Cindy Vallar's Blog, page 18

Mutiny on the Rising Sun by Jared Ross Hardesty -- A Review

Mutiny On The Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate by Jared Ross Hardesty

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Rising Sun peacefully navigated Caribbean waters in June 1743. “Murder! Murder!” The sudden cries rent the air as three mutineers carried out their bloody work. At least seven people died that night. Two survived because of the knowledge they possessed. And chained in the hold, bearing witness to the bloody deeds, were thirteen children and two young men, all enslaved and bound for the slave market in Barbados.

This is far more than a simple trade venture gone awry. As Hardesty recounts the events of that gruesome night – providing insight into what is known and can be hypothesized about the mutineers, the victims, and the witnesses – he reveals details of the smuggling cartel behind the voyage, the miseries of human trafficking, and an insatiable craving for wealth, power, and chocolate. How the mutineers were caught and what happened afterward brings the story to a conclusion.

Newark Jackson, a respected sea captain in Boston, had no idea this would be his final voyage aboard the schooner. Many knew that he owned a store that sold chocolate and that he owned slaves who turned the cacao beans into the popular commodity that people enjoyed; what was less known was that he also smuggled contraband into seaports.

Ferdinand da Costa, Joseph Pereira, and Thomas Lucas carried out the foul deeds. Ship’s mate William Blake and bosun John Shaw survived because of their training and experience, both of which aided them in thwarting the mutineers and bringing them to justice – a justice that was as brutal and horrific as the mutiny itself.

Two appendices cover circumstantial evidence, newspaper reports, and witness testimonies. Maps, advertisements, artwork, ship drawings, and photographs are also included. End notes and an index round out the book.

In his introduction, Hardesty describes this book as a “human history of smuggling.” (4) He deftly shows how and why illicit trade played a role in the lives of all those involved, either firsthand or peripherally. What happened aboard the Rising Sun allows him to show us what drove these colonists to participate in the buying and selling of contraband, and how smuggling could result in the consequences that occurred. The Mutiny of the Rising Sun is an eye-opening examination of capitalism, exploitation, and racism during colonial times that still has repercussions for us today.




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The Buccaneer Coast by James L. Nelson -- A Review

The Buccaneer Coast by James L. Nelson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As far as Spain is concerned, the New World belongs to it, not interlopers from France, the Dutch Republic, or England. To take back what is theirs, a Spanish force attacks the islands of Saint Christopher and Nevis and lanceros hunt boucaniers on the northwest coast of Hispaniola. LeBoeuf and his partner are stalking wild pigs when lanceros pursue them. Le Rongeur, a thief and abhorrent man whose only good qualities are his swiftness and his aim, flees. LeBoeuf expects this to be his last day, yet still he stands his ground and lashes out against his attackers.

A fleet of Spanish galleons and warships near their destination, Santo Domingo. Among their passengers is the new lieutenant governor of Hispaniola, Don Alonso Menéndez de Aviles, and his wife. Her father has the money and power, but Don Alonso knows this will not be for long. Traveling among the other vessels is a French ship laden with a surreptitious cargo and secret papers that will allow him to acquire the wealth and influence that he so desperately craves.

Benjamin Graves is either lucky or unlucky. It has always been so and now seems to be a mix of the two. He has lost the cargo that he stole from his employer, Señor Corregidor, because the Spanish attack Nevis, but being aboard his appropriated vessel, he has eluded the invaders. However, he fails to elude Maja, Corregidor’s henchman, and is now on his way back to Santo Domingo to await a fate worse than death . . . unless he can change his luck, which often happens if given the time to talk his way out of a hopeless situation. Two such opportunities present themselves – Spanish ships in pursuit and, later, pirates – and Benjamin has a plan, if he can get Maja to listen.

Maja is a brute of mixed blood, who keeps his own counsel and follows orders. Like capturing Graves and returning him, the ship, and its cargo to Santo Domingo. The problem is he has two of the three and Señor Corregidor will not be happy. But Maja is also savvy and waits for opportunities to present themselves. Like Graves’s risky schemes to elude their Spanish pursuers and to trick the pirates into making a fatal mistake. He knows that sooner or later he will no longer be just property. He will be free and more powerful than the man who owns him.

