On Stranger Tides

Jun 23, 2012 mark monday rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: rain-man-reviews, fantastickal

On the menu tonight: ON STRANGER TIDES

Amuse Bouche
This treasured bit of savory Pirate en Papillote will tantalize your taste buds: a choice cut of ole pirate lore and Caribbean history, spiced with traditional Creole seasonings, and glazed with a stringent sea salt reduction to further whet the appetite. Ahoy, diners, prepare yourself for a repast that is simultaneously light and fulfilling!

Appetizer
A tossed salad of varied delights: for the historian, we include historical greens as served dur...more On the menu tonight: ON STRANGER TIDES

Amuse Bouche
This treasured bit of savory Pirate en Papillote will tantalize your taste buds: a choice cut of ole pirate lore and Caribbean history, spiced with traditional Creole seasonings, and glazed with a stringent sea salt reduction to further whet the appetite. Ahoy, diners, prepare yourself for a repast that is simultaneously light and fulfilling!

Appetizer
A tossed salad of varied delights: for the historian, we include historical greens as served during the actual time period on display – vignettes that are easily verified by a cursory search on Wikipedia; for the robust straight male, a hearty helping of derring-do, swordplay, vengeance, machismo, and chivalry; for those of the more faggy persuasion, we offer constant shirtlessness and the promise of much nocturnal shipmate “camaraderie”. Unfortunately for the gentler sex, this multi-course meal does not include the usual sampling of kick-ass female pirate; although this flavor is present (sparingly), we instead offer a blander side of helpless Rescue-Me-Please. Our regrets to our lady diners.

Entrée
Although the classic pirate bouillabaisse is often over-spiced to confusion, our delightful offering has been stripped down to allow the diner to discerningly inspect and consume the essence of each ingredient: the pure hero - a straightforward poached scallop; the pure heroine - a handful of simple white rice; the spicy villains - a vivid combination of Haitian crawfish, robust Andouille sausage, and most surprisingly, the traditionally bland English haddock, which we have flash-fried with – some may say – “sorcerous” spices, hitherto untasted by English gentry. Prepare your senses to be born again, and again, as each spoonful allows the diner to imagine how they may return to taste and re-taste this classic dish. Some have said that this meal inspires the rare individual to attempt to conquer Death, if only to return to this meal, forever and again. On this topic, our lips are sealed and our flavor profiles shall remain sacrosanct!

Dessert
For our last dish, we offer you this stunning and dramatic plate: a half-mad English sorcerer, reliving his days as a happily married man, furiously fucking the sand as he once again fulfills his wedding night duties, as all around him turn aside, aghast!

Wine Pairing
The vintage “Tim Powers” is a truly unique palate cleanser: it takes traditional historical figures and places them within the realm of the supernatural, all the while remaining true to their documented history. This fine wine takes the known and boldly combines it with the unknown: a marvelous feat!(less)

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Dec 12, 2010 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, cinematic, doing-the-dishes, fantasy, historical, meta-review, zombies, pirates, secret-history

THE SHANDY METHOD*

Become the YOU you've always wanted to be in just 6 short months!!!

You want to work MAGIC? ... You can do it!
You want to become a MASTER SWORDSMAN? ... You can do it!
You want to CAPTAIN your own ship? ... You can do it! You want to be a MASTER OF SEAMANSHIP? ... You can do it!
You want to cook Bouillabaisse like a FIVE STAR CHEF? ... You can do it!

Just follow Jack Shandy's patented TEN STEP PIRATE PROGRAM
and you too can be a master of your own destiny.
Act now and you will...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Carly rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who liked the Pirates of the Caribbean movies or The Pirates' Own Book

Shelves: fantastic-elements, fantasy, historical-fiction

The entire time I was reading On Stranger Tides, the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean was stuck in my head. And with good reason. This is basically a more intelligent, more creative version of the Pirates franchise. Pirates, fighting dead men, skeletons, blood curses, captured girls,...this book's got them all. The major difference: Powers fitted his story seamlessly into the real time period and the ancient legends of the region. Oh, and no Jack Sparrow. Anyway, a fun and wild ride.

When J...more

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Dec 22, 2010 Joel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, arrrrgh, audiobooks

If you are as nerdy about movies as you clearly are about books if you are visiting this here book website, you probably recognize "On Stranger Tides" as the name of the fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Belabored Franchise Subtitle series. This is wholly appropriate. After all, you can't read the book these days without thinking of the movie ~~trilogy~~ ~~extended cash grab~~ saga:

* Both are about pirates, natch.
* Both are set in the south seas.
* Both combine seafaring lor...more If you are as nerdy about movies as you clearly are about books if you are visiting this here book website, you probably recognize "On Stranger Tides" as the name of the fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Belabored Franchise Subtitle series. This is wholly appropriate. After all, you can't read the book these days without thinking of the movie ~~trilogy~~ ~~extended cash grab~~ saga:

* Both are about pirates, natch.
* Both are set in the south seas.
* Both combine seafaring lore and zombies, one dull taste and one stale taste that somehow still taste great together.

