A Prince Among Pirates
A rollicking comedy set around the year 1700, A Prince Among Pirates will appeal to fans of the HBO Max series Our Flags Mean Death, to which it owes a debt of inspiration.
Seventeen-year-old Christopher-Henry (Kit) Davenport, heir to a viscountcy, decides to run away to sea rather than follow through with the marriage arranged for him. He stumbles onto a pirate ship, where the group of mostly lovable pirates almost, but not quite, manage to train him out of being a fop and into a man, Taming of the Shrew style. The tone is mostly funny, and in the end Kit’s eyes are opened to how slaves and women are treated like chattel and servants treated as though invisible by his own upper class.
The distressing aspects are that his training in piracy nearly numbs him to killing. Also distressing is the way everyone encourages him to drink alcohol; drink is used to deal with every emotion. A positive is that the closed society of the ship gives Kit the space and time to explore his sexuality. By the end of the story, he has come of age in more ways than one: he’s discovered his true heritage, defined his own character, and discovered true love.
This is a comic romp. Kit’s coming to terms with his sexuality rings true, but the offhanded approach to violence and the normalization of alcoholism make it more suitable for readers at the older end of the 14 and up recommended by the publisher.