The Caribbean is a dangerous place, not only because of the various factions claiming ownership, but also because Mother Nature is an unpredictable force that unleashes her fury when it suits her. A hurricane obliterates LeBoeuf’s way of life, yet leaves behind hope for a new life. The same tempest wreaks havoc on Don Alonso’s plans, almost as much as those who are far more experienced in the ways of the New World do. The storm is the catalyst that propels these four men onto pathways that will eventually collide in wrathful ways that promise to be just as life-altering as the devastating effects of the hurricano.

This is the first book in a new series that brings to life the men who hunted wild pigs, but were forced to become the bane of Spain’s colonial empire. Nelson precisely sets the stage for the titles that follow and he does so in a way that makes the reader antsy for their next rendezvous with the characters. He provides maps and a glossary to assist those unfamiliar with Hispaniola and nautical terms. Adept readers may notice some sentences with missing and wrong words, as well as a few misspellings, but the action and character depth easily overcome these. There are a few words, like prithee, that may catch the reader by surprise, but they help recreate the time period. The constant use of Don Alonso’s full name, or even those of a few other Spaniards, may become tiresome to some readers, but they help establish the necessary pompousness of a character, as well as the strict formality of Spanish society.

The Buccaneer Coast is a tale of hope, betrayal, and the brutal reality of life where the best lessons learned may involve unlikely allies and the best way to survive is to trust no one. Nelson vividly depicts life as boucaniers and skillfully demonstrates a plausible way in which these men became buccaneers. A masterful storyteller, he takes simple scenes and crafts them into spellbinding events that transport readers from the present back to the seventeenth century where they experience individual lives as if they stand side by side with the characters.




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Tides of Mutiny by Rebecca Rode -- A Review

Tides of Mutiny by Rebecca Rode

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Laney “Lane” Garrow has a dream. She wants to be captain, like her father, of the Majesty and command her crew. An achievable possibility . . . unless you live in the realms of the Four Kingdoms. In any life obstacles exist to thwart one’s dreams, and Lane’s is a doozy. Any female who sets foot on a ship’s deck is deemed a pirate and hanged. That’s why, for eleven years, Lane has lived her life disguised as a lad who serves as a cabin boy. But as she’s grown older, her father has become more paranoid, restricting her to the confines of the ship whenever they are in port.

While in Hughen, a rumor surfaces that makes Lane question its truth. She must know whether her father was once a pirate. There is only one way to find out – she must go ashore even if it means defying her father. But actions have consequences and her single act of defiance launches a cascade of events that affect not only her but everyone around her.

One of those consequences is that a young man knows Lane’s secret. Aden has his own secrets, but he must reach a certain destination before it’s too late. If he fails, many will suffer and the only way to accomplish his mission is to blackmail Lane into getting him aboard Majesty. That, in turn, leads her honorable father to be deemed an outlaw.

Nor is Aden the only one who’s blackmailing Lane. One among the crew trades in secrets. He keeps them for a price. At least until revealing the secret will garner what he wants most – command of the Majesty. He hatches a plan to achieve that goal. Neither Lane nor Aden want him to succeed, but stopping him means revealing secrets neither wants anyone else to know.

Set in a fantasy world, Tides of Mutiny takes place over three weeks. It is a riveting tale of rebellion, trafficking, kidnapping, usurping a throne, betrayal, love, guilt, and destiny. Rode skillfully demonstrates that good and bad are never as clear-cut as we might imagine. Although written for young adults, adults will enjoy this serpentine adventure of courageous determination and unconventional thinking that has a twist you may not see coming.




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1805 by Richard Woodman -- A Review

1805 by Richard Woodman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater and his crew sail in search of the Channel Fleet. They are to help with blockading the French, preventing the enemy from leaving their home ports. It is a tedious duty, but essential. It prevents Napoleon from invading England. There are interludes where Drinkwater’s participation in the blockade is interrupted, episodes that make his life more interesting and dangerous. One involves conveying a high-ranking French duke into enemy territory. Another requires him to rescue a British agent who may be behind a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

A third instance involves a meeting with the prime minister and Lord Dungarth, who heads the Admiralty’s intelligence network. They seek Drinkwater’s thoughts on a French invasion, something that has been occupying his thoughts of late. Evidence shows that the French are embarking troops, and should the French fleet join with Spain’s, he is certain they will attack. But the invasion won’t be a direct one. He believes they will come through a backdoor, which will provide them with a slim chance of success.

Gales provide the French with the perfect opportunity to elude the British blockade. Although Drinkwater cannot stop their emergence into open waters, he is determined to keep sight of them. But that is easier said than done, especially when he must battle enemy ships at sea during a snow storm. When word arrives that France and Spain have combined forces as he feared, Drinkwater must warn his superiors.