In fact, I'd wager POTC actually does quite a disservice to On Stranger Tides as a novel, since even though the book was published around 15 years before the writers of the movies ~~appropriated all of its ideas~~ named it as an "inspiration," Tim Powers' work can't help but feel a little uninspired these days. And it's a shame, because it was never a huge success, even though aside from being original, at the time, probably, it apes the film franchise in another significant way, which is that you really enjoy about the first third and then the plot starts getting really complicated and difficult to follow and by the end you're basically reading voodoo action sequences with only a vague idea of what is happening.

Unfortunately, the book stars Captain Jack Shandy instead of ~~Johnny Depp~~ Captain Jack Sparrow. And while Movie-Jack is boozy and entertaining and carries the movie along even when you'd otherwise be super bored at lame Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly's skeleton (very realistic creature, that), Book-Jack is just boozy; not funny, not compelling, barely a character.

In fact, all of On Stranger Tides would probably work a lot better if it was funnier. Because let's face it: pirates? Hilarious. Especially when you are listening to Bronson Pinchot narrate an audiobook like it's Talk Like a Pirate Day.

So it's probably fortunate that On Stranger Tides was optioned for the fourth movie in the series, because Powers will finally get the payday he deserves for clearly inspiring the whole supernatural take on the genre in the first place, and the story will benefit from a dose of the films' ~~tiresome~~ trademarked humor. And it already doesn't make any sense, which saves the screenwriters a whole bunch of time. (less)

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Apr 25, 2012 Maya Bohnhoff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who likes a little magic in their reality

Shelves: desert-island-books

This is one of Tim's older novels, but it's a doozy. I love the characters, the action, the whole magic, the use of nautical history... I love sailing ships, so this was a special treat.

The underlying human story is about how John Chandagnac goes from proper, uninvolved and rather shallow gentleman to Jack Shandy, a pirate with the emotional depths of the seas he sails. This is a perfect storm of a book in many ways. I mean, it's got a virtuous yet flawed hero (who cooks!), towering evil for hi...more

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Jan 30, 2010 Colleen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, fantasy, historical-fantasy

I seem to have a pattern of getting books I really look forward to, only to be somewhat disappointed in them. Perhaps if I had not had such high hopes and expectations I would've liked it more?

The pacing was a bit slow, and it was definitely not one where I couldn't wait to get back into it. I did like Shandy and Davies and Skank. I think my favorite part was watching Shandy turn into a pirate and accept his role, and to find that they were, despite their wicked ways, actually good guys. Honor a...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Robert Magness rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really did not care much for this book and it worries me--though it doesn't surprise me--that this is what Disney looks to loosely adapt for Pirates of the Carribean 4. All the outlandish and ridiculous elements of Pirates 2 and 3 are ramped up to 11 in this story. The prose is fine; the characters are interesting enough; but the problem is the supernatural elements. It's too supernatural for its own good and looses the suspension of disbelief early on. Remove a few supernatural sequences and...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Lisa Jensen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fantasy

Forget the adulterated Pirates of the Caribbean version, which has nothing at all to do with Tim Powers' gorgeous historical fantasy adventure.

With its elements of dark magic, voudon (voodoo), zombie pirate crews and the Fountain of Youth, you couldn't exactly classify Powers' book as strictly historical. But the novel is rooted in a very specific historical time and place—the pirate island of New Providence in the Bahamas, in 1718. This was the year Governor Woodes Rogers came out from England...more Forget the adulterated Pirates of the Caribbean version, which has nothing at all to do with Tim Powers' gorgeous historical fantasy adventure.

With its elements of dark magic, voudon (voodoo), zombie pirate crews and the Fountain of Youth, you couldn't exactly classify Powers' book as strictly historical. But the novel is rooted in a very specific historical time and place—the pirate island of New Providence in the Bahamas, in 1718. This was the year Governor Woodes Rogers came out from England to "reform" New Providence by buying off the pirates with the King's Pardon to give up the trade. It was also to be the last year in the short but spectacular career of Ed Teach, aka Blackbeard.

There's a lush, and simmering sense of magical forces bubbling just under the surface of real life (and history). Powers contends that magic has run its course in the Old World, but is still viable in some wild, remote regions of the New World, where it has not yet been civilized out of existence. The "Fountain of Youth" at the heart of his story does not restore youth; rather it's a power spot of dark sorcery where the living can be made immortal, and the dead resurrected (albeit zombie-style).

The action gallops from New Providence to Port-au-Prince on Hispaniola (now Haiti), to Kingston, Jamaica. Young Englishman and puppeteer John Chandagnac is sailing into the Caribbees to claim a family inheritance when his ship is captured by pirates in league with Blackbeard. They are there to rendezvous with another passenger, Hurwood, an elderly Oxford don and magical scholar who's en route to the Fountain; maddened by the death of his wife, he's planning to resurrect her in the body of his nubile young daughter, Beth. Determined to save Beth, Chandagnac joins the pirate crew, who rechristen him "Jack Shandy," and after several raucous adventures in which his desperation or sheer foolhardiness are mistaken for bravery, he's elected their captain.

