I recently read Pirates of the Caribbean | Jack Sparrow: City of Gold
Although it took me too long to finish this one, it’s honestly one of my favorites in the series. It’s paced well, and quite a lot happens. It also wraps up the current storyline, the medallion arc that started after the Sword of Cortés storyline ended.
This one lasted three books. I’m kinda sick of New Orleans and medallions by now, I’m glad they didn’t stretch it out any further. At the end of the previous book, Arabella was kidnapped by her mother and what little remains of her mom’s crew.
The Barnacle crew figured they were going back to New Orleans, and follow them there. The entire city has turned into silver. Madame Minuit has taken over, and her pirates patrol the streets. They split up into different teams to find information.
It was quite funny seeing Jack and Fitzwilliam team up. Eventually, they learn of a location they should investigate next. That scene where they almost get busted outside the church in the rain was pretty intense as well.
Madame Minuit and a bunch of other pirates are at this location. Jack’s crew get busted almost instantly, and a fight breaks out. Arabella’s mom and her crew, including Arabella, crash the party and join the fight too.
Madame Minuit does some voodoo shit and possesses Silverback and Left-Foot Louis. They turn into a snake monster with three heads. Everyone else escapes outside on Jack’s orders. Jack and a guy from the Fleur crew stay behind to fight the monster.
We get some details about the fight. The other guy gets heavily injured. But parts of it was kind of a cop-out, tbh. Jack comes outside after a while, victorious. So, the big, bad villain they’ve fought for three books died “off-screen”. Somewhat lame.
I’ve complained about this in some of the previous books, and I will do it again. They add asterisks for every little reference, and at the bottom of the page, it’ll say which book it happened in. They do it in a way that just comes off as insecure.
As if they don’t trust that I’ve actually bothered with the reading order, or that I am invested in this continuity. I can’t say this with 100% certainty, but I think I even saw a typo or two in this book. If so, that’s unprofessional.
This is a book published by Disney, after all… Something very fucking unexpected happened at the end of this book. I figured they beat another villain, and was off to a new story arc. A new adventure for the Barnacle crew. Tim said he would leave to follow his own path.
Fair enough, it was very rushed how he joined them, regardless. And he stayed with them for a very brief time. I prefer that he won’t become a regular. But Arabella chooses to stay with her mother. She missed her for so much of her life, and doesn’t want to lose her again.
They tease the possibility of her returning (I hope she will), but she wants to stay with her mom for now. Understandable, ngl. But it’s ironic that they fought so much earlier, and that her mom literally kidnapped her in the previous volume…
But oh, well. However, Jean, Tumen, and Constance leave too! Tumen can finally return the medallion to his village and be welcomed back. And he just wants to remain there. I mean, fair. It IS his home, and I think he never meant to leave it in the first place…
Jean and him have become such good friends, so he wants to move there too. And ofc, he’ll bring the cat. This literally only leaves Jack and Fitzwilliam. And though I think they’ve come to appreciate each other more with time, they don’t exactly love one another…
There’s hardly any Barnacle crew left! For crying out loud, this is kinda ridiculous. But it does make sense. And honestly, I applaud them for doing something so bold. This forces the story to keep changing and not stick to what’s safe. This might be interesting.
I hope they don’t just undo everything to return to the status quo in the next book. That’d be lame as hell, and this ending would mean nothing. It sounds kinda boring to lose so many important characters as well, though… I liked when Fitzy and Jack teamed up in this book.
But having the entire status quo rely purely on that dynamic from now on? Idk, man… I’m gonna be open-minded, though. Oh, also, Jack and Fitz visited Tia Dalma at the very beginning of this book. Before New Orleans. I honestly don’t remember why…
Something happened to Fitzwilliam. If it becomes important later, I’ll touch on it more. I will say that the ending of the other characters’ journeys felt earned. I can respect it. I was just beginning to really like the team dynamic, though.
They’ve definitely grown closer by now. I lowkey wish it lasted a little longer, but maybe this is for the best. They teased the next story arc and the next villain in the epilogue… Davy Jones! Ok, THAT’S cool! He is my favorite villain in the entire franchise.
He was also introduced, technically, in the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Dead Man’s Chest. That’s my favorite movie in the franchise. He was awesome, and he kept being awesome in the third movie. He clearly has backstory with Jack.
I guess this is when we get to actually see (or read about…) that. For the first time in a hot minute, I’m very excited to see what happens next. I already own the next book. Hopefully, I’ll read it soon!