This sixth book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series is divided into three parts: Blockade, Break-out, and Battle. It opens in 1804, when a midshipman rouses Captain Drinkwater from the depths of sleep just as HMS Antigone is about to wreck on a dangerous shoal near St. Michael’s Mount, and ends with the Battle of Trafalgar. Maps are provided to orient readers. Sea battles are riveting, while scenes aboard Drinkwater’s vessel provide vivid snapshots of life at sea. What makes this tale different from others that depict this victorious, but tragic affair, is that Drinkwater is not aboard a British ship at the time of the battle. Instead, he is a prisoner aboard a French ship of the line and the battle is poignantly experienced through senses other than sight.




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Review of Jame Bschert's A Congress of Kings

A Congress of Kings by James Boschert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Having lost Jerusalem to Salah ad-Din, the Christians now besiege Acre. The Muslims within the city’s walls defend this vital link with as much determination as the invaders mount their attacks. Salah ad-Din can only mount intermittent, but effective, raids because the vast majority of his army has dispersed. Time is on his side, unless the French and English kings arrive with fresh troops.

The conflict allows the Master, Rashid Ed Din, to focus on a far more important mission – the slaying of two former students who escaped his clutches and spirited away his sister. All three must pay for their betrayal. The trio of boys whom he has selected have been specially trained in the art of killing. No sacrifice is too great for the Master, and each is willing to live or die as he commands.

Meanwhile, at Kantara Castle on the island of Cyprus, Lord Talon de Gilles and Reza have recovered from the wounds sustained four years ago during Salah ad-Din’s march to Jerusalem. All is quiet and peaceful, but the two friends sense that all is not right. No one has heard from Theodora since she left to find her brother in Constantinople three months ago. Rumors that the kings of France and England plan to launch a new crusade are particularly troubling, especially since the two monarchs despise one another.

Their uneasiness seems warranted. First, goat herders find a hidden boat and Talon’s men capture an intruder. Then shipwrecked men are slaughtered or taken captive and enslaved by the island’s self-proclaimed emperor. Talon intervenes, but it comes at a cost and pulls him back into the conflict between Christians and Muslims, as well as the one between King Richard of England and King Philip of France. While Reza goes in search of Theodora, Talon is compelled to participate in the siege of Acre.

A Congress of Kings, the ninth book in the Talon series, is a story of betrayal, pettiness, good versus evil, and jealousy. The story takes place during 1191 and cunningly demonstrates that nothing is ever black or white. Separate events are intricately interwoven and there are always consequences that must be paid. One longtime character is missing from this story, and readers will miss him as much as Talon does. Boschert takes readers back in time to a world that involves all the senses. Seething undercurrents ripple throughout the book and he ably demonstrates their effects, both physically and emotionally, on Talon, an honorable man.




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I'll Tell a Story While You Guess the Song

Discovering Diamonds is spotlighting my short story, Rumble the Dragon, during this holiday season. I'm one of 24 authors taking part in this blog tour. Can you guess the song that might have inspired my story, which appears in A Tall Ship, A Star, and Plunder?

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Review of Robin Lloyd's Harbor of Spies

Harbor of Spies: A Novel of Historic Havana by Robin Lloyd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At the end of January 1863, the Laura Ann arrives at Havana, but is unable to enter the bay because night has fallen. Nor can she return to open waters because a Confederate gunboat is out there hunting merchant ships flying the Stars and Stripes of the United States. Acting captain Everett Townsend is debating what to do when he hears shouts coming from the shark-infested water. He rescues an injured man named Michael Abbot, who has just escaped from El Morro Castle.

Cuba is an enticing mystery to Everett because it is the homeland of his mother, but once she left the island, she refused to speak of it or her family. Helping the injured fugitive comes naturally to him since his family aids runaway slaves passing through Maryland. But Cuba is a far cry from the United States, and being a Good Samaritan sets in motion a series of falling dominos with dire consequences for Everett.

Abbot has been investigating the murder of an English diplomat that was swept under the rug, but there are those with power and influence who don’t want the matter reopened. They become aware of Everett’s assistance and, soon, he finds himself imprisoned and unable to contact anyone. The Spanish officials believe him to be a spy, an executable offense. Don Pedro Alvarado Cardona offers him a lifeline. The cost, however, is almost as disgraceful and distasteful as when Everett was booted out of the US Naval Academy. If he wishes to live, he must become a Confederate blockade runner. Havana is nominally a neutral seaport; in reality, it is a depot where Confederate ships can load British armament to smuggle into the South or unload cotton and other goods that would otherwise rot in blockaded Southern ports.