The centerpiece of the story is a hair-raising trip to the eerie, demon-haunted Fountain in the company of Blackbeard himself, the only man who's ever been to the Fountain and come out again. I just love how Powers seeds his supernatural plot so plausibly into what is historically known about Teach.

According to Powers, he didn't do the immortality rituals properly the first time, and came away troubled by phantoms and ghosts—which neatly explains Blackbeard's historically well-known nuttiness and rages. Powers also suggests that Blackbeard engineered his own "death" in that famous fight with Lt. Maynard (which occurs in the book) in order to come back in a completely new—and immortal—identity. How does this ruse play out? Read the book and find out!
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Mar 01, 2013 Helmut Barro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pirates, favorites

Ein würdiger Sabatini-Nachfolger

Ein ehemaliger Puppenspieler sticht, als gezwungener Gehilfe, zusammen mit Blackbeard dem Piraten in See um auf der Suche nach dem Jungbrunnen einen verrückten Zauberer daran zu hindern, Unheil über dessen eigene Tochter zu bringen...

Sowas kann nur Tim Powers. Die äußerst gelungene Verquickung von klassischen Piratenthemen, Seeschlachten und Schatzsuchen mit Voodoo-Zauberei und Baron Samedi liest sich wie ein Fantasy-Thriller. Trotz der vielen fantastischen Eleme...more Ein würdiger Sabatini-Nachfolger

Ein ehemaliger Puppenspieler sticht, als gezwungener Gehilfe, zusammen mit Blackbeard dem Piraten in See um auf der Suche nach dem Jungbrunnen einen verrückten Zauberer daran zu hindern, Unheil über dessen eigene Tochter zu bringen...

Sowas kann nur Tim Powers. Die äußerst gelungene Verquickung von klassischen Piratenthemen, Seeschlachten und Schatzsuchen mit Voodoo-Zauberei und Baron Samedi liest sich wie ein Fantasy-Thriller. Trotz der vielen fantastischen Elemente fühlt sich das Buch "echt" an und man versinkt in diese fremde Welt; sowohl Charakterisierung der Protagonisten als auch die Beschreibung der Seefahrerei sind glaubwürdig, und trotzdem extrem mitreißend. Rafael Sabatini wäre stolz auf Powers. Besonders angetan hat es mir die Beschreibung der Küste Floridas - Powers läuft hier zur Hochform auf und zeigt in seiner unnachahmbaren Art eine geheimnisvolle und menschenfeindliche Welt in einer Weise, die einem den Atem raubt.

Wer hier Parallelen zu den "Pirates of the Carribean"-Filmen sieht, oder zu dem Computerspiel "Monkey Island" - ja, beide haben ohne Zweifel ihre Inspiration von diesem Buch gezogen (es wurde bereits 1988 veröffentlicht); Teil 4 der Piratenfilme mit Johnny Depp nutzte "On Stranger Tides" als Inspiration fürs Drehbuch - auch wenn nicht viel davon übrigblieb.

Die mir vorliegende englische Ausgabe von Subterranean Press ist ein schön gestaltetes Hardcover mit Schutzumschlag. Dickes Papier mit einem schönen Druckbild und gestalteten Abschnitts- und Kapitelvorsätzen lassen einen über die ab und an auftretenden Druckfehler hinwegsehen. Toll wäre noch eine Karte der Karibikregion gewesen; echte Piratenleser brauchen diese aber eigentlich eh nicht.

Vielleicht nicht das beste Buch von Powers (sein The Anubis Gates ist wohl kaum zu übertreffen), aber ich jedenfalls habe das Buch verschlungen. Für alle Fantasy-Liebhaber ebenso empfehlenswert wie für Piratenfans, insbesondere, da gerade wir Piratenfans ja in den letzten Jahrzehnten nicht sehr verwöhnt wurden. Greift zu, Ihr Landratten und Süßwassersegler, sonst werdet Ihr gekielholt! (less)

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Feb 22, 2013 Jorgen Schäfer rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: pirates

Im Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides, John Chandagnac is forced to join a band of pirates after they captured his ship. From them, he learns about vodoun magic in the new world, and is drawn into the plotting of various vodoun magicians.

When it comes to magic in books, I like it to be subtle. The kind of magic where something apparently happened because of the magician’s work, but it could also have been pure luck. The magic in this book is not subtle. It tops out with two vodoun practitioners levit...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Joseph Barnes rated it 2 of 5 stars

Aboard the Vociferous Carmichael, puppeteer John Chandagnac is sailing toward Jamaica to claim his stolen birthright from an unscrupulous uncle, when the vessel is captured . . . by pirates! Offered a choice by Captain Phil Davies to join their seafaring band or die, Chandagnac assumes the name John Shandy and a new life as a brigand. But more than swashbuckling sea battles and fabulous plunder await the novice buccaneer on the roiling Caribbean waters–for treachery and powerful vodun sorcery ar...more

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

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, historical-fiction

An exciting and action-packed magic/adventure story that suffers from a lack of attention to characters and some annoying writerly cliches.

