The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists

Author: Gideon Defoe
ISBN # 0753818701
Publisher: Phoenix
First Published: 2004
162 pages

1837: the Victorian Era approaches and the golden age of piracy draws to a close. Worried that his pirates are getting bored with a life of winking at pretty native ladies, sitting about on tropical beaches, and trying to stick enough jellyfish together to make a bouncy castle, the Pirate Captain decides it's time they had an adventure. A chance encounter with the young Charles Darwin - embarked upon the voyage of discovery that will one day make him famous - leads the Captain and his rag-tag crew from the exotic Galapagos Islands to the fog filled streets of Victorian London, where they encounter grisly murder, vanishing ladies, a diabolical Bishop, the Elephant Man, and have an exciting trip to the zoo.

If you’re a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, you simply MUST get yourself a copy of this book! Seldom does one come across a book so funny that it literally knocks you off your chair and leaves you not only gasping for breath, but requiring medical assistance to sew up your sides, but this one does. The Pirate Captain could give Captain Jack Sparrow a run for his money and I, for one, am desperate to know the secret of his silky beard. His hapless crew (with names like “The Scarf-Wearing Pirate” and “The Albino Pirate” because the Pirate Captain isn’t all that good with remembering names) are so hilarious that you’ll be screaming “raaarghh!” right along with them.

Apparently Mr Defoe wrote this book to impress a girl. Well, consider this particular girl suitably impressed! Honestly, my timbers have never been so shivered!

Rating: 9