Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Silver

3.32 of 5 stars 3.32 · rating details · 266 ratings · 71 reviews

July, 1802. In the marshy eastern reaches of the Thames, a young boy spends his days roaming the mist-shrouded estuaries and listening to his father's tales of adventures: on the high seas, of curses, murder and revenge, black spots and buried treasure--and of a man with a wooden leg.

It's almost forty years after the events of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: Jim...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published May 29th 2012 by Doubleday Canada (first published March 15th 2012)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Win a Copy of This Book

Silver: Return to Treasure Island
by Andrew Motion

Release date: May 14, 2013

THE RIP-ROARING SEQUEL TO THE GREATEST ADVENTURE EVER TOLD

Almost forty years following the events of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Jim Haw…more

Enter to win

Giveaway dates: May 13 - May 25, 2013

10 copies available, 129 people requesting

Countries available: US

View details »

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,298)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 21, 2012 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fun light read, captures tone of Stevenson's Treasure Island. Having one of the main characters be female, even though disguised, doesn't seem like something Stevenson would do, but it does allow for the love interest and appeals to today's readership. It's certainly something I would have dearly liked to read back in Gr. 7--all those swashbuckling adventures never had female main characters, and the historical fiction I liked always had titles like "He [never She] Went With Marco Polo (or Vasco...more

like · see review

Oct 25, 2012 D.L. Morrese rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island? Really? When I saw this on the shelf at my local library, I thought it takes a pretty competent and gutsy writer to try that. Well, why not? I picked it up, took it home, and read it over the course of the last few evenings. This is what I thought about it.
I won’t try to compare this novel to Treasure Island. It’s been years since I’ve read Stevenson’s classic adventure tale of pirates and buried treasure. This is perhaps just as well since t...more A sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island? Really? When I saw this on the shelf at my local library, I thought it takes a pretty competent and gutsy writer to try that. Well, why not? I picked it up, took it home, and read it over the course of the last few evenings. This is what I thought about it.
I won’t try to compare this novel to Treasure Island. It’s been years since I’ve read Stevenson’s classic adventure tale of pirates and buried treasure. This is perhaps just as well since this novel stands on its own, albeit with settings and minor characters from Treasure Island. It takes place about forty years after that book ends. Jim Hawkins, the son of the original Jim Hawkins, is the first person narrator. Natty, the daughter of Long John Silver, is his companion and the instigator of their adventure together. Their goal is to return to Treasure Island and recover the remaining treasure -- a large number of silver bars.
I loved the prose from the beginning. It definitely has a quality and style you see too seldom in recent writing. It did not try to ‘grab’ be at the beginning. It did not try to shock me or entice me with ‘action.’ (I normally hate openings like that.) It invited me in, the narrator almost seeming like a bashful host for the story he was to tell. In my opinion, the prose style alone makes this book worth reading.
In other ways, though, I found the novel less satisfying. The plot tends to drag in places, with no mysteries or answers being discovered, just bits of well-executed prose marking the passage of time and reflecting. I also did not find the characters overly interesting. Jim, as the average young man grown bored by his father’s retellings of his adventures, just did not ring true to me. He seems too subservient and has too little longing for his own adventures to be interesting until Natty shows up. After that, he mainly follows her lead. Although it would be historically unlikely, I think this story may have been better told from Natty’s point of view rather than from Jim’s. She is the far stronger and more interesting of the two main characters. I would not object to this lack of fidelity to historic sensibilities because this is not a story told by a Victorian writer for a Victorian reader. It is a modern story for a modern audience.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I recommend it to fans of the original Treasure Island and to anyone looking for a well-written new novel that is out of the ordinary.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Miss Spicer was 'my' librarian when I was young. Her dark dresses, severe bun and black glasses gave her a stern air which definitely deterred anyone from running and talking loudly in the library. But, it was she who fed and fostered my love of reading. I always asked her what I should read next. To her credit, she never, ever brushed me off. One summer she decided I would read the classics - Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island and more. It was the sense of adventure, the un...more Miss Spicer was 'my' librarian when I was young. Her dark dresses, severe bun and black glasses gave her a stern air which definitely deterred anyone from running and talking loudly in the library. But, it was she who fed and fostered my love of reading. I always asked her what I should read next. To her credit, she never, ever brushed me off. One summer she decided I would read the classics - Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island and more. It was the sense of adventure, the unknown and putting myself into the character's shoes that spirited me away for many a hot afternoon.