Initially I gave up on this book, after the first chapter dealt with a native-spirit-earthy-magic in a completely matter of fact way. 'Magic?!' I scoffed. 'Pah! No subtlety to the idea!'
It sat on my 'unfinished' pile, mocking me, for a good three or four months, until I felt in the mood for a pirate story again. And this time I skipped the somewhat obvious in...more An exciting and action-packed magic/adventure story that suffers from a lack of attention to characters and some annoying writerly cliches.

Initially I gave up on this book, after the first chapter dealt with a native-spirit-earthy-magic in a completely matter of fact way. 'Magic?!' I scoffed. 'Pah! No subtlety to the idea!'
It sat on my 'unfinished' pile, mocking me, for a good three or four months, until I felt in the mood for a pirate story again. And this time I skipped the somewhat obvious intro and dived straight into the 'young man comes out to the New World to seek his fortune/gets forced into becoming a sword-wearing, rum-swigging pirate with minimal conscience' storyline.

And it was FUN! The action was thrilling, there wasn't too much ship-tech talk that the author puts in just to show you HOW MUCH THEY RESEARCHED SAILING SHIPS, and the sword fights were fast-paced and believable. For the most part, I really enjoyed the ride.

There were a couple of quibbles that, on reflection, left a sour taste with me, though. About a third of the way in, it was staggeringly obvious to me that the only two female characters in the entire book were blatant plot devices, whose actions and exploits served only to further Jack Shandy's somewhat erratic character development. Ann Bonny, barely a character, is Jack's sex-kryptonite. Should he? Shouldn't he? She's always open for sex, but his honour just doesn't allow it... Well done, Jack, for avoiding the sexual harpy's efforts to lure you away from your true mission.
Beth Hurwood makes no decisions for herself, makes no effort to remove herself from danger, REACTS rather than ACTS, and frequently requires saving (and carrying! Ugh). She is apparently Jack's motivation for most everything he does, her rescue occupies his every thought, and yet their relationship is scarcely even mentioned. No word on what she wants out of life, but Jack wants her, so that's ok, right? And the only time she plays an active part in any piece of action - when women's magic is required to strengthen and support the weakening men's magic - she has to MARRY herself to him, and then BLAM - he's strong again!
Nice one.

Most of the characters are just that - characters. One-dimensional party pieces tricked out in dirty finery and cutlasses. It's fun, it's adventurous, but if you asked any one of those pirates a question, they'd all give the same answer. A lewd remark here, a dangerous eye-glint there, a long gulp of rum and it's off to the boats, boys! They're a chorus line in a pirate musical, and Powers' attempts to make one slightly more sinister than the next fall woefully short. This is enjoyable in the moment, but won't linger on.

The last quibble is the general state of Powers' writing - first off the mark, AMERICANS! COME ON! If you're writing a book about a man who came from England, whose only foray into (an infant) America was to trek into the mysterious Floridian swamps, he's highly unlikely to use the word 'Mommy' or describe Autumn as 'Fall'. PULL YOUR HEADS OUT.
Secondly, there were several moments here where I thought, you're imagining this as a movie, aren't you? Jack catches the cutlass without taking his eyes off his rival; Jack stabs Blackbeard on the landing, and kicks his upright corpse off the sword and down the stairs to dramatic screams from below. And so on. He looks cool. We get it.
And thirdly, a very specific thirdly, literally every time he mentions the bocor Woefully Fat, he notes some version of 'Jack, remembering FOR ONCE that the man was supposed to be deaf, made a motion to imply xyz.' Every time he comes across Woefully Fat, he has apparently forgotten that last time, he remembered the man's deafness. And the time before that. Effectively, it made me forget it too. Character building fail, on both fronts.

Despite my nit-pickery, I actually enjoyed this book. At times I could almost hear the Pirates of the Caribbean music playing in the background, which is not a bad thing in my eyes. It moved fast, it was endlessly inventive and at times gruesomely descriptive. Jack Shandy isn't going to be winning any 'most in-depth character' awards any time soon, but he gets the job done. If Powers had made Beth into an actual character, rather than just a plot point, it would have been much, much better, but even so, it's definitely worth your time on a lazy day.(less)

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Jul 09, 2012 Daniel Winegar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is rather... strange. It seemed to come to abrupt and grinding stops at times when I would think, "did the story just end? Where can this story possibly go from here?" but, not necessarily in a good "oh this mysterious story," kind of way. I also thought that the end felt like it was cut off and mashed back together. I did like the fact that John really did become Shandy. It goes to show how easily, in different environments, we really can 'lose ourselves,' bu which, really, I mean tha...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Gary Hoggatt rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, horror, pirates

I've been on a significant pirate kick lately (having read Treasure Island, Captain Blood, and Under the Black Flag all within the last six months, check my reviews here on Amazon for my thoughts on those), and had read good things about Tim Powers' 1987 novel, On Stranger Tides, so I decided to pick up Powers' book. Unfortunately, I just wasn't that impressed with it.

