Rating: 
Summary: The Way It Used to Be
Review:
Captain Blood is the quintessential pirate story and those who
appreciate it are advised to read also the short stories of this
character in "The Fortunes of Captain Blood" and "Captain Blood
Returns." The "Sea Hawk" is also excellent - but I didn't care
much for "Scaramouche"!
It says a lot about our current age that these books have been subjected to political critiques. Some of the reviewers took issue with the lack of feminine involvement or the "racism"
in the lead novel. Gentlemen, this was before ladies wore
trousers and also before our current obsession with topic number two. Forget the politics.
Thanks to the reviewer who pointed out that this edition of
"Captain Blood" has been abridged. Go for the unmutilated version.
Rating: 
Summary: First-class swashbuckler
Review: "Captain Blood" recounts how a decent, unusually resourceful, and skilled Irish doctor of the 17th Century is forced to become a pirate on the Spanish Main. The style is light and faintly archaic with a few nautical terms thrown in for spice. "Captian Blood" does not plumb the moral depths nor does it reach the literary heights of Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series, but it is a satisfying sea adventure and a worthy exploration of the nature of courage, dignity, and fate.
Rating:
Summary: Pirates in the Caribbean!
Review: A gentlemanly Irish physician is inadvertently (and innocently) swept up in the aftermath of a rebellion against the king and condemned, thereby, to a life of slavery in the English colonies across the sea. There, on a Caribbean Island plantation, the good Dr. Peter Blood, toils under the hot sun and the hotter eyes of his master's lovely daughter Arabella. A chance raid by Spaniards affords Blood his opportunity to escape and from there it is but a short jump into a life of piracy and crime upon the high seas. But Blood is a pirate with a sense of honor and a longing for the lady he left behind on the abandoned plantation. How this all works out and how Blood distinguishes himself against his enemies is the subject of this very enjoyable historical adventure. I read it years ago when I was a boy and remembered it fondly. Recently picking it up again, with the idea of convincing my own son to read it, I was struck by how enjoyable it still was, though it lacked the depth and dimension I have come to prefer in the reading material of my more mature years. Unfortunately, my son elected not to follow in my footsteps, as he advises me he has no interest whatsoever in pirates. A pity since they made for some really great adventures in fiction if not, perhaps, in fact, and I had hopes he'd share some of these with me. But he prefers a good fantasy any day, as he likes to put it. As though the adventures of Blood and his ilk were not fantastic enough! If you like well-turned adventure tales, written in clean, direct prose and conjuring up long-lost times and worlds, try this one. I don't think you'll regret it. -- SWM
Rating:
Summary: a good old fashioned adventure
Review: From start to finish it was a pleasant read with terrific crisp action and prose. The real surprise was the wonderfully intricate characters. Here the author betrays a real eye for the human race and he has fun with it. This is one of those books I'd recommend to just about anyone.
The *only* downside is it reflects some of the racism of the time (a la huck finn) so younger readers may need some help putting it in context.
Rating: 
Summary: Romance,adventure and history from a consummate storyteller.
Review: George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels, praises this hearty saga as "one of the great unrecognised novels of the 20th century." Doctor Peter Blood's quiet life is shattered when he is convicted of treason for tending a wounded nobleman in a 1685 rebellion against King James II. Rapidly there follows transportation on a slave ship to Barbados; escape from slavery and a brutal plantation owner during a Spanish pirate attack; the start of Blood's own career as a pirate and, before long, as the greatest buccaneer of them all. Raids, sea battles, sword fights, acts of gallantry and low cunning-chapter after chapter of action and adventure, recounted with zest and skill by a natural-born storyteller. Introducing this edition, Fraser writes: "[Sabatini] awoke me to history, and showed me that it was no dry collection of dates and diets and dynasties, but the most exciting adventure of all. For that, I and millions like me are forever in his debt."
Rating: 
Summary: A Dated Adventure Story
Review: Having finished Scaramouche not long ago, I looked forward to reading another Sabatini adventure tale. The writing is standard Sabatini. It is crisp and clear and he knows how to tell a good story.What was dissapointing is that the story has not aged well. It feels like something that was written in the 1920's. The characters lack any depth or nuance. Every thing is black and white. The story line is simplistic and predictable. Captain Blood is an Adventure Tale and not really an Adventure Novel. I love the adventure stories of this time period (ie. Buchan, PC Wren or Ouida) but the craft and art of the adventure novel has moved far beyond Sabatinis adventure tales of the 1920's. If you are looking for good sea stories, stick with Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin series or CS Foresters' Hornblower Series. Captain Blood is interesting because it a precursor to much greater novels.
