he is alternately drawn into examining his life to date and recalling a particularly engaging tale spun by a fellow pirate by the name of Ham Drumbone, detailing the lives of several world-shaking figures in the kingdom of Nearing Vast. Delaney's own life plays a small yet significant role in the histories of these persons, and the two trains of thought eventually converge upon the present.
Set in a fictional world somewhat reminiscent of the Elizabethan age, this is a prequel written after the conclusion of his Trophy Chase Trilogy. I found the premise of a Christian pirate novel irresistible, and the results immensely entertaining. It takes a certain amount of skill to convey authentic pirate language while refraining from outright blasphemy and cursing, yet this book pulls it off. Both his narration and dialogue are lively - vivid, captivating and just plain fun. Indeed, this is Christian fantasy today.
Pirate Smith Delaney finds himself atop a tall post in the midst of a tropical lagoon waiting for a particularly gruesome death to arrive in the form of savage mer-monkeys. Attempting to keep his thoughts from the flesh-hungry piranha in the waters around him, and the imminent arrival of the Onka Din Botlay -- rippers of bone - Delaney casts his thoughts to and fro in hopes of finding a solution to his desperate predicament. Rather than discovering a clever means of escape, he is alternately drawn into examining his life to date and recalling a particularly engaging tale spun by a fellow pirate by the name of Ham Drumbone, detailing the lives of several world-shaking figures in the kingdom of Nearing Vast. Delaney's own life plays a small yet significant role in the histories of these persons, and the two trains of thought eventually converge upon the present.
Set in a fictional world somewhat reminiscent of the Elizabethan age, this is a prequel written after the conclusion of his Trophy Chase Trilogy. I found the premise of a Christian pirate novel irresistible, and the results immensely entertaining. It takes a certain amount of skill to convey authentic pirate language while refraining from outright blasphemy and cursing, yet this book pulls it off. Both his narration and dialogue are lively - vivid, captivating and just plain fun. Indeed, this is Christian fantasy today.
September 22, 2009
There are moments in our lives that change everything.
Forks in the road. Accidents. Love at first sight.
Death.
Yup, that one changes everything. Forever.
A lot of the time we don’t see those moments coming. Especially the last one. But Smith Delaney, the marooned pirate whose post-sitting ruminations open Blaggard’s Moon, can see Death coming, wrinkled and white-eyed and iron-clawed, thanks to the horrific stories told him by tribal chiefs the night before. Delaney has been left on a post in the middle of a pond full of piranha, punishment for following his captain’s orders literally when they were meant to be taken figuratively. (”Take care of the girl,” Belisar said. So Delaney did.) When the new moon rises, mermonkeys will crawl up the post and tear out his bones.
Delaney has a few hours left with no hope of escape, and though that isn’t a long time in the overall scheme of life, it turns out to be plenty of time to think. So it is that readers are transported back through a twisting tale of which Delaney’s life is only a thread, through the story of “the great battle between the pirates of the world and the band of merciless men who would purge us from the seas and make the name Hell’s Gatemen a source of terror to us all.” More than that, we are transported through the story of people whose lives converged in moments of choice, of life, of death, of sin and righteousness.
Blaggard’s Moon by George Bryan Polivka is complex, masterfully written, and ceaselessly entertaining – a Christian pirate fantasy novel that is light on fantasy, heavy on pirates, and more intrinsically than overtly Christian. Though Smith Delaney opens the story and is its most compelling voice, most of the plot centers around the tragedies and triumphs of Damrick Fellows and Jenta Stillmithers, two young people who face up to the evils of their times although they are in no way promised happy endings for doing so. Polivka writes with a sharp sense of humour, which at the same time brightens and deepens the book’s underlying sadness.
For this is a sad story. Entertaining, yes. Swashbuckling, certainly. Deep and memorable — those too. Yet beneath all of that is a lament for a world gone wrong, for a world where good people can suffer while evil men prosper. It’s the lament of Ecclesiastes and Job and some of the Psalms, and like them it asks us to find hope in the goodness of God while never asking us to pretend that hope negates the sadness.
