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Cyberquest #3
Pirate's Cross
Mok's virtual reality adventures continue as the twenty-first century Welfaro finds himself on board a pirate ship, with a renegade pirate challenging his faith in God
58 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
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About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
252 books407 followersSigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.
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November 22, 2024
Sigmund Brouwer continues his CyberQuest series (which appeals to young boys by featuring various historical settings that men are inevitably fascinated with) with a pirate adventure, punctuated by a ruthless assassin, a full-fledged mutiny, and a political espionage subplot. Pirate’s Cross misses a few beats and is inferior to its predecessor Knight’s Honor, but it manages some interesting developments and keeps CyberQuest afloat (hehe).
As Mok (a young man selected by a mysterious Committee to undergo a series of cyber-simulated morality tests) enters his third phase of the project, he is sent to a pirate ship on the high seas of the Atlantic, with the purpose of resting from his previous two adventures and learning more about his newfound faith in the Galilee Man. However, unbeknownst to Mok and the Committee, a traitor in the real world has commissioned a cyberkiller to assassinate Mok, forcing him to consider the value of human life and the truth behind the Galilee Man’s teachings, all while fighting for his life during a savage pirate mutiny.
The strength of Pirate’s Cross is Brouwer’s choice to include a number of new plot elements to keep the narrative from being a mere repeat of the previous two books. Mok’s newest danger is the cyberkiller sent by the traitorous Committee member: a hardened, cyber-manipulated assassin who cannot be controlled by the technicians running the simulation. Furthermore, we get several more limitations and problems to make Mok’s situation more dire — the lack of gigabytes to support sufficient cyberspace, the Committee not being able to watch Mok’s trials in real time, and Mok being sent into a simulation without a guide. The fact that this pirate adventure is the first in which Mok is not really being tested but rather equipped is a nice touch, since Brouwer includes enough outside elements to keep it from getting boring.
Of course, Pirate’s Cross struggles in the same ways the other CyberQuest books have struggled. The technocratic dialogue is childishly simple and expository, and the whole sabotage subplot feels like a Looney Tunes episode. Our recurring framing story, featuring Benjamin Rufus’ quest to evangelize in Old Newyork, still hasn’t gained much momentum after three books. The Committee continues to engage in decidedly unethical behavior, putting Mok in life-threatening danger simply because they think it’s best and they want to do it. Brouwer also misses an opportunity to make the identity of the cyberkiller a mystery — which could have been incredibly interesting — and glosses over any actual pirate adventures by relegating them to background fodder. There’s a lot less Pirates of the Caribbean here and a lot more Patch the Pirate.
Brouwer does continue his compelling story of Mok’s search for the Galilee Man, though I wish Brouwer had leaned a little more into that idea of having Mok’s faith strengthened rather than tested, as well as seeing it lived out firsthand. Brouwer also includes the strong idea of Christ pursuing Mok through the ages and the different worlds, just as Mok is pursuing Him, sort of in an echo of Aslan’s message in The Chronicles of Narnia. Overall, Pirate’s Cross isn’t going to win any literary awards, but it does have some fun elements going for it and pushes us headfirst into the next book of the series.
As Mok (a young man selected by a mysterious Committee to undergo a series of cyber-simulated morality tests) enters his third phase of the project, he is sent to a pirate ship on the high seas of the Atlantic, with the purpose of resting from his previous two adventures and learning more about his newfound faith in the Galilee Man. However, unbeknownst to Mok and the Committee, a traitor in the real world has commissioned a cyberkiller to assassinate Mok, forcing him to consider the value of human life and the truth behind the Galilee Man’s teachings, all while fighting for his life during a savage pirate mutiny.
The strength of Pirate’s Cross is Brouwer’s choice to include a number of new plot elements to keep the narrative from being a mere repeat of the previous two books. Mok’s newest danger is the cyberkiller sent by the traitorous Committee member: a hardened, cyber-manipulated assassin who cannot be controlled by the technicians running the simulation. Furthermore, we get several more limitations and problems to make Mok’s situation more dire — the lack of gigabytes to support sufficient cyberspace, the Committee not being able to watch Mok’s trials in real time, and Mok being sent into a simulation without a guide. The fact that this pirate adventure is the first in which Mok is not really being tested but rather equipped is a nice touch, since Brouwer includes enough outside elements to keep it from getting boring.
Of course, Pirate’s Cross struggles in the same ways the other CyberQuest books have struggled. The technocratic dialogue is childishly simple and expository, and the whole sabotage subplot feels like a Looney Tunes episode. Our recurring framing story, featuring Benjamin Rufus’ quest to evangelize in Old Newyork, still hasn’t gained much momentum after three books. The Committee continues to engage in decidedly unethical behavior, putting Mok in life-threatening danger simply because they think it’s best and they want to do it. Brouwer also misses an opportunity to make the identity of the cyberkiller a mystery — which could have been incredibly interesting — and glosses over any actual pirate adventures by relegating them to background fodder. There’s a lot less Pirates of the Caribbean here and a lot more Patch the Pirate.
Brouwer does continue his compelling story of Mok’s search for the Galilee Man, though I wish Brouwer had leaned a little more into that idea of having Mok’s faith strengthened rather than tested, as well as seeing it lived out firsthand. Brouwer also includes the strong idea of Christ pursuing Mok through the ages and the different worlds, just as Mok is pursuing Him, sort of in an echo of Aslan’s message in The Chronicles of Narnia. Overall, Pirate’s Cross isn’t going to win any literary awards, but it does have some fun elements going for it and pushes us headfirst into the next book of the series.
Displaying 1 of 1 review