With the release Andrew Motion's new book Silver - Return to Treasure Island - I was yet again transported away on a adventure with pirates, parrots and plunder.

Jim Hawkins returned to England with his share of the treasure and now, in 1802, is an innkeeper. He runs the inn with the help of his son Jim. Jim has grown up hearing the tale of Treasure Island over and over again. And so has Natty, who shows up one night with a proposition for young Jim from her father - Long John Silver. Silver wants young Jim to 'obtain' the map to Treasure Island from his father. There is still treasure to be recovered and Silver will provide the ship, captain and crew for the voyage. He is too infirm to go himself, so Natty will go in his place, disguised as a boy.

Andrew Motion is a superb storyteller. His tale pays homage to Stevenson, keeping the tone and language true to the time. The book isn't a fast paced swashbuckler, although there is of course a requisite sword fight. Rather, it is somewhat leisurely in spots, allowing us to take in Jim's narrative and descriptions. A third of the book is devoted to getting to the island. Once there, Motion does a great job of re imagining what the island would be like - and what happened to those left marooned many years ago. It is here that the story takes off - good vs. evil, love lost and found, duty and honour and more. In a sly nod to the original, the crewman most often in the crow's nest, keeping an eye out - is named Stevenson. The ending left me a bit unsatisfied. The door has been left open for a sequel's sequel.

I'm not sure if children today would enjoy this sequel or not, but this adult quite enjoyed being transported back to her childhood.(less)

like 7 likes · see review

Feb 02, 2013 Carly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Silver is a cute and very close-to-canon continuation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. If you check it out on audio, it is narrated by none other than David Tennant, alias The Tenth Doctor from the TV programme Doctor Who.

According to the story, Jim Hawkins of Treasure Island fame got his treasure, bought an inn, and settled down to what turned out to be very short-lived wedded bliss. His son, also Jim, who I will refer to as Jim#2 (although as far as I recall he's really Jim#3), gr...more Silver is a cute and very close-to-canon continuation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. If you check it out on audio, it is narrated by none other than David Tennant, alias The Tenth Doctor from the TV programme Doctor Who.

According to the story, Jim Hawkins of Treasure Island fame got his treasure, bought an inn, and settled down to what turned out to be very short-lived wedded bliss. His son, also Jim, who I will refer to as Jim#2 (although as far as I recall he's really Jim#3), grew up with a distant, grieving father whose main interaction was to tell story after story about his adventures on the high seas. One night, Jim#2 is lured out of the inn by a young girl, who turns out to be none other than the daughter of the infamous Long John Silver. And when Jim#2 meets Long John, the old pirate has a story of his own: he tells Jim#2 that the original treasure seekers only brought back the gold from the island, leaving...wait for it...all of the silver behind. Soon, Jim#2 is tempted to steal his father's map and start an adventure of his own.

It was a very cute story, but I don't have much to say in my review, because, honestly, I wasn't the target audience for this particular book. I'm not very fond of "what happened after" types of stories or sequels involving the children of the main characters from the first book. This is probably due to an early-childhood association of such sequels with made-for-video low budget Disney flicks. I also read Treasure Island when I was very young--probably too young to appreciate it--and honestly, my main current association with the book is the fantastic, also very close-to-original-story Movie, "Muppet Treasure Island", which I watched repeatedly when I was in middle school. (I thought it was brilliant--songs, muppets, and Tim Curry as Long John Silver). So mainly what happened as I listened to Silver is that I immediately got all of the songs from Muppet Treasure Island stuck permanently in my head--a rather impressive feat, since I don't think I've seen the movie for probably about 10 years. (If only I had stored something useful in my brain instead.) Tennant is a pretty good narrator--he doesn't have the exuberance of his character as the Doctor, but then, neither does the character he portrays.