Serious themes, handled well. For Polivka can write. He handles the book’s complex structure — it is the story of a man telling the story of a man telling a story and finally of that story itself — with extraordinary finesse. The pirates are as real as story characters can be, especially Delaney, and though I found Jenta and Damrick a little distant, their distance suited their roles as more mythic characters. The book is drenched with the kind of atmosphere I’ve loved since I read Treasure Island as a kid. And its spiritual claims are true. I found Delaney’s moment of epiphany forced, but that was only one moment in a book that typically treats hard questions with an almost biblical attitude, offering answers but never downplaying the questions.
Forks in the road. Accidents. Love at first sight.
Death.
Yup, that one changes everything. Forever.
A lot of the time we don’t see those moments coming. Especially the last one. But Smith Delaney, the marooned pirate whose post-sitting ruminations open Blaggard’s Moon, can see Death coming, wrinkled and white-eyed and iron-clawed, thanks to the horrific stories told him by tribal chiefs the night before. Delaney has been left on a post in the middle of a pond full of piranha, punishment for following his captain’s orders literally when they were meant to be taken figuratively. (”Take care of the girl,” Belisar said. So Delaney did.) When the new moon rises, mermonkeys will crawl up the post and tear out his bones.
Delaney has a few hours left with no hope of escape, and though that isn’t a long time in the overall scheme of life, it turns out to be plenty of time to think. So it is that readers are transported back through a twisting tale of which Delaney’s life is only a thread, through the story of “the great battle between the pirates of the world and the band of merciless men who would purge us from the seas and make the name Hell’s Gatemen a source of terror to us all.” More than that, we are transported through the story of people whose lives converged in moments of choice, of life, of death, of sin and righteousness.
Blaggard’s Moon by George Bryan Polivka is complex, masterfully written, and ceaselessly entertaining – a Christian pirate fantasy novel that is light on fantasy, heavy on pirates, and more intrinsically than overtly Christian. Though Smith Delaney opens the story and is its most compelling voice, most of the plot centers around the tragedies and triumphs of Damrick Fellows and Jenta Stillmithers, two young people who face up to the evils of their times although they are in no way promised happy endings for doing so. Polivka writes with a sharp sense of humour, which at the same time brightens and deepens the book’s underlying sadness.
For this is a sad story. Entertaining, yes. Swashbuckling, certainly. Deep and memorable — those too. Yet beneath all of that is a lament for a world gone wrong, for a world where good people can suffer while evil men prosper. It’s the lament of Ecclesiastes and Job and some of the Psalms, and like them it asks us to find hope in the goodness of God while never asking us to pretend that hope negates the sadness.
Serious themes, handled well. For Polivka can write. He handles the book’s complex structure — it is the story of a man telling the story of a man telling a story and finally of that story itself — with extraordinary finesse. The pirates are as real as story characters can be, especially Delaney, and though I found Jenta and Damrick a little distant, their distance suited their roles as more mythic characters. The book is drenched with the kind of atmosphere I’ve loved since I read Treasure Island as a kid. And its spiritual claims are true. I found Delaney’s moment of epiphany forced, but that was only one moment in a book that typically treats hard questions with an almost biblical attitude, offering answers but never downplaying the questions.
April 27, 2009
Wow. Great story. Great storytelling. Polivka gets better and better.
Chronologically, this story occurs before the Firefish trilogy, but if you read this one first you're apt to be disappointed with them. Press on, Polivka gets better.
Having read Firefish, of course, you suspect how this book has to turn out, but Polivka keeps you in suspense until the end. Masterfully weaving several narrative threads, Polivka gives us great insight into the history and struggles of Smith Delaney as he waits execution.
Chronologically, this story occurs before the Firefish trilogy, but if you read this one first you're apt to be disappointed with them. Press on, Polivka gets better.
Having read Firefish, of course, you suspect how this book has to turn out, but Polivka keeps you in suspense until the end. Masterfully weaving several narrative threads, Polivka gives us great insight into the history and struggles of Smith Delaney as he waits execution.
June 11, 2009
Review by Jill Williamson
The story opens with a man named Delaney sitting on a post in the middle of a jungle lake that is infested with piranah and horrible mermonkeys. As Delaney ponders how he came to be in such a predicament, the reader drifts with his memory and into a wonderful adventure. We come to know the story of a girl named Jenta who was low born but brought up as a lady. We learn of a young man named Damrick who stands up to defend the common folk from pirates by forming the Hell’s Gatemen. As Damrick and his men take to the seas, we meet many pirates such as Sharkbit Sutter, Conch Imbry, Dancer Clang, Skeel Baris, and Belisar the Whale. All of these ingreedients combine to form a very interesting and extremely entertaining adventure.
