The Pirate Round

The Brethren of the Coast #3

by James L. Nelson

In the wake of The Guardship and The Blackbirder comes The Pirate Round, the exciting conclusion to the Brethren of the Coast trilogy and the swashbuckling adventures of former pirate Thomas Marlowe. In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's Tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source of the Indian Ocean and ships carrying fabulous treasure to the great mogul of India. Faced with ruin, Thomas Marlowe is determined to find a way to the riches of the East. Carrying his crop of tobacco in his privateer, Elizabeth Galley, he secretly plans to continue on to the Indian Ocean to hunt the mogul's ships. But Marlowe does not know that he is sailing into a triangle of hatred and vengeance -- a rendezvous with two bitter enemies from his past. Ultimately, none will emerge unscathed from the blood and thunder, the treachery and danger, of sailing the Pirate Round.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Pirates, Nautical, Adventure, Historical, Action

384 pages, Hardcover

Published July 23, 2002

About the author

James L. Nelson (1962-) is an American historical nautical novelist. He was born in Lewiston, Maine. In 1980, Nelson graduated from Lewiston High School. Nelson attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for two years, and then transferred to UCLA, with the ambition of becoming a film director. Nelson, his wife, Lisa, and their daughter Betsy lived for two years in Steubenville, Ohio, while Lisa attended Franciscan University. They also have two boys, Nate and Jack. They now live in Harpswell, Maine, where Nelson continues to write full time.

Reviews

[Steven Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third volume, and the grand finale, of the trilogy featuring Thomas Marlowe, reformed pirate turned Virginia planter in the 18th century. It moves at hyper-speed, like a caricature of the Conrad short story "Heart of Darkness" where every bend in the Congo River reveals a new, potential catastrophe as the steamer travels upstream. It keeps you on the edge of your seat as Marlowe faces business problems and decides to counteract them by delivering his cargo of tobacco to London himself, in his ship Elizabeth Galley that has been laid up since his last adventure.

There are immediate "hooks" to demand the reader's attention: the ship is no longer armed, so he's planning to depend on speed to avoid the man-made hazards of an Atlantic crossing in wartime, without waiting for the Royal Navy escort that's planned for the rest of the commerce from the American colonies to London. He has made enemies, both in his pirate days and as a privateer, and two of these men are truly remarkable villains, totally committed to destroying him. His wife, Elizabeth, insists on going, adding to the tension, in the belief that the crossing will be fairly easy and she can enjoy the London scene for a while as well as making a profit; she's been managing the estate so she has a legitimate reason to supervise the transactions. One of these enemies recognizes Marlowe in London, after he's unloaded his cargo but before he's been paid for it, and he barely escapes.

It's a fact that piracy is addictive, luring even honest men with the thought of a quick payoff. This is even more believably a temptation if you've been on the wrong side of the law already. Marlowe decides to join the pirates in Madagascar, a move that's ably foreshadowed when there's a shortage of seamen because of the war and when planning the voyage, he needs to hint at the possibility when recruiting his crew. Even so, he has only a handful of men, not enough to man a broadside of big guns even if Elizabeth Galley were equipped with them. But, she has the ports and fittings, such as padeyes for the tackles, and breechings, and he figures he can buy them later with a cache of money from his previous activities.

He and his crew, and his wife too, experience "the pirate round" in the Indian Ocean. The author knows a lot more about this than I do, and I didn't try to check if it's really true that the Moghul Empire had a rich trade in these waters that could support a large number of pirates. However, it makes a great story, demonstrating that the relative wealth and power of cultures has changed a lot since 1710. Most readers will be familiar with piracy on the Spanish Main in the 1600's, and many of the stories about pirates in the Americas date from the 1700's, but somehow I never was exposed to this theater of activity. Robert Stevenson didn't invent the pirate tale, although he certainly made it popular with "Treasure Island", and he didn't make up the fact that pirate crews had a rough and ready sort of democracy that even could trump the racism of a time when slavery was a threat in all cultures. The author either did thorough research or made a lot of it up to appear completely believable to readers. He's mastered the terminology and seamanship details to be authentic to the period. The book has many storms as well as naval battles. Characters get crossed and double crossed and it's suitably bloody without being disgusting.

This book is excellent entertainment and deeply addictive -- you'll be spending lots of time with it. It has an old fashioned, satisfying ending, too. I recommend it highly.

[Marco Beneventi · Rating 5 out of 5]

1706, Thomas Marlowe è ormai un rispettabile proprietario terriero ma con l’Europa in guerra il commercio del tabacco è in sofferenza, decide quindi, assieme a sua moglie Elisabeth, di imbarcarsi nel contrabbando dello stesso verso l’Inghilterra per cercare di arginare il tracollo finanziario che lo sta colpendo.
Giunto lì peró si vedrà costretto dagli eventi a dismettere gli abiti da commerciante e riprendere quelli da pirata per dare la caccia alle navi portavalori del Gran Mogol d’India.