The story itself is fun and lightweight--Jim #2 travels with a reputable ship rather than a band of professional pirates, so no moral complexity there. He ends up encountering a band of slavers, and fortunately, despite a time period when slavery was common, all of the protagonists are firmly pro-abolition, so there's a little more generalized righteousness and moral centre than the original. The book itself veers more towards straightforward adventure story than comedy--but I couldn't help comparing it against a version of Treasure Island that involved the immortal lines, "On occasion there may be someone you have to execute/But when you're a professional pirate/You don't have to wear a suit", etc. It also completely dispensed with all of the interesting ambiguities that made Long John Silver such an interesting character. He is pretty roundly demonized into a threatening, evil man with a driving passion--and that's not the Silver I know. On the positive side, Jim#2 is a likeable character, as is the captain of the ship. There is also a strong female character--Natty, daughter of Long John Silver, who joins Jim on his travels disguised as a boy. Again, Silver is cute, fun, lightweight, and sure to appeal to fans of the original story.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Oct 01, 2012 Tom Vater rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hey ho and a buttle of Rum, laddies, pull your cutlasses and sink this ship. It ain't fit to sail the pirate seas.
I must admit, I had high swashbuckling hopes for Silver. A sequel of sorts to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, a high rolling high seas adventure that's been a favorite of mine pretty much since I have been able to read.
Unfortunately Andrew Motion's Silver is a moralistic dud, mired in cliches and stuffy as chintz. Motion is an accomplished poet and editor, and no doubt, th...more Hey ho and a buttle of Rum, laddies, pull your cutlasses and sink this ship. It ain't fit to sail the pirate seas.
I must admit, I had high swashbuckling hopes for Silver. A sequel of sorts to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, a high rolling high seas adventure that's been a favorite of mine pretty much since I have been able to read.
Unfortunately Andrew Motion's Silver is a moralistic dud, mired in cliches and stuffy as chintz. Motion is an accomplished poet and editor, and no doubt, the writing is assured, the style effectively harks back to Stenvenson's wonderful tale of pirate derring-do and the story starts off promising enough with Jim Hawkins the younger, son of Jim Hawkins, the boy who traveled on the Hispaniola to the dreaded Treasure Island in the original text, tending bar for his embittered aging father. His life is solitary and frustrating until one fine day Natty, the daughter of Long John Silver, the most charismatic character in Treasure Island, and perhaps one of the most remarkable characters in literature generally, turns up on his doorstep and suggests he join her on a return journey, financed by her dying father, to the island, to extract more loot. A bit thin but so far so good.
The young teenagers have a ship at their disposal, commandeered by righteous Captain Beamish and manned by a crew of salt dogs vaguely reminiscent of the gang that shipped out on the Hispaniola, the ship in the original tale. But only just vaguely.
As soon as the intrepid explorers head West, the story hits deep waters and begins to drown. Because the premise is feeble, the story feels episodic, the connections between chapters first appear flimsy, then appear merely connected by the author's far too obvious moral make-up and finally collapse into-pseudo Christian or Enlightened (depending on your point of view) nonsense.