This book was engaging. It took a few chapters to get me into the author’s style, though. It was interesting to experience a story through one man’s memory of another man’s tale, but it worked very well with this pirate novel. Polivka’s characters were dynamic. I could see them and hear them. I could relate to how they got to where they were in life and why they did the things they did. I really liked one of the themes of how the love and encouragement and prayer of one person can change another’s life. I’ll be thinking of this one for a while.
This book not only had wonderful characters, the plot was smart and I couldn’t guess how the author was going to pull all his story threads together. That in itself makes it so satisfying in the end, though it’s not the happiest of tales. I highly recommend this one to just about everyone.
The story opens with a man named Delaney sitting on a post in the middle of a jungle lake that is infested with piranah and horrible mermonkeys. As Delaney ponders how he came to be in such a predicament, the reader drifts with his memory and into a wonderful adventure. We come to know the story of a girl named Jenta who was low born but brought up as a lady. We learn of a young man named Damrick who stands up to defend the common folk from pirates by forming the Hell’s Gatemen. As Damrick and his men take to the seas, we meet many pirates such as Sharkbit Sutter, Conch Imbry, Dancer Clang, Skeel Baris, and Belisar the Whale. All of these ingreedients combine to form a very interesting and extremely entertaining adventure.
This book was engaging. It took a few chapters to get me into the author’s style, though. It was interesting to experience a story through one man’s memory of another man’s tale, but it worked very well with this pirate novel. Polivka’s characters were dynamic. I could see them and hear them. I could relate to how they got to where they were in life and why they did the things they did. I really liked one of the themes of how the love and encouragement and prayer of one person can change another’s life. I’ll be thinking of this one for a while.
This book not only had wonderful characters, the plot was smart and I couldn’t guess how the author was going to pull all his story threads together. That in itself makes it so satisfying in the end, though it’s not the happiest of tales. I highly recommend this one to just about everyone.
June 4, 2009
Yo Ho and a bottle of rum.. a pirates life for me… okay maybe not for me, but a book… A pirates tale. Now that’s for me! After all the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and such that have been about the past few years I thought diving into this book would be an ease! I must admit the first chapter I couldn’t get into it. It gave a W-I-D-E overview and I didn’t see a focus. The second chapter I started to see a bit more form and started to meet a few characters. By the third chapter I was hooked! The part I love about it: - the different stories going… Delaney sitting on the post (waiting to be eaten by the mermonkey’s. lol) and his reminiscing; a love story entangled in the throws of adventure! Not too mushy - just enough of both to capture me, and hold me captive till the end. I still wanted more when I was done! I was rather sad that it was actually finished — and that is a sign of a great book — when you know you want more! Blaggard’s Moon is the prequel to the Trophy Case Trilogy which includes: “The Legend Of The Firefish”, “The Hand That Bears The Sword”, and “The Battle For Vast Dominion”. I am impressed with Polivka’s depth of storytelling. He really captured me (after that little rocky beginning) and I had a hard time putting the book down. Polivka writes with such imagery and detail that I do think both Christian and non- Christian will enjoy this book. And quite honestly, I’d love to see the movie if there ever is one!
November 1, 2018
I cannot fathom how I had never heard of this book until it showed up in the used bookstore. Blaggard's Moon is an intricate puzzle-box that locks into just the right places at just the right time to cause the maximum intrigue, a far-ranging and high-flying adventure story, and a purgative plumb into the depths of the human heart. I'd never even heard of it from Superversive Press, for crying out loud, and of all the books I've read in my life, only Till We Have Faces has been more superversive than this. Is it that no one can remember a name like “Polivka”? Is it that no one expects a fantasy masterwork from Harvest House Publishers? Whatever the case, it's a crying injustice and I implore everyone reading to buy the book if they must borrow money to get it.
Most of the mystery is in seeing how the major characters intertwine, so I'd better review them as individually as I possibly can.