On Stranger Tides features Blackbeard, voodoo, zombies, and the Fountain of Youth, so it has the makings of a solid story. But so...more I've been on a significant pirate kick lately (having read Treasure Island, Captain Blood, and Under the Black Flag all within the last six months, check my reviews here on Amazon for my thoughts on those), and had read good things about Tim Powers' 1987 novel, On Stranger Tides, so I decided to pick up Powers' book. Unfortunately, I just wasn't that impressed with it.

On Stranger Tides features Blackbeard, voodoo, zombies, and the Fountain of Youth, so it has the makings of a solid story. But somehow, it just doesn't click.

The protagonist is John Chandagnac, or "Jack Shandy" as he becomes known. He's a puppeteer from Europe coming out to the New World to settle a family score, but gets caught up in piracy after being pressed into it when his ship is captured. For a puppeteer, he ends up being a pretty good pirate, but his focus is rescuing Beth Hurwood, who was on Shandy's ship and is part of her father's mad scheme to resurrect his dead wife.

The book starts very slowly, and includes way more about puppetry in the 1700's than I really cared to hear about, despite the surprising number of times having puppetry skills ends up being important. There are also exceedingly long periods of Shandy feeling sorry for himself. By the time things start happening, there's almost no time to spend on the climax. Shandy's final showdown with his evil uncle reads as if Powers realized he still had a loose thread he had to deal with at the last minute, so he just crammed it in at the end.

Most of the characters are fairly flat, and none are more guilty of this than Beth Hurwood. She has very little characterization other than being a victim, and even spends a sizable chunk of her on-screen time in a magic-induced catatonic state. Honestly, you'll hardly be able to tell the difference, really. The chemistry between Beth and Jack is essentially non-existent. Outside of a small role for Ann Bonny (who's actually far more interesting), Beth is pretty much the romantic interest by the virtue of apparently being the only woman in the Caribbean.

I wish I had enjoyed it more, but I just can't really recommend On Stranger Tides. Yes, there are some great pieces there to make a story, but Powers never really gets everything moving at the same time. The pacing is erratic, and the characters aren't very compelling. The atmosphere of the magic is occasionally interesting, but it's not enough to save the novel. Give it a pass and read Captain Blood instead. (less)

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Mar 31, 2012 My Awful Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

First, let me just say that...I like pirates. There's just something about a swashbuckling adventure that I can't help but love. So, obviously, I had to try very hard to put my nerdy love of pirates aside and make at least a half-hearted attempt to review the book as a book and not as, "Dude, it's got pirates."

On Stranger Tides is a novel by Tim Powers. Qualifications? Yep, he's got 'em. Two World Fantasy Awards, and this novel was optioned for adaptation as the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean m...more First, let me just say that...I like pirates. There's just something about a swashbuckling adventure that I can't help but love. So, obviously, I had to try very hard to put my nerdy love of pirates aside and make at least a half-hearted attempt to review the book as a book and not as, "Dude, it's got pirates."

On Stranger Tides is a novel by Tim Powers. Qualifications? Yep, he's got 'em. Two World Fantasy Awards, and this novel was optioned for adaptation as the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. After reading this book, I could easily see why.

All the elements of a great pirate movie are there. Humor, action, and a surprising amount of dark magic are contained in this 300 page novel. I felt that the pacing of this novel was excellent and the characters were deep and enjoyable creations. One thing that disappointed me a little bit was the characterization of Beth. To be honest, she felt a little too flat for me, being the only female character with more than 3 lines, but I was willing to forgive her, since for large portions of the novel she didn't really have much of a chance to stand up for herself and really be a strong character.

Also, I have to say that the ending of the book didn't really appeal to my need for completion. I'm the kind of guy that, if I can get it, wants every loose end tied up nicely. However, given the way the novel ended, I can understand that Powers was going by the old adage, "In late, out early." The main conflict was finished, and everything else after that couldn't have possibly been as exciting, so he gave us a little bit of closure and dropped the curtain. I don't really think tying up all the loose ends would have made it a better novel, and it certainly could have made it worse.

Overall, I'd say that if you're a fan of high seas action, dark voodoo style magic, or Monkey Island (yes, the creator of that game sites this as a big influence) you owe it to yourself to give this book a go. For me, this book was an excellent way to discover Tim Powers. Obviously he has other novels that have met with greater critical acclaim, but this was fun, well written and enjoyable. This book definitely convinced me that I've been missing out on a great writer.

Final Score: 8.5/10. An exciting, well paced swashbuckling adventure that's deserving of a movie all its own.

I loved

The action and adventure on the high seas. Dude, it's got PIRATES!
Powers' ability to suck a reader into the story.

I hated

The ending without enough closure for yours truly

The fact that I kept seeing stupid Johnny Depp in my head every now and again while reading it.
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Nov 24, 2011 Raelyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

On Stranger Tides is by far one of the best historical fantasy books I’ve read. John Chandagnac is aboard the Vociferous Carmichael, pursuing a hidden agenda, when the ship is taken over by pirates. Given the choice between death and joining the crew, John settles in to piracy. Christened “Jack Shandy” by his drunken captain, he is lead on an dangerous expedition deep into the Florida forests to find the blood-demanding Fountain of Youth… and that’s only a third of the book.