On the boat, young Jim, passive and ultimately boring throughout with not a filthy thought for Natty in his dull unimaginative mind, is challenged by the nephew of Israel Hands, one of the pirates in the original book, who gets so worked up about the boy's presence that he stabs a crew man to death and then jumps overboard drowning himself. The scene, through engagingly written, has little influence if any on the rest of the text and is symptomatic of Silver. One asks Why? expecting a punch line later that never comes.
The boat eventually reaches the island which is inhabited by the three pirates who were left there forty years earlier in Treasure Island. These guys should be dead or at least seriously decrepit by now, but they are having the times of their lives, partying with a group of slaves and their masters who got shipwrecked years earlier.
In Andrew Motion's book, literally and proverbially speaking, pirates are bad. There's no Jack Sparrow around and certainly no John Silver either. Pirates are bad, period. They drink, they rape, they kill, the island has made them insane. But not entertainingly so.
Jim and Natty are good, incensed and shaken to the core by this depravity and the rest of the book is really just a tale about how the world's evil can and must be fought. Yawn.
I doubt Andrew Motion has ever been anywhere other than the local supermarket or done anything other than give talks in Oxbridge - this is academic middle class white man's writing at its worst.
Stevenson was an intrepid traveler who was ill most of his life and ended his days on a tropical island. His book drips with moral ambiguity and the most fleshed out character, Silver was vile and heroic, animal and human in turns.
In Motion's Silver, these qualities are neatly separated between the bad guys and the good guys. And it gets worse.
As Jim and Natty stumble round the island, they discover strange animals. The dodo is familiar enough but squirrels the size of dogs sound like they have escaped from Dr. Moreau. No explanation, no reason for them to be in the story. Another creature is heard but never seen.
In the book's most depressing episode, Jim and Captain Beamish who behaves like a sentimental idiot who deserves to die (and die he does) encounter a beach full of sea lions that's straight out of a Greenpeace ad. Jim goes for a swim, underestimates the current, drowns and is saved by a sea lion pup. What?
The comments on slavery are revolting - Beamish changes the mission he is endowed with from finding the loot and getting the hell off the island to saving the 'negroes', a passive, Bible-clutching bunch, who know their place, except for the leader Scotland who escapes the clutches of the pirates only to end his life later after his wife is killed (in one of the very few good scenes as one of the evil pirates kills her for fun). Beamish endangers his crew because he is a progressive thinker. In one of the most stomach churning moments, he reflects that while slavery is by no means finished (We are talking early 19th century. And hasn't Motion ever read anything about iPhone factories in China?), it is to be stamped out at any cost, even at the risk of sacrificing his crew, ship and mission and himself. He gets most of what he wants, including a bullet in his head for his pathetic idealism.
No, this apparently is not a children's book written for retarded mid-western Christian families. Though it should come with a warning - Children's Advisory - Do not read this unless you want to go through life thinking that the world is a good place.
Eventually the pirates are killed, the slaves rescued, the treasure found, the young couple separated and reunited. All's well, we set sail, a huge storm catches up with the ship which is promptly thrown against a reef and sinks. Only Jim and Natty survive. Why? For the sequel of the sequel of course. Now that is 21st century. Treasure Island 3 has been threatened. Oh well. Maybe Batman can join in the next one.
I've spoiled it now.
Andrew Motion truly missed the boat. What made Treasure Island so very brilliant was Silver's ambiguity. He was one of the very first characters in literature to be believable. In a sense, Motion has turned the literary wheel backwards to a pre-Victorian age, where men were men and sheep were nervous and for this he should be hung, drawn and quartered. Even drinking is frowned upon. What rot.
An infuriating, depressing read, utterly out of sync not only with the pirate's life but also with the times we live in. Ho hum.

If you liked this review, check out my blog http://thedevilsroad.com (less)

like · see review

May 29, 2012 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

As seen on: Bookosaur

3.5 out of 5

Ahoy, mateys! For a split second, I thought about posting this entire review in seafarin' hearty talk (aka pirate speak), but I quickly came to my senses. You couldn't blame me, though, if I did, because for the past few days I've been on a rollicking adventure across (one) of the Seven Seas in search of booty...err...treasure. Translation: I've been reading Silver: Return to Treasure Islandby Andrew Motion.

A sequel of sorts, Silvertakes place some 40 years after...more

like 3 likes · see review

Oct 08, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a fun book! There’s just as much swashbuckling adventure as Treasure Island. I was skeptical at first. The cliché of a sequel told by the kids from Treasure Island sounds, in movie terms, Straight-to-DVD. But, I was persuaded because the Audiobook is performed by the incredibly talented David Tennant. While I am typically drawn to stories because he reads them, it’s not always a guarantee that I’ll like them, but I thought I’d give it a chance. Glad I did! The tone of the book is very well...more

like · see review

Jul 05, 2012 Eileen Granfors rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, foreign-countries, friendship, historical-fiction, men, outdoor-adventure, updated-classics

Andrew Motion is a poet and scholar in England. Yet his sequel to Stevenson's much-loved "Treasure Island" is an adventure written in a fetching way. Taking on any part of a well-known classic is dangerous. People can hold their treasure dear to themselves and find fault with what they consider to be an imposter.