Everett reluctantly accepts Don Pedro’s offer, but vows to escape at the first opportunity. That chance doesn’t come. Instead, he is offered a chance to visit the plantations where he comes face-to-face with the realities of slavery and people who knew his mother. A foreign diplomat offers Everett a way to change the current path his life is on, but it requires him to gain the trust of Don Pedro, a suspicious and mysterious man who has many secrets.

Harbor of Spies takes place over a span of six months – a time that may seem short for the reader, but is an eternity for the characters. Lloyd has crafted an intricate web of interconnected subplots and enigmas that subtly ensnare those who venture into the past that was Old Havana, where societal disparities were rampant and no one trusted anyone. A real diplomatic murder serves as the catalyst and the depth of Lloyd’s historical research is evident throughout. He provides vivid portrayals of slavery, human trafficking, manipulations, crime, blockade running, corruption, espionage, jealousy, and romance. This is a story where everyone wears a mask and nothing is as it seems.




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Review of Jane Glatt's Dinghies & Deceit

Dinghies & Deceit by Jane Glatt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Rescued to do someone else’s bidding, Pia prefers to hide in plain sight and keep a low profile. Her only goal now is to protect her younger sister, an innocent victim in the same person’s manipulations. She works hard and learns new tasks, each of which may prove valuable in being able to become self-sustaining. At the same time, she and Frieda help in the global need to provide food during the upcoming winter. Pirates alter her perspective when they invade the warehouse where she works and take her co-workers hostage. Never a willing Intelligencer, she must implement her training to rescue them. Together with Gustav Gunnarson, another Intelligencer, they use traits of Concentration and Charisma to find out what the pirates’ end game is and prove that they have once again formed an alliance with one of the Freeholders.

With winter fast approaching, Intelligencers Dagrun Lund and Calder Rahmson must return to the Sapphire Sea once more to gather food and supplies for the Fair Seas Treaty Alliance. But Dag’s trait keeps warning that something is not right. First, the pirates have divided into two factions and abandoned their longtime base of operations. Second, her twin sister Inger has disappeared. Third, Calder’s father has again lost his assassin’s token. No longer is his target a notorious and dangerous pirate named Pinho; it’s a man whom Inger cares about. Then Dag discovers that children with traits have been taken from their parents and imprisoned. Determined to find and protect them, she follows that trail while Calder attempts to stop his father. If he fails to safeguard Inger, Dag will never forgive him and their love will be lost forever.

In the meantime, the Freeholders gather to determine how to proceed in light of the devastating pirate attack that destroyed the alliance’s ships and placed their people on the brink of starvation. Lauma Straukus, Calder’s mother and the Acting Grand Freeholder, will dissolve the alliance and protect her own people rather than allow another corrupt Freeholder to assume the office. Dag’s suggestion of changing the treaty is a worthwhile one, but getting enough votes for that to happen proves difficult. It doesn’t help that Lauma and Master Intelligencer Nadez seem to be working a cross purposes, especially after Nadez unearths rumors that one of the Freeholders gained their title through murder.

This fourth book in The Intelligencers series is perhaps the most complex. Myriad threads dealing with piracy, human trafficking, corruption, and power are interwoven to create an intricate web, but the tension one might expect from this never quite reaches the mark. The primary focus is on Pia and Gustav’s journey, which is so vividly portrayed that readers will find themselves shivering with cold and yearning for hot soup to regain some warmth. Those new to the series may want to first read the earlier titles to gain a better understanding of who’s who and what traits are. Fans of the series will definitely be intrigued by some of the mysteries left unsolved.




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Review of Upon the Malabar Coast by Philip K. Allan

Upon the Malabar Coast by Philip K. Allan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In February 1803, the world is at peace and a French lieutenant has only information to settle a debt. The information he divulges wends its way back to England, where it comes to the attention of Nicholas Vansittart. The diplomat extraordinaire understands the import of what this means. Whatever is planned most likely concerns the East India trade, which is worth millions to England. To thwart France’s plans, Vansittart requires a fast ship with a captain who thinks outside of the box and he knows just who will serve.