In the very first pag...more On Stranger Tides is by far one of the best historical fantasy books I’ve read. John Chandagnac is aboard the Vociferous Carmichael, pursuing a hidden agenda, when the ship is taken over by pirates. Given the choice between death and joining the crew, John settles in to piracy. Christened “Jack Shandy” by his drunken captain, he is lead on an dangerous expedition deep into the Florida forests to find the blood-demanding Fountain of Youth… and that’s only a third of the book.

In the very first pages of the book there is already magic, ghosts, and blood shed, and the story line never lets up. There is something happening on every page, which keeps this book a fast paced page turner. Watching protagonist John Chandagnac grow from an innocent puppeteer to a swashbuckling pirate is an adventure in itself. Tim Powers seems to be a fan of long sentences; although this stylistic choice usually makes stories hard to read and drawn out, such was not the case in On Stranger Tides:

“For half an hour the odd company splashed, plodded and stumbled
through one claustrophobic tangle of vegetation after another; Shandy’s knife-wielding arm was shaking with fatigue from chopping vines and tree branches, but he drove doggedly on, climbing up out of pools he blundered into, and forcing himself to breathe the harsh air, and always being terribly careful not to let the torch he carried in his other hand be extinguished, or bun off all its charge of the black herb.”

The only time his long sentences were tough, were scenes describing what is happening in relation to the ship. I have remedial knowledge about ship parts, and I would suggest that anyone else like me reading this book be ready to jump to the internet and google a few things. Don’t expect to find a lot of romance here; while there is the damsel in distress, she is just that. Beth Hurwood spends most of her time in the book being drugged or asleep, but she has a little scene at the end to make up for it. The story has a nice complete ending, but still leaves the reader wanting more, and for that you’ll have to check out some more of Tim Powers novels; I definitely plan to.
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Sep 03, 2011 Gregory rated it 2 of 5 stars

I love pirates. I love books. Therefore, it only makes sense that I'd love pirates books. Yet, I just didn't love this book. I liked it enough to stick with it for about 2/3 of the ride, but the story was all over the place with surprisingly uninteresting characters, and a plot that just never seemed to go anywhere. Great lengths would go into describing situations for no other apparent reason than just being verbose, and the plot just plodded along.

Couple all of that with a pretty painful take...more

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Aug 04, 2011 AudioBookFans rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally posted at http://www.audiobookfans.com

Story: How could I not want to listen to this book? On Stranger Tides is the basis for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, written by Tim Powers and narrated by Bronson Pinchot. What more could I want?

Having previously enjoyed several of Tim Powers books in the past I was really excited about what he had to offer to the world of swashbuckling pirate literature. Powers does not disappoint. On Stranger Tides is full of intriguing, gritty charac...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Nev Percy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What an excellent read! Pirates of the Caribbean, now we know where you got it from, only yours was a kiddie-friendly action adventure and this is rather grimmer and pays more attention to the dark sorcery (necromancy/vodun='voodoo').

Fantasy magic fans will discover a synthesising and internally consistent concept of magic, which is at its rawest and most powerful on the uncivilised New World, where native 'bocors' have been known to share their knowledge with pirates, the greatest of whom being...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Anne Lyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, historical

On Stranger Tides was first published in 1987, and is the third (and most American-based) of Powers' historical fantasies. It is set in the Caribbean in the early eighteenth century, where magic still survives on the remote fringes of civilisation. Penniless puppeteer John Chandagnac sets out from Europe to reclaim the family estate in Haiti from his usurping uncle, but en route the ship is boarded by pirates and John is forced to join their crew. Dubbed "Jack Shandy" by his new shipmates, he ha...more On Stranger Tides was first published in 1987, and is the third (and most American-based) of Powers' historical fantasies. It is set in the Caribbean in the early eighteenth century, where magic still survives on the remote fringes of civilisation. Penniless puppeteer John Chandagnac sets out from Europe to reclaim the family estate in Haiti from his usurping uncle, but en route the ship is boarded by pirates and John is forced to join their crew. Dubbed "Jack Shandy" by his new shipmates, he harbours dreams of completing his quest (and rescuing his fellow passenger, the lovely Beth Hurwood, who was taken captive in the raid), but he runs afoul of Blackbeard, who is searching for the fabled Fountain of Youth, the key to immortality. In true swashbuckling pirate fashion, Shandy learns to fight and sail a ship, kills the bad guys and gets the girl, facing European sorcerors, voodoo bocors, zombies and even Baron Samedi himself along the way - no wonder Disney wanted to steal the best bits!

In fact this book's plot has so much in common with the very first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, that the inspiration is clear. The protagonist's pirate name is awfully close to that of Jack Sparrow, his quest to rescue (Eliza)beth from a sorcerous pirate captain mirrors that of Will Turner, and like Sparrow, Shandy does indeed become captain of his own small ship and spend a couple of long spells getting blind drunk on rum (or red wine if he can get it) on beaches. There's even a character who could have stepped out of the original movie, a black pirate called Mr Bird who periodically shouts "I am not a dog!" for no apparent reason.