I found "Silver" highly readable, more so than the original. Blasphemy! I hear Long John Silver shout at me. But Motion writes with lyricism and detail. His protagonists are the son of t...more

like 1 like · see review

Jun 02, 2012 William Stanger rated it 4 of 5 stars

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, but was excited to read it all the same. The story begins in 1802, 40 years after the events depicted in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and concerns a return to the island to attempt to locate the treasure that had been left behind. The main characters are the young offspring of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins (jr) and Natty Silver. There are many references along the way to characters and events from the original story...more

like 1 like · see review

May 01, 2012 Ally rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

So. There are those who will accuse me of only reading this because the audiobook is read by David Tennant, and I could listen to that man read to me for YEARS. This is true. But more true is the fact that THERE ARE PIRATES! And man, do I love pirates.

This is a really good story, and the language is similar to the original Treasure Island, which is awesome. I'm giving it 3 stars for two reasons: One, it's a bit heavy on morality, which, while it suits the language of the book, is still kind of a...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Jake H rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

There were certain parts of Silver that I enjoyed, but overall I found it to be unsatisfying. For one thing, while reading this book I found myself constantly comparing it to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which was far more engaging and well-written. Although I do not doubt Andrew Motion's skill in verse, I found that his prose was thin and his dialogue was poorly constructed. The characters in Silver were not very believable - something that I can usually tolerate, but in this case...more

like · see review

Apr 22, 2013 Tess rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fiction-historical, ya-historical

This is more of a 3.5 stars book.

I checked out the audiobook from my online library mostly due to the fact that David Tennant is the performer, but also because I was in the mood for a good swashbuckler story. It was a good read, just not a great read.

Things I liked:
--The style of writing - very reminiscent of the original Treasure Island, but not in that stilted, overly formal way that classic literature tends to be.
--The main characters - I liked Jim and Natty right from the beginning, both of...more

like · see review

Mar 05, 2013 John rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a weird book...the plot centers around the children of Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins, the main characters of the classic Rob't Louis Stevenson book Treasure Island, and is set 40 years after the end of that book.

The two kids, young Jim and "Natty", the daughter of Long John Silver, set out to recover the rest of the treasure hoard left behind on Treasure Island.

The book is "cartoonish" in that we get action and dialogue with very little character or plot development. For example, the...more

like · see review

Sep 07, 2012 Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion is the novel which continues the adventures of the son of Jim Hawkins, protagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Stevenson’s book was originally published in 1883 and is considered a classic which has influenced many authors, readers and adventure seekers alike.

Jim Hawkins the son grew up in “an atmosphere stained by melancholy” after his mother’s death. His father used his proceeds from the treasure he foun...more

like · see review

Apr 06, 2012 Durdles rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boy-s-adventure

This was a very interesting sequel to "Treasure Island" - not unique in that - I have seen one which follows LJS's retirement on Madagascar. Having left some pirates and silver on the island it makes sense that somebody would return for the treasure but daft not to have prepared to fight for it by remembering to bring some decent weapons and a few Marines rather than the author of the original tale. Jim Hawkins' son and Old Barbecue's daughter make an unlikely pairing, especially as Natty is dis...more

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 06, 2013 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Treasure Island Fans, Classics Lovers, Whovians

Shelves: historical-fiction

I have to confess, I didn't actually finish this book, but I have a few things to say about it. First, it wasn't a bad read - the author is very talented, almost lyrical, in his narrative. He's incredibly descriptive, making young Jim Hawkins' (son of the original) world easy to imagine.

That being said, the story wasn't exactly a page turner. It's possible that I stopped at exactly the wrong time, but the book was due back at the library, soo... I wasn't able to get caught up in the story. I wa...more

like · see review

Dec 11, 2012 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 stars: I picked this book up on a whim at the library and was very pleasantly surprised. This is a sequel to Treasure Island (which I have never actually read...looked up a cliff's note version to get up to speed), and tells the story of Natty Silver (Long John Silver's daughter) and Jim Hawkin's adventure back to Treasure Island to find a load of treasure that remained there. What they find on the island is horrifying and leads to a new mission for the crew of the Nightingale. The story is...more

like · see review

Sep 23, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved Silver. Gorgeous prose and riproaring adventure all in one. I just have to quibble about the ebook. No mention is made of the fact that Stevenson's Treasure Island makes up the last 50% of the ebook. So I had hunted down a non-abridged version of Treasure Island and read that separately for no reason. And since I didn't know this in advance, it was an awful shock when I banged smack into the ending of Silver 50% of the way through the ebook, shipwrecked on my own kind of reader's reef. An...more