Elsewhere in England, Captain Alexander Clay is enjoying his retirement, although a part of him still wishes he sailed upon the sea. HMS Griffin, his former ship, is in ordinary and his men are scattered. Living in Polwith, Adam Trevan and Able Sedgewick own a fishing boat. Adam spends his free time with his family, while Cupid’s arrow strikes Able. Vansittart intrudes into these idyllic vignettes and, on his wedding night, Able must tell his bride that he and the other Griffins are rejoining the navy. Together with Clay and Vansittart, they are bound for the Malabar Coast.

Clay knows only too well that nothing is ever as it seems and always more complicated than first imagined. Napoleon and peace make strange bedfellows, which means the French admiral’s true mission differs from what the informant divulged. But danger abounds throughout the journey. Able disappears. The Griffins must rescue men from a ship on the brink of sinking. Miscommunication brings aboard a new pet, whose special talents will prove most favorable to Clay. Malay pirates attack Griffin. An alliance between an English ally and the French endangers Clay and his ship. Once dealt with, he must find two needles in a haystack and hope that he and his men are not too late.

With this ninth book in the Alexander Clay series, Allan comes into his own. The depth and intricacy of both the story and the characters are exquisitely interwoven and elicit a variety of emotions in the reader. Some scenes, such as Clay’s conversation with a clergyman or the arrival of Able’s mates on his wedding day, are both amusing and revealing. Others – the night Able reveals his departure to his wife or when he’s imprisoned in a ship’s hold – are vividly poignant. There are also riveting battle scenes and intriguing presentations of extricating themselves from sticky wickets. Upon the Malabar Coast is a welcome return for fans old and new and well worth all the tea in China.




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Review of Helen Hollick's When the Mermaid Sings

When The Mermaid Sings: A Jesamiah Acorne Short Read Nautical Adventure by Helen Hollick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For years, Jesamiah Mereno has endured his older half-brother’s bullying. But the day they bury their father in 1708, the harassment goes too far and Jesamiah fights back. Banished from his Virginia home, he signs aboard a merchant ship bound for Port Royal where he hopes to meet up with a friend of his father, Captain Malachias Taylor. On the way, the vessel is overtaken by a Spanish frigate. In spite of his young age, Jesamiah devises a wily plan and the merchant captain takes a risk on the fifteen year old.

Who is he? The lad with black hair. Special gifts are awakening in eight-year-old Tiola Garrick, but they must be kept secreted from her father – a strict authoritarian minister who rules family and congregation with abusive resolve. Although in Cornwall, she reaches out time and again to safeguard the young stranger, especially once he reaches Port Royal.

Meeting Malachias proves easier than Jesamiah expects, but the merchantman’s bosun is none too happy at Jesamiah’s desertion to Malachias’s crew. A confrontation is inevitable, and soon results in new self-awareness. He’s also tempted by a beautiful mermaid, who mistakes him for his father, while a girl’s voice in his head warns him away from the deadly siren. Tiola has spoken to him in the past, but never before revealed her name. When his father’s ghost also speaks, Jesamiah wonders who’s real and who’s not.

After a successful voyage, the Mermaid returns to Port Royal and Malachias disappears. A week later a note arrives with orders for Jesamiah to appear at a gentleman’s club. When he gets there, he must play the final round of a high-stakes card game. Contrary to Malachias’s hope, Jesamiah loses and, once again, Jesamiah comes up with an audacious plan to regain what is lost. This time it means they can never return to Port Royal.

This short story is a prequel to Hollick’s Sea Witch Voyages series and takes place over the span of nearly three years. Its geographical spread extends from Virginia south to the West Indies and east to England and Africa. I first reviewed this book in 2018, but this new edition includes scenes omitted from the original publication. The point of view shifts abruptly in one or two scenes, which may initially disconcert readers; on the other hand, one character’s recounting of the day Port Royal sank into the sea allows us to experience the event through the eyes of a young boy.

Within the pages of When the Mermaid Sings we learn why Jesamiah changes his surname to Acorne, as well as how he becomes a pirate. Along the way, he meets Henry Jennings, with whom he will cross paths in the future, and Charles Vane, who becomes a deadly enemy. Like the blue ribbon Jesamiah weaves into his plaited hair, Hollick entwines run-ins with the Royal Navy, a murder accusation, a mortal skirmish belowdecks, and a mind-boggling sea chase that nearly costs Jesamiah his life into a fast-paced enchanted tale set before his days as captain of the Sea Witch.




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