SMITH DELANEY, a man of tremendous recall but very little imagination, is condemned to die a gruesome death at nightfall for the one truly good deed he has done in years. In waiting for his death, he recalls the whole sweeping story as told to him by his old shipmate Ham Drumbone, and reflects on it as it shines lights on his own sorry history and humanity as a whole. That reflection, though. Never has a man who spends a three-hundred-page book sitting on a post been so compelling. (A post in a lake set up by witch doctors and filled with starving piranhas, I'll grant, but that's not the heart of the drama.)
JENTA STILLMITHERS, a lowborn young woman who has learned deceit from the cradle so that she may escape her mother's menial lot, is the epitome of silk hiding steel. She is also the focal point of a question that, for perhaps the first time in my life, grabbed me straight by the throat: “Who gets the girl?” The very fact that Delaney and shipmates don't KNOW the answer to that question becomes wrapped up into the mystery of the book, and the resolution of it does not in any way disappoint.
DAMRICK FELLOWS' first fight with a pirate vessel exposes to him how deep the whole world is sunk in the pockets of piracy. From then on, a navy man no more, blazing his own trail, he brings every ounce of firepower and brainpower he has to bear against pirates and all their foul trade. He is, in many respects, the epitome of the swashbuckling hero, and far more considerate of the innocent than most of the breed, but his bloody-handed ruthlessness when on a mission shows an undeniable dark side to him.
CONCH IMBRY, de facto lord of the pirates, is to the likes of Barbossa as Sherlock Holmes is to Encyclopedia Brown. He is the archetype at its highest. This is a story of the nature of good in a corrupt world, and the Conch owns the seas, with all that implies. His every scene is poised on a knife-edge between the rough, genial courtliness of a man at ease with his power and an ice-cold undertow that is at its least perilous when it draws its victims to a mere grave.
RUNSFORD RYLAND is a shipping magnate who makes it his life's work to be deep in the mutual pockets of anyone who counts, that he may rest above all shifting waves like the scum he is. The running theme of men doing evil things to get by in this hard world, seeming (but only seeming) to have no choice, finds its most powerful spokesman in him. He is also a fine specimen of an argument against the idea that, if the deed is good, the intent doesn't really matter. The best deed he accomplishes in the novel, because it was done with evil intent, ends by filling me with a flavor of rage heretofore reserved only for Light Yagami. Now, this is NOT what Delaney thinks of Runsford. Delaney offers not an ounce more support toward his behavior, but he does manage to pity the man all the same, and in this Delaney is a better soul than I can be.
WENTWORTH RYLAND, his son, is a no-account carouser and all else that comes of lots of money and no ambition. A character like that in a story like this is usually a speed bump on the way to the main action, but not Wentworth. Wentworth is central, and deeply sympathetic, and his story, as it touches on all the others, encapsulates both the best and worst of humanity.
How may that be, you ask yourself. If you read the book, you'll soon also be racking your brains about the significance of “a lang true la”, and the whole nature of the chronology where Delaney comes into the story, and, for pity's sake, who lives and who dies and who gets the girl and why don't the pirates hearing the story seem to know the answers to these questions? And if my experience is any judge, you'll be brought to purgative tears before you're a hundred pages in.
Most of the mystery is in seeing how the major characters intertwine, so I'd better review them as individually as I possibly can.
SMITH DELANEY, a man of tremendous recall but very little imagination, is condemned to die a gruesome death at nightfall for the one truly good deed he has done in years. In waiting for his death, he recalls the whole sweeping story as told to him by his old shipmate Ham Drumbone, and reflects on it as it shines lights on his own sorry history and humanity as a whole. That reflection, though. Never has a man who spends a three-hundred-page book sitting on a post been so compelling. (A post in a lake set up by witch doctors and filled with starving piranhas, I'll grant, but that's not the heart of the drama.)
JENTA STILLMITHERS, a lowborn young woman who has learned deceit from the cradle so that she may escape her mother's menial lot, is the epitome of silk hiding steel. She is also the focal point of a question that, for perhaps the first time in my life, grabbed me straight by the throat: “Who gets the girl?” The very fact that Delaney and shipmates don't KNOW the answer to that question becomes wrapped up into the mystery of the book, and the resolution of it does not in any way disappoint.
DAMRICK FELLOWS' first fight with a pirate vessel exposes to him how deep the whole world is sunk in the pockets of piracy. From then on, a navy man no more, blazing his own trail, he brings every ounce of firepower and brainpower he has to bear against pirates and all their foul trade. He is, in many respects, the epitome of the swashbuckling hero, and far more considerate of the innocent than most of the breed, but his bloody-handed ruthlessness when on a mission shows an undeniable dark side to him.