like · see review

Apr 12, 2012 T P Kennedy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is great fun if, like me, you grew up reading Treasure Island. It's not really a sequel - more like Motion playing with elements of the story and of the characters. Nonetheless, it's hugely enjoyable. There's moral sensibility, an awareness of nature and a love story in this - none of which appear in the original book. The first third of the book verges on being a masterpiece but it all gets very post modern on reaching the island and I'm not convinced by the ending that's not really an end...more

like · see review

Jul 06, 2012 Shona Mackintosh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was a little disappointed with this book to be honest. It's not that it wasn't beautifully written, it's just that it was a lot less exciting than I remember Treasure Island being. I suspect if I'd read more of Andrew Motion's work, I might have a different opinion, but coming to the book as a fan of Treasure Island, the characters just felt a bit weak to me.
I kept waiting for the darker side to kick in, for betrayal and plotting, for the characters to grow up or change, but it was all in a r...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Ann Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Starts slow and introspectively, but I do like Motion's writing style so I stuck with it. The action suddenly picks up halfway into the book and pretty much continues apace to the last page. For fans of the original Treasure Island, there's more of that feeling in the action part of the book (of course)...and some surprising but historically possible twists.

The young Mr. Hawkins, at 18, the narrator, is more of a loner introvert than one expects of an adventure narrative, and that takes some get...more

like · see review

Aug 20, 2012 Milou rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: concord-library

Writing style tries to match the original - mostly successful. But pace and emotion falls off once the characters reach Treasure Island. Introspective accounts seem more forced as there is not enough character development. Characters are all black & white (although Natty has hints of grey which are never followed up on). Overall plot works well as a follow on (but not sequel) book. Ending was a little too contrived to lead to sequel - should have had more closure but possibility, as the ori...more

like · see review

Apr 22, 2012 Martin Belcher rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

The original Treasure Island is one of my favourite books and one which I read a couple of times when I was a little boy and has stayed with me all my life (I think it's why I love Pirates of the Carribbean so much!). I was very excited when I heard that Andrew Motion was writing a sequel to Treasure Island! I had to go out and buy a copy as soon as it was released.
I haven't been disappointed with "Silver - The Return to Treasure Island" it's set quite a few years on from the original and begins...more

like 2 likes · see review

Jun 30, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this high seas swashbuckling adventure we are introduced to some new characters and reunited with some old. “Silver: Return to Treasure Island” is not just a sequel-it is a novel that stands entirely on its own. We follow Jim Hawkins Jr. and Natty, Long John Silver’s daughter, as they board the Nightingale and set sail back to the infamous island where both their fathers found their glory forty years earlier. But their trip is laced with storms, murder, pirates, greed, and some unfinished bus...more

like · see review

Feb 06, 2013 Leigh Newman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What would Jane Eyre look like 40 years after falling for Mr. Rochester? What kind of life would they have together? It's just this kind of question that celebrated poet Andrew Motion asks about another English classic, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. To answer it, he's written the deft, wildly imaginative Silver: Return to Treasure Island, a story set 40 years after young Jim Hawkins has returned to England with his bounty. Devastated by the loss of his wife, he drinks himself into a...more