Rating:
Summary: A Dated Adventure Story
Review: Having finished Scaramouche not long ago, I looked forward to reading another Sabatini adventure tale. The writing is standard Sabatini. It is crisp and clear and he knows how to tell a good story. What was dissapointing is that the story has not aged well. It feels like something that was written in the 1920's. The characters lack any depth or nuance. Every thing is black and white. The story line is simplistic and predictable. Captain Blood is an Adventure Tale and not really an Adventure Novel. I love the adventure stories of this time period (ie. Buchan, PC Wren or Ouida) but the craft and art of the adventure novel has moved far beyond Sabatinis adventure tales of the 1920's. If you are looking for good sea stories, stick with Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin series or CS Foresters' Hornblower Series. Captain Blood is interesting because it a precursor to much greater novels.
Rating:
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: I do love Sabatini, and I've read almost everything he's written, so it came as something of a disappointment to me to be less than blown away by the qualities of "Captain Blood." I have recently been making my way through his works and having heard so much good stuff about "Captain Blood," I was naturally looking forward to it. However, I was somewhat underwhelmed after finishing the story. Now, don't get me wrong, it's quite entertaining, and as one previous reviewer says, "it beats TV any day." But after the story got off to a rip-roaring start, with Blood falsely imprisoned during the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion and sent off to the Caribbean as indentured slave labor, it sort of putters off into a series of loosely connected episodes with Blood facing off against a collection of uninteresting bad guys (who, altogether, are about as threatening as paper tigers). I was also disappointed to see that Arabella Bishop, the alleged love interest, hardly shows up at all. (They greatly expanded her role in the movie, and one can definitely see why.) I suppose I was expecting a story of the scope and interest of Sabatini's "The Sea Hawk," which I highly recommend. "The Sea Hawk" has a far more compelling plotline, as well as a much more interesting hero and villain, and the heroine actually has a chance to do something. So, if you're interested in pirates and old-fashioned romantic fiction, go, get thee a copy of "The Sea Hawk"! "Captain Blood" makes a fine airport read, but I've seen Sabatini do better.
Rating:
Summary: Carribean Adventure
Review: I have 10 of the novels of Rafael Sabatini. Being a writer myself, I am constantly learning from this gentleman the proper use of the English language. Sabatini applies Occam's Razor to the language, evoking the most meaning from the fewest words. I have found myself often buried in the dictionary, looking up the meaning of wonderful, evocative words which have been forgotten in today's over-technical writing style. I have often just had to put a book of his down to figure out how he expressed this or that scene, or emotion, in so few words. Reading his novels is a writers delight!
This book is set in the late 17th century, when Spain ruled the seas of the Carribean. It is about Peter Blood, a physician who is sent as a slave to the island of Barbados, and who winds up leading a group of pirates out of Tortuga, in all sorts of interesting adventures on the sea, usually against Spanish shps.
All of Sabatini's novels are romances, and this is no exception. Peter Blood is a man of intelligence and refinement, holding a high sense of honor, and Sabatini makes you really like and identify with the character.
I had my atlas out while reading this one and learned all about the Carribbean and its islands, the Spanish Main, and naval warfare.
This is a delightful, superbly written book,a real page turner.
Rating:
Summary: Library Binding is not all it seems
Review: I have loved Sabatini ever since I read The Sea Hawk in 7th grade. His stories are full of swashbuckling and high adventure. I hadn't read Captain Blood for a while, so I took it out of the library. I remembered how much I loved it, so I went down to the book store to order it in hardback to add to my collection. Imagine my surprise to discover that it may be library binding, but not edition. The book has been edited. Whole scenes cut that sometimes may seem incidental when they occur, but actually contribute in some way to the character development and choices made by the character. I would not advise buying this edition if you are a fan of the book. If you have seen the movie and just want to know what the book was really like, there is enough in there to give the flavor. But I advise all Sabatini fans to avoid it and look for an unabridged copy.
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