CONCH IMBRY, de facto lord of the pirates, is to the likes of Barbossa as Sherlock Holmes is to Encyclopedia Brown. He is the archetype at its highest. This is a story of the nature of good in a corrupt world, and the Conch owns the seas, with all that implies. His every scene is poised on a knife-edge between the rough, genial courtliness of a man at ease with his power and an ice-cold undertow that is at its least perilous when it draws its victims to a mere grave.
RUNSFORD RYLAND is a shipping magnate who makes it his life's work to be deep in the mutual pockets of anyone who counts, that he may rest above all shifting waves like the scum he is. The running theme of men doing evil things to get by in this hard world, seeming (but only seeming) to have no choice, finds its most powerful spokesman in him. He is also a fine specimen of an argument against the idea that, if the deed is good, the intent doesn't really matter. The best deed he accomplishes in the novel, because it was done with evil intent, ends by filling me with a flavor of rage heretofore reserved only for Light Yagami. Now, this is NOT what Delaney thinks of Runsford. Delaney offers not an ounce more support toward his behavior, but he does manage to pity the man all the same, and in this Delaney is a better soul than I can be.
WENTWORTH RYLAND, his son, is a no-account carouser and all else that comes of lots of money and no ambition. A character like that in a story like this is usually a speed bump on the way to the main action, but not Wentworth. Wentworth is central, and deeply sympathetic, and his story, as it touches on all the others, encapsulates both the best and worst of humanity.
How may that be, you ask yourself. If you read the book, you'll soon also be racking your brains about the significance of “a lang true la”, and the whole nature of the chronology where Delaney comes into the story, and, for pity's sake, who lives and who dies and who gets the girl and why don't the pirates hearing the story seem to know the answers to these questions? And if my experience is any judge, you'll be brought to purgative tears before you're a hundred pages in.
February 2, 2018
Yet another fantastic read in the month of January! Mr. Polivka kept you on the edge of your seat through the entirety of this read and I cannot wait to pick up "The Legend of the Firefish" next and continue this amazing saga. (Sadly, I picked up this read when I endured one of those terrible reading slumps...so this review was a long time in coming.)
This book is as zany as it sounds! It has all the fun stuff that come with a pirate fantasy: brawls, ship battles, and a damsel in distress. But let's not forget the unmatched wit of this genius writer. Polivka has dry humor that has you laughing out loud in the corner (everyone around you will look at you strangely, but it's true!). Recommended for 14 and up!
This book is as zany as it sounds! It has all the fun stuff that come with a pirate fantasy: brawls, ship battles, and a damsel in distress. But let's not forget the unmatched wit of this genius writer. Polivka has dry humor that has you laughing out loud in the corner (everyone around you will look at you strangely, but it's true!). Recommended for 14 and up!
January 29, 2018
Very interesting book, with a unique way to share the story. Many good themes, sin, conscience, redemption. Unfortunately, there are several inappropriate uses of God’s name.
October 22, 2021
I loved this one so much more than I thought I would…even more than the trophy chase trilogy!
March 18, 2010
What is it about pirates? They’re low-down, blackhearted, sadistic, murderous, lying, cheating, thieving, drunken reprobates with lousy personal hygiene, but we root for them anyway. We make movies about them, we design amusement park rides around them, we name fast food restaurants after them, and we even dedicate a day on the international calendar to talk like them.
Maybe, as the advertisement goes, there’s a little pirate in all of us. He represents a lot of things we wish we could be…carefree, accountable to no one, intimidating, and maybe even filthy rich. We’re too civilized to let him break free because we know there’s nothing but death at the end of a rope or the point of a cutlass in his future, and we pray he’ll somehow mend his ways before then.
Give ‘em the Hook - Blaggard’s Moon opens strong. We meet a lone pirate, left for dead and hoping beyond all hope for a miracle that might give him one more chance at redemption. It wasn’t more than a couple of pages before I was hooked–I wanted to see Smith Delaney find a way off that post, and I wanted to know how he got there in the first place.