In some respects this is a very old-fashioned book: there is no strong language (beyond an occasional "damn" or "bloody"), with any actual swearing being referred to obliquely, and any feminist readers are likely to be disappointed by the passivity of the female characters. Beth Hurwood exists purely to be threatened by the bad guys and rescued by the hero, and the one potentially interesting young woman (a teenage Ann Bonny) makes only a couple of brief appearances. However all this is very true to the genre's swashbuckling, "Boy's Own" roots and detracted very little from this reader's enjoyment, perhaps because the hero himself is a complex, well-rounded character: likeably naive to begin with, gradually coming to enjoy his new adventurous life but with a moral core that prevents him from descending into the savagery displayed by the other pirates.

Overall, I can heartily recommend this book to anyone who loves a good adventure story. It's darker than the movies, but comedy is much harder to pull off on the page than on-screen, and Powers' rich imagination more than compensates. (less)

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Jun 04, 2011 Jeff Young rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just put down the ereader upon finishing the book - I would really like to call up another Jack Shandy story and dive right in. But in reality, I swear I would need to catch my breath. The Pirates of the Caribbean movie will simply never do this book justice. You could probably make a trilogy of movies from this novel and perhaps do it justice. There is simply so much over the top action at the end, that its almost overwhelming. Take a firm grasp on your belief and set it aside and simply enjpoy...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Gabe Dybing rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I reread this in anticipation of the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 4, which is loosely based on this novel, and certainly will have little in common. I remembered this as being an immensely enjoyable read, and it met expectations, but this time around I was surprised at how small of a role the heroine in this novel takes. She spent pretty much the entire time drugged and magically bound. This is remarkably different from some of Powers's later achievements, and I recognize that there didn't...more

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Sep 30, 2010 Mollymillions rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, scififantasy

Like everything Tim Powers writes, On Stranger Tides is great fun. It’s packed with swashbuckling, pirates, magic, the fountain of youth and a little romance.

My only quibble with the book is the story arc. It’s strange and while I can’t say that it doesn’t work, I can’t really say that it does work. The book is broken in to four parts: prologue, book I, book II and epilogue. By the end of book I the plot and character conflicts introduced to that point are resolved. Book II begins using most of...more

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Aug 07, 2009 Timothy Cole rated it 3 of 5 stars

In this book, Tim Powers tells the story of John Chandagnac, an itinerant puppeteer on a journey to the Caribbean to confront the uncle who cheated his father out of the family fortune. Things get complicated, however, when his ship is captured by pirates and he finds himself made an unwilling member of their crew. As he comes to fully inhabit the world of the pirates, he encounters the terrible powers which still hold sway in the untamed New World. All the while, he must find a way to save the...more

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May 16, 2011 Candice Trebus rated it 3 of 5 stars

Maybe you can blame the genre for the three stars. While well-written and very engaging, I'm very snobby about my fantasy picks.
Jack Shandy reminded me too much of Hero Protagonist from Snow Crash: an unbelievable character with a highly inflated skill set and very little training. The science in the fiction was a little insulting... Newton, Pythagoras and Aristotle were all inexplicably thrown into a single chapter in an attempt to explain the "science" of magic and it just felt flimsy and hal...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Michele (Mikecas) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, fantasy