like · see review

Jan 11, 2013 Marcie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay, I've never read Treasure Island. There I said it. However my son did go through a pirate phase, and I've watched many film versions of it from Muppet Treasure Island to the Treasure Island filmed in 1950. I felt fairly comfortable with the story line of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson that I would be able to read Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion with no problems. Before I get started though I should warn you that I won't be comparing Motion to Stevenson since I...more Okay, I've never read Treasure Island. There I said it. However my son did go through a pirate phase, and I've watched many film versions of it from Muppet Treasure Island to the Treasure Island filmed in 1950. I felt fairly comfortable with the story line of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson that I would be able to read Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion with no problems. Before I get started though I should warn you that I won't be comparing Motion to Stevenson since I have no way to base a precise opinion on the subject. This review is all about Silver.
Silver takes place several years after Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver have returned home from their adventure. Both character's lives are shaped by the past; almost tormented. Their children are now older, and have suffered the consequences of the effects that have stayed with them since their voyage to Treasure Island. Jim, named after his father, and Natty, the daughter of Long John Silver, take up the quest that their parents left behind--to get the treasure. Young Jim and Natty both long for freedom from their fathers, and are eager to start this adventure. However this adventure takes them to a place of beauty as well as a place of horror.
I listened to this book on audio as well as read it. The audio is read by David Tennant. If you're a Doctor Who fan, you know who I'm talking about. If you're a Harry Potter fan, he played Bart Crouch, Jr. If you still have no idea who I'm talking about, go to Netflix immediately and then come back. Tennant did a fantastic job reading this book. He's just as animated on audio as the characters he plays on television. I absolutely loved the voices he created for all of the characters in this book.
I really wasn't sure what to expect of this book when I first cracked the spine. I knew it would be adventurous from the summary, but I wasn't sure if it would be light-hearted or more on the serious side. Although this story contains light-hearted moments, the story line also weights heavy with the themes of man verses man, and man versed nature. It doesn't gloss over the cruelty of man, or the depths of depravity that some can go to. I liked the direction that Motion took this sequel. I think he did a great job mixing intrigue and adventure, but throwing in a darkness that the characters must overcome. Jim and Natty really evolve throughout this novel. They start out a little on the naive side, but the trials of their journey, it changes them. I enjoyed reading this book, and the descriptions that made this book come alive. Overall it's a good read. Weather you've read Treasure Island or not I think this book is worth trying.
Read more at http://www.2readornot2read.com/2013/0... (less)

like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Andrea (Cozy Up With A Good Read) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read

I absolutely loved Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson when I read it in university. It was full of action and it was just so much fun to read. So when I got the chance to read a sequel to Treasure Island I had to jump at the chance. Motion did a great job recreating the story in a different time.

This story had the exact same feel as Treasure Island did when I first read it. Motion wrote in the same style as Robert Louis Steven...more

like · see review

Jul 08, 2012 Christa (More Than Just Magic) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, genre-adventure, genre-literary, own, publisher-randomhouse, sent-for-review

Originally reviewed at Hooked on Books

Treasure Island was one of my all time favourite books growing up. I had an old copy with a dark green cover and yellowed pages. I read it so many times the pages actually detached themselves from the spine. The true mark of a well read and well loved book. Needless to say this love of the original made me jump at the chance to read this book and see how it held up against the traditional story.

For the most part I'm happy to say Silver: Return to Treasure Is...more

like · see review

Mar 12, 2013 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ah, Jim lad! Putting together the former Poet Lauriet and Robert Louis Stevenson might seem an odd thing to do, but it works! Now I come to think of it, who better? Both are institutions in their way, so perhaps the risk of something crappy emerging from the union is low. Just think if Dan Brown had got the nod. Anyway, a riveting tale of derring-do results, that both genuflects to the original and updates it.
Jim, now having grown into a young man, perforce must need a female lover, because it...more

like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Els rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Vroeger was ik al dol op verhalen over scheepsmaatjes. Stevenson's Schateiland een van mijn favorieten..onvergetelijke exentrieke personages als Long John Silver en zijn piratenmaatjes. Andrew Motion heeft er een prachtig sfeervol vervolg op gemaakt. Dit speelt 35 jaar later en gaat over de dochter van Silver, en de zoon van Jim Hawkins, op zoek naar meer schatten. Het verhaal heeft ook iets van 'Lord of the Flies'...

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 43 44 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Book Giveaways: GIVEAWAY - Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion	1	6	Sep 01, 2012 08:31am

combine
Other Editions (16)

More editions...

Genres

Historical Fiction

15 users

Adventure

6 users

Fantasy

6 users

Adventure > Pirates

6 users

Retellings

4 users

Young Adult

2 users

Adult

2 users

Classics

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Andrew Motion

Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.

Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tr...more Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.

Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.[9]
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies."[10] In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict,[11][12] and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008.[13] As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.[14]
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work".[15] The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters.[16] As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." [10][17] Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.(less)

More about Andrew Motion...

Books by Andrew Motion

Here To Eternity: An Anthology Of Poetry

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Silver: Return to...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: Silver
avg rating	preview: Silver Goodreads rating: 3.32 (266 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13536512-silver?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333578303l/13536512.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13536512-silver?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Silver by Andrew Motion[/url]

Silver

Win a Copy of This Book

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website