Join the Crew, or Walk the Plank – The power of choices and consequences provides a central theme that ties the story together, but doesn’t provide the reader easy answers. I enjoy stories that make me think and lead me to wonder what I might have done were I in the characters’ shoes. In Blaggard’s Moon, good choices are not necessarily rewarded with happy outcomes, and evil’s comeuppance is often long in coming. Missed opportunities cast long shadows. As you might expect, bad things can happen if ye’ve seen the curs-ed treasure.
They Call Me ‘Tater Salad’ – Polivka taps some serious inspiration naming his pirate captains. Who wouldn’t want to crew up with the likes of Sharkbit Sutter, Scatter Wilkins, Conch Imbry, or Dancer Clang?
Up the Long Ladder, and Down the Short Rope – The only part of Blaggard’s Moon that didn’t work for me was the conclusion. Polivka abruptly veers into a mystical resolution in which…urrk…aagh…
Arrr, there be no spoilers on this voyage, matey. Dead men tells no tales.
*koff* *wheeze* Aw, c’mon, Cap’n…how can I do a book review without talking about the ending?
Blast and bilge-rats. Oh, very well…perhaps just a small one, but yer on half rations tonight.
Thank you. Consarned inner pirate…sheesh. Besides the mystical fog-bank, there was one other bothersome issue for me. Though the seas have been nearly swept clean of piracy, a few “repentant” captains linger, turning their energies to more legitimate commerce. I found it a little hard to believe that any of these scoundrels would have been let off scot-free, given the Gatemen’s zeal and the amount of blood and treasure spent to eradicate the pirates.
All in all, I found Blaggard’s Moon a very well-written, absorbing read with memorable characters, pulse-pounding action, a flutter of romance, a bit of mystery, and a dead man’s chest full of piratey adventure. Pirate stories aren’t usually my first choice for reading material, but Blaggard’s Moon has given me a new appreciation for the genre. I’m definitely planning to check out Mr. Polivka’s other stories about Nearing Vast.
Maybe, as the advertisement goes, there’s a little pirate in all of us. He represents a lot of things we wish we could be…carefree, accountable to no one, intimidating, and maybe even filthy rich. We’re too civilized to let him break free because we know there’s nothing but death at the end of a rope or the point of a cutlass in his future, and we pray he’ll somehow mend his ways before then.
Give ‘em the Hook - Blaggard’s Moon opens strong. We meet a lone pirate, left for dead and hoping beyond all hope for a miracle that might give him one more chance at redemption. It wasn’t more than a couple of pages before I was hooked–I wanted to see Smith Delaney find a way off that post, and I wanted to know how he got there in the first place.
Join the Crew, or Walk the Plank – The power of choices and consequences provides a central theme that ties the story together, but doesn’t provide the reader easy answers. I enjoy stories that make me think and lead me to wonder what I might have done were I in the characters’ shoes. In Blaggard’s Moon, good choices are not necessarily rewarded with happy outcomes, and evil’s comeuppance is often long in coming. Missed opportunities cast long shadows. As you might expect, bad things can happen if ye’ve seen the curs-ed treasure.
They Call Me ‘Tater Salad’ – Polivka taps some serious inspiration naming his pirate captains. Who wouldn’t want to crew up with the likes of Sharkbit Sutter, Scatter Wilkins, Conch Imbry, or Dancer Clang?
Up the Long Ladder, and Down the Short Rope – The only part of Blaggard’s Moon that didn’t work for me was the conclusion. Polivka abruptly veers into a mystical resolution in which…urrk…aagh…
Arrr, there be no spoilers on this voyage, matey. Dead men tells no tales.
*koff* *wheeze* Aw, c’mon, Cap’n…how can I do a book review without talking about the ending?
Blast and bilge-rats. Oh, very well…perhaps just a small one, but yer on half rations tonight.
Thank you. Consarned inner pirate…sheesh. Besides the mystical fog-bank, there was one other bothersome issue for me. Though the seas have been nearly swept clean of piracy, a few “repentant” captains linger, turning their energies to more legitimate commerce. I found it a little hard to believe that any of these scoundrels would have been let off scot-free, given the Gatemen’s zeal and the amount of blood and treasure spent to eradicate the pirates.