“Il ritorno del pirata” scritto da James L. Nelson e pubblicato nel 2002 è il terzo ed ultimo libro della “Trilogia dei Pirati”, in questo romanzo troveremo tutti i principali personaggi incontrati nei precedenti lavoro con l’aggiunta di due nuovi antagonisti capaci di dare movimento al racconto che risulterà essere fra i tre romanzi quello più spiccatamente piratesco.
Come già accaduto, anche in questo capitolo l’azione si svolgerà tanto a terra quanto in mare creando così una varietà d’ambientazione piacevole a leggersi.
I personaggi, come sempre ben caratterizzati, avranno qui uno sviluppo ben riconoscibile andando ad approfondire lati intimi che non erano ancora stati svelati.
Duelli, tradimenti, battaglie navali, morti inaspettate saranno il corollario di un ultima avventura che ben conclude questa ottima trilogia.

[M. Sprouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the best book of this series, as a concluding novel should be. This one was the more "piratey" of the bunch and you can almost feel yourself on the deck of a ship. Though it starts a little slow (thus only 4 stars) it begins to be action packed about midway through and never lets up. There are quite a few twist, some you can see coming and some not so much. Even though there were only 3 books in this story, I'm going to miss Thomas Marlowe and his pirates as they were my main beach read for 3 years (minus Covid). Maybe next summer I'll try one of James L. Nelson's other fictional books?

[Juan Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me habían comparado James L. Nelson con Patrick O´Brian y desde luego queda a bastante distancia. No hay duda que Nelson se desenvuelve bien con la vida y faena de los barcos de vela, aunque tendría que escoger mejor a sus traductores y de cirles que "Course" no se traduce como "curso" sino como "rumbo", amén que en un barco no hay cuerdas ni sogas. Sólo cabos.... Pero en este tercer libro de la saga comete un error que dice muy poco de su conocimiento de la época y es aseverar que entregaron a un pirata a España, para que cayera en manos de la inquisición, como si la piratería fuera un asusnto competente de esa institución. En fin, a pesar de todo se lee con bastante agrado

[Giorgia Lilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo è l'ultimo libro della trilogia e devo dire che mi ha appassionato di più rispetto ai due precedenti. Lo reputo una buona lettura, ma molto tecnica per quanto riguarda la parte riguardante le manovre navali e le componenti delle navi. Detto ciò lo consiglio!!

[reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good conclusion to the series

Book two was a little weak and I almost didn't read three. It was worth the wait. The ending a twisting heart wrenching affair worthy of a great novel.

[John Nino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is life

An amazing story to end a very good trilogy. Glad that all loose ends were brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The plot line was good. Character development excellent. I enjoyed it.

[A. Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite tedious and predictable

Many typos and misspellings. So much jargon it took away from the story. Took weeks to get through it. Don't waste your time or money on this one. Also, he needs to learn the difference between then and than.

[Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was as good as the first in the series, although the only one to end on such a somber note. I am genuinely in grieving and may be for some time.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a true happy ending, in the Pirate world they don't exist. It did give an ending worthy of Pirates

[Justin Hyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Sunhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

With two books of character development behind it, this book continues to explore the distinctions between patriot, privateer, and pirate. Kudos to Nelson for knowing when to finish a series.

[Lector45 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me sorprendió positivamente este libro. Muy bien escrito con una trama llena del ambiente esperado en una novela con piratas y su mundo.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This high seas pirate adventure brings the trilogy to a good conclusion. It felt a little disjointed at times , but to be fair it kept up the pace. Overall a good story with the usual cliffhangers.

[Brandon Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling pirate adventure that ties up the trilogy pretty perfectly- a nice theme that emerged towards the end of the story as well. 5 stars-

[T. Kozumplik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping, ripping yarn!

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good old fashioned rip-roaring pirate story with good historical detail.

[Tom Batalias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a terrific conclusion to the trilogy, all three books I enjoyed very much. Thomas Marlowe is an interesting character in that he is not your ordinary "hero", but really a ruthless pirate who has redeeming qualities that make you root for him just the same. I have read and enjoyed most of Nelson's non-fiction works, and this fictional series was a great escape. I like how he weaves history and nautical jargon together to create a tale that moves fast and has interesting characters.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

September 19th (today!) is International Talk Like A Pirate Day So avast ye lubbers. Ye best be readin this har book. Awr! Thar be diamonds and pearly, emeralds and a ruby as big as an ostrich egg. A treasure of gold and silver spillin out in your lap when yer open these har pages. Beware of the rum yah lubbers.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an action-packed read for the last(?) installment of this series! I do have some criticism of the story but the last quarter of the book kept me glued to my seat until I finished the story. Great read!

[Mark Mekkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot going on in this book, and while there were some elements that were slightly disappointing, there were enough twists and surprises to the way that it all came together that makes this a highly recommendable grand finale.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great ending to a fantastic series

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine swashbuckling adventure.

[Steve Goble · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one stretches credulity a bit more than Nelson's previous tales of Marlowe, but you still get pirates and action and suspense and all that.

[Brian Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good