Da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... La sceneggiatura del quarto episodio de I Pirati dei Caraibi della Walt Disney � basata sulla trama di questo romanzo di Tim Powers, pubblicato in Italia da Fanucci nel 1994. L'imminente uscita del film � la causa della recente ristampa del romanzo, con una nuova copertina che non lascia dubbi a cosa strizza l'occhio. Non ho idea della qualit� del film e di quanto del romanzo vi possa essere, ma non posso che essere contento di un evento, del tutto ca...more Da: http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel... La sceneggiatura del quarto episodio de I Pirati dei Caraibi della Walt Disney � basata sulla trama di questo romanzo di Tim Powers, pubblicato in Italia da Fanucci nel 1994. L'imminente uscita del film � la causa della recente ristampa del romanzo, con una nuova copertina che non lascia dubbi a cosa strizza l'occhio. Non ho idea della qualit� del film e di quanto del romanzo vi possa essere, ma non posso che essere contento di un evento, del tutto casuale, che ha permesso la riapparizione di un romanzo di buona qualit�, passato non dico inosservato ma sicuramente senza grandi successi alla sua prima apparizione, e che reputo assolutamente degno di una maggiore considerazione. Non � certamente facile definire esattamente il genere di appartenenza di Mari Stregati. Come quasi tutti i romanzi di Powers, parte da una situazione reale, con alcuni personaggi veramente esistiti, ma, senza modificare i fatti storicamente conosciuti, lascia ampio spazio all'intervento di forze sovrannaturali di vario genere che pilotano la vicenda in contorsioni imprevedibili tra i paletti fissi dei dati storici. In Mari Stregati per� la vicenda si svolge in luoghi e tempi in cui spesso la leggenda ed il mito si mescolano completamente con i fatti accertati, e per una persona normale � difficile separarli. Il periodo finale della pirateria nei mari dei Caraibi, prima che la razionalit� europea prendesse definitivo controllo di quel mondo in cui la magia, o meglio le magie indigene si erano incontrate, scontrate e rinforzate con le magie africane arrivate insieme ai carichi umani destinati alle piantagioni sempre pi� ampie per sostituire una popolazione indigena praticamente eliminata da malattie e sfruttamento, non � un periodo storico di cui un lettore occidentale medio sappia facilmente elencare i fatti veri e distinguerli dalle leggende. E corre il rischio di considerare fin troppo spesso dei fatti veri come delle semplici leggende, anche molto fantastiche. Voglio dire che, a differenza di altri romanzi di Powers, questa volta pu� risultare difficile capire dove il racconto si scosta dalla realt�, perch� la cultura dei riti magici caraibici, il vud� con tutte le sue varianti, insieme con i riti animistici indigeni � ormai considerata puro folclore, e non si riesce pi� a cogliere la forte immedesimazione che una larga parte della popolazione aveva all'epoca con queste credenze. Pu� risultare quindi facile considerare Mari Stregati come un romanzo di totale fantasia, e non riuscire a cogliere quale era la realt� in quei luoghi ed in quei tempi. Sicuramente i morti non potevano rinascere, ma i pirati erano quelli che erano, hanno fatto cose esattamente come descritte nel romanzo, anche se magari senza ciurme di spiriti da navi affondate il secolo prima, e la societ� per bene viveva esattamente in quel modo, con abbondanti mani in pasta con gli affari illeciti dei pirati, e la magia, forte o debole che fosse, reale o immaginaria, permeava fortemente la vita di molti. Mari Stregati descrive molto bene tutto questo, intrecciandolo con una realt� magica che poteva anche essere considerata concreta da tanti cittadini a diverso titolo di quella vasta e turbolenta regione. I personaggi sono estremamente ben caratterizzati, senza esagerazioni macchiettistiche come certe situazioni avrebbero potuto facilmente causare. La loro evoluzione con lo scorrere della vicenda � molto logica, del tutto giustificata dagli eventi e dalla esperienza che via via accumulano. Non ci sono forzature maggiori di quelle richiesta dalla realt� magica del vud� e dei suoi incantesimi, che sicuramente gioca un ruolo predominante. La lettura scorre facilmente, e le immagini delle abbondanti scene d'azione sono vivide ed immediate. Powers potrebbe essere preso come esempio di tecnica narrativa per come riesce a far vedere in modo diretto quasi tutto quello che racconta. La storia non presenta sorprese o aspetti originali particolari, ma ha una sua logica stringente e si sviluppa senza contraddizioni e/o incongruenze, e per questo tipo di racconti � di per se stesso un merito notevole. Tutto sommato credo possa a buon titolo essere considerato un antesignano del new weird, scritto qualche anno prima che VanderMeer ne codificasse (piuttosto arbitrariamente) il genere. Ho letto con molto piacere Mari Stregati, e mi sento di raccomandarlo con fiducia anche a chi, come me, ha perplessit� per storie di pirati e di magia nera. La qualit� di scrittura riesce a far superare molte diffidenze.(less)

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May 06, 2011 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This book is...flawed. I haven't read any other Tim Powers books, so maybe this was just a fluke, but what a miserable lack of female characters. The romantic lead is practically comatose for the majority of her time on the page, and, but for one brief moment at the end, literally just gets pushed around. And what a waste of Ann Bonny - I know she's just a background character, but really? The woman who would become the most famous female pirate in history is reduced to this? Bother. And the plo...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Algernon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I liked this one a lot better than The Anubis Gates. For one thing it has pirates and battles at sea, voodoo monsters and that vegetal Thing from the Florida marshes, animated skeletons and rum bottles, a damzel in distress and a sultry temptress. If it sounds like the last episode of the Pirates of the Carribean francise, that's because On Stranger Tides is the source material for the movie. Frankly, I prefer the book, even without Johnny Depp.

Among the things I learned from this book:
- the ter...more

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May 04, 2011 Ivana rated it 3 of 5 stars

I preferred some other works by Powers, such as the Dinner at Deviant's Palace, The Drawing of the Dark and The Anubis Gates. This one had the opportunity to be a great fun - pirates, voodoo, immortality, magic, the usual secret history, everything fits in great... But it just wasn't as fun as some of his other works.

Part of the problem were the darn ship parts. Time after time I had to read half a page mentioning various ship parts, without the explanation what the parts were for, what was thei...more

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May 06, 2011 Jeff Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have been waiting to read this book for awhile as it was out of print. Previously I had gone on a Time Powers binge where I read several of his books one after another. As this book now has some connection to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie it is finally being published again and I bought the Kindle version.

It was quite worth the wait as it was a very satisfying Tim Powers story. This time a young man headed for the Caribbean from Europe to confront his uncle is captured by pirates and...more

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