All in all, I found Blaggard’s Moon a very well-written, absorbing read with memorable characters, pulse-pounding action, a flutter of romance, a bit of mystery, and a dead man’s chest full of piratey adventure. Pirate stories aren’t usually my first choice for reading material, but Blaggard’s Moon has given me a new appreciation for the genre. I’m definitely planning to check out Mr. Polivka’s other stories about Nearing Vast.
August 14, 2013
Some books are about the plot, the twist and turns of the mystery. Others are about the feelings and emotions of each character as the heart is revealed chapter by chapter; but Blaggard's Moon has the best of both worlds.
The story line itself was superb. A young man coming home from the Navy, ready to fight the worlds evilest men on the high seas (pirates!)...a love that was destined to be, yet, cut short by deaths appointed time...and one man who remembers it all, convinced that death would come to him shorty, but rescued by an unlikely lot, never to be the same again. It was the story of Damrick Fellows and how he fought "The Conch" and other fierce pirates of his day. The woman he loved, Jenta Stillsmithers, and how she played a role in the victory and changed the life of more than one man...for the better.
There were three to four (if you count the narrating pirate and his fellow crew members) parts of the story that the author would flip back and forth between. During the first half of the book I thought the transitions were too abrupt but towards the end (when everything came together) the style fit better and I rather enjoyed it.
As someone who loves pirate stories - I fell in love with this one. I thought it was well written (though a little sad at the end) and very mysterious. A story that can keep me guessing and surprise me with its twist and turns is always a winner in my book - and Blaggard's Moon did just that! This was my first experience reading one of George Bryan Polivka's novels and I was impressed. If you enjoy a good pirate story mixed in with some fantasy this is the book for you. But if you just like pirate stories I'd still give it a try - I'm sure you'd like it!
The story line itself was superb. A young man coming home from the Navy, ready to fight the worlds evilest men on the high seas (pirates!)...a love that was destined to be, yet, cut short by deaths appointed time...and one man who remembers it all, convinced that death would come to him shorty, but rescued by an unlikely lot, never to be the same again. It was the story of Damrick Fellows and how he fought "The Conch" and other fierce pirates of his day. The woman he loved, Jenta Stillsmithers, and how she played a role in the victory and changed the life of more than one man...for the better.
There were three to four (if you count the narrating pirate and his fellow crew members) parts of the story that the author would flip back and forth between. During the first half of the book I thought the transitions were too abrupt but towards the end (when everything came together) the style fit better and I rather enjoyed it.
As someone who loves pirate stories - I fell in love with this one. I thought it was well written (though a little sad at the end) and very mysterious. A story that can keep me guessing and surprise me with its twist and turns is always a winner in my book - and Blaggard's Moon did just that! This was my first experience reading one of George Bryan Polivka's novels and I was impressed. If you enjoy a good pirate story mixed in with some fantasy this is the book for you. But if you just like pirate stories I'd still give it a try - I'm sure you'd like it!
May 28, 2010
This book begins at the end and through flashbacks we learn why this pirate, Smith Delaney, is sitting on a post in a pond and awaiting his death by the terrible mermonkeys . Author, George Bryan Polivka, has done a masterful job in his use of the flashbacks. Through the wandering mind of Delaney, we embark on three stories: Damrick Fellows, the pirate hunter; Jenta, a young woman doing her best to play the cards she has been dealt; and of course, Delaney, a pirate contemplating his life and the choices he made.
At first I had difficulty getting into the book since most stories are told from a linear fashion, but soon I was swept up with the characters, the circumstances they found themselves in and the curiosity of what will happen, how will it resolve, and so forth. Characters were believable and the prose well written. On a side note, I find it interesting how many authors do not remain in one point of view for each scene as we newbie authors are being taught, but Mr. Polivka managed to slide smoothly between POV’s. There were a few times where I had to reread a sentence or two to determine who’s POV we were in, but then, of course, I’m a fast reader, eager to discover what happens next so I tend to skim. It’s a bad habit, I know, I’m trying to stop.
Blaggard’s Moon is a swashbuckling story of choices and consequences. Honor contrasts dishonor as the characters grabble with staying true no matter the cost. It is well worth the read.
