“I've never read any of McCaughrean's other books (although Peter Pan in Scarlet is sitting on my shelf and awaiting my attention). I only picked up the book because of the title and cover, and the promise of rip-roaring adventures of the most appealing kind.
Well, it is a children's book. Not so much young adult, as proper children's literature.
I'm not even going to pretend embarrassment. I enjoyed this book, and here's the review.
Pepper Roux's death has been foretold the night he was born, in his aunt's dream. His father, a sea captain, is mostly absent from his life. Finally, the deadline gets closer and closer ("by the his fourteenth year"), and, on his birthday, which is the last possible day he can die within the terms of the prophecy, Pepper suddenly tries to run from fate...
...and starts adventures which are exuberant, ranging from sea-faring to horse rustling, from journalism to the soldiering in the foreign legion, from shop work to fighting the mafia. Almost every chapter tells a new adventure - it is a quite episodic book, seemingly meant for reading chapter by chapter, before bed time - and every adventure is worth reading about. I suspect I would have loved this book as a child.
As adult, there are some things that irk. Some of the characters are a little too outrageous. Some of the resolutions a little too easy. And the basic premise perhaps a little too demanding on the suspension-of-disbelief front.
Still, it's a pretty good children's book, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a 10 year old (or an inner 10 year old) who likes to read. ”
Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010.
(
reply |
permalink )