At first I had difficulty getting into the book since most stories are told from a linear fashion, but soon I was swept up with the characters, the circumstances they found themselves in and the curiosity of what will happen, how will it resolve, and so forth. Characters were believable and the prose well written. On a side note, I find it interesting how many authors do not remain in one point of view for each scene as we newbie authors are being taught, but Mr. Polivka managed to slide smoothly between POV’s. There were a few times where I had to reread a sentence or two to determine who’s POV we were in, but then, of course, I’m a fast reader, eager to discover what happens next so I tend to skim. It’s a bad habit, I know, I’m trying to stop.
Blaggard’s Moon is a swashbuckling story of choices and consequences. Honor contrasts dishonor as the characters grabble with staying true no matter the cost. It is well worth the read.
October 24, 2009
I really thoguht that this book wouldn't be very good, only because I didn't enjoy Firefish all that much. However, the narrator of this book is a different person, so Polivka was able to give it a very different voice.
I enjoyed it a fair amount. I didn't find it as captivating as it could be, but it was interesting enough to keep reading (even if I only read it in small chunks over several months).
I enjoyed Jenta's storyline the most, and kind of glossed over other parts.
I'd recommend this book to people who enjoy Christian literature, and enjoy books about pirates. I wouldn't recommend this story to people who dislike religion in their fiction.
I enjoyed it a fair amount. I didn't find it as captivating as it could be, but it was interesting enough to keep reading (even if I only read it in small chunks over several months).
I enjoyed Jenta's storyline the most, and kind of glossed over other parts.
I'd recommend this book to people who enjoy Christian literature, and enjoy books about pirates. I wouldn't recommend this story to people who dislike religion in their fiction.
February 15, 2010
Delany is awaiting a hideous death, to avert his mind from the things to come, he dwells on stories of the past. Murder, Pirates, Love, and Betrayal are the stories back bone.
This was a little confusing at first, the first 2 chapters I was a little confused. The writing was slightly confusing at times. But the overall story was gripping. I wasn't to excited about the mermonkeys being demons or something. I loved the name for Jenta, never though of that name before.
It was like the Isle of Swords by Wayne Baton...only for more advanced readers.
This was a little confusing at first, the first 2 chapters I was a little confused. The writing was slightly confusing at times. But the overall story was gripping. I wasn't to excited about the mermonkeys being demons or something. I loved the name for Jenta, never though of that name before.
It was like the Isle of Swords by Wayne Baton...only for more advanced readers.
January 4, 2014
I was excited when I found this book. Yay! Pirates!
While there were indeed pirates, they were rather one dimensional as with all the other characters in the book. Each character had approximately one trait that was then used repeatedly and with every chapter I read it just became more frustrating. Jenta existed only to be saved and provide a romantic interest and Delaney was tormented by guilt and so on...
In the end I couldn't finish it, I got to the last chapter and gave up.
While there were indeed pirates, they were rather one dimensional as with all the other characters in the book. Each character had approximately one trait that was then used repeatedly and with every chapter I read it just became more frustrating. Jenta existed only to be saved and provide a romantic interest and Delaney was tormented by guilt and so on...
In the end I couldn't finish it, I got to the last chapter and gave up.
May 10, 2016
The book had some good thought-provoking themes that I appreciated, however, I did not care for the book overall. I found the storytelling slow, rambling and a bit dry. Though, I will admit narration is my least favorite style of storytelling and that probably colored my opinion. I preferred Polivka's Firefish trilogy. I found it's themes more captivating and the writing style more engaging.
August 14, 2016
I was looking for something different when I came upon this book on my library's online database. It satisfied my want for something unlike anything else I've read. There was much about it I liked, but also some things I didn't, such as the mermonkeys and the Hants. But it was still an enjoyable read.
January 16, 2023
This is my second time reading this book.
"Where did it all start?... Deep in the darkest parts of the heart, where men don't know what goes on even inside their own selves."
An engaging adventure, exploring themes of justice, evil, mortality, and the depths of the human heart.
"Where did it all start?... Deep in the darkest parts of the heart, where men don't know what goes on even inside their own selves."
An engaging adventure, exploring themes of justice, evil, mortality, and the depths of the human heart.
August 30, 2011
Original, if a bit fuzzy
April 29, 2016
A truly magnificent work of art. From cover to cover you find yourself falling in love with many characters whose own characteristics make one questions ones own moral character.
June 21, 2018
Loved this book! Such a great adventure. This was actually the forth book in the series but anyone starting out should start right here with this one. It leads beautifully into the next three installments of the Trophy Chase Trilogy.
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