Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: I'm 40 years old, and I couldn't put this book down. I tend to skim books with huge elaborations, but you won't want to miss a single word in this story. And if I could have superpowers, Ben has them. Speak any language spoken and talk to your dog, awesome! I bought two copies for our school library
Rating: Summary: Good, but not excellent Review: My younger sister introduced me to this series about a week ago. The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman was great-it had everything. But when I picked up this book, I was a little bit disappointed. I really liked the first story in this book (extreme action, nautical setting, Ben's past coming back to haunt him...)but the second...What I didn't like was that the book lacked one important thing that all Redwall books, and this book's prequel have- a riddle. One of the reason that I love the Redwall books is because there is a riddle that the main characters have to solve. On the positive side, this book has really deep characters that have real personality. The setting and the plot are believable enough (until you meet the Razan's- then it's too far-out for me) and you can relate to (and sympathize with) the characters. Not as great as the first book, but if you really love the first book and are craving for more, go ahead and read it!
Rating: Summary: Swashbuckler that lacks facts Review: The Angel's Command is a good story, but the first half of the book, the naval part, was all wrong. To start with, the naval slang used by crews from the three ships is not right. Real pirates and privateers didn't sit around and go "Arrr!" all day like drunk old men. And when the captain of the Devon Belle speaks of the British Royal Navy, he gets everything wrong. I gave the book 3 stars because for somebody like me who knows a lot about ships and navies of the 1600s- 1800s, this book got everything wrong. Also, Jacques refers to flintlock pistols as "muskets", which is all wrong because I was getting the impression that people were tucking rifle- sized things into their belts. Otherwise a good book. First in the series was better, though.
Rating: Summary: im lovin it Review: The Angels Command is work of art that is just fun to read. i enjoyed reading this book so much, that i read it in two days! jacques created a deep feeling of character and he really put the characters through exciting events. after reading this book i got a sense of what it would probably be like if i were to live forever. it is a wonderful book, that really brings you in with it, and makes you feel like you just went through what the characters did. i definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes books that keep you guessing, wondering, crying, and laughing. this is definitely an adventure book, tied in with some fictional events and characters.
Rating: Summary: A very positive, uplifting series!! Review: This and the first Castaways book are the only books I've read by the author; the Redwall books never seemed to do much for me. But I must say Brian certainly spins a fine yarn. You can practically feel the sea spray in your face and feel the crash on the cannons in this book. I also like that there is a strong vein of morality in this series which seems like a breath of fresh air. Good people have happy endings and bad people, well, read on and see. This book, like the first, are a cross between juvenile fiction and light reading. Adults who are looking for extreme violence and ardor will not find what they are looking for here. You see the endings coming and today, I find that re-assuring.
Rating: Summary: Second Book in a great series Review: This is a great book, which's why I gave it five stars. However, I didn't really like the ending. It's the second book in The Flying Dutchman series, and the two main characters, Ben and Ned, are still immortal. This book takes place in the years between the Flying Dutchman book. There is a lot of action, suspense, and drama. The first half of the book was mostly action, adventure, with a little horror mixed in. While the second half of the book is filled with adventure, suspense, and drama. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a long story, with several genres, and many characters. This book starts out in a small city in Columbia, Cartengena, in the year 1628. A boy named Ben and his dog, Ned, are hungry, after wandering around. They go into a tavern, called the Rhum Tigre. Two pirates, a Spaniard, Rocco Madrid, and Raphael Thuron, a Frenchman, are playing an old game, where you mix shells, and under one is a pea. Captain Thuron loses another round, and passes a stack of gold coins to Madrid. One coin falls on the floor. Ned is on it like a hawk. He gives it to Captain Thuron, who gives it to Ben. Ben is then told to get meat, wine, and to keep the extra change, to buy Ned and himself something. Ned discovers that the Spaniard is cheating. He tells Ben about it, because they can telepathically communicate. Ben watches the next round closely, and sees that the Spaniard slips the pea into his lap. He whispers it to Captain Thuron, who tells his crew. After that round, the Frenchman says to Madrid, "There's a dagger either side of you and a loaded musket pointed at your belly from my side. I'm betting there's no pea under any of those three shells..." Thuron then takes all his gold back, and he, his crew, and Ben and Ned dash to his ship to make a getaway. There are two big adventures in this book, as opposed to the three in its prequel. I liked this book a little better than the Flying Dutchman, because it doesn't skip over whole centuries. It's all during the same year. This is just the first part of a huge adventure! Sail with scalawags, and battle buccaneers! Read this awesome book to find out more!
Rating: Summary: "A surety that Good will tirumph over Evil, always!" Review: This is the second in the series "Castaways of the Flying Dutchman." Like the first book, Castaways, this book is really two books, two completely separate stories involving the same characters (although there is a return to the first story at the end of the book). As with Castaways, Angel's Command begins with a naval adventure. But instead of traveling with the demonic Captain Vanderdecken, Ben and Ned find themselves onboard a pirate ship with a kindly French captain who has tricked a ruthless Spaniard out of his treasure. The French buccaneers must also outrun an English privateer, hot on their tail. What follows is an exciting chase from the Caribbean across the Atlantic to France. In typical fashion for Jacques, the wicked come to justice, sowing the seeds of their own destruction. But Jacques is also able to show how even wickedness can be turned for good. In the second story, Ben and Ned meet up with some new friends to try to help a aging Comte find his dead brother's lost son. Ben and Ned rescue Karey, a young con artist with a beautiful voice, and join up with Dominic a "face maker," who can draw portraits so lifelike that they reveal a person's true character. They must search for him among the ruthless and evil Razan, a band of marauders hidden in the Pyrenees. Ben and Ned find help from a tough goatherd, a woman who lives by herself in the mountains. Ultimately, the power of the angel comes to their rescue in a surprising fashion. In the Castaways series Jacques deals with a more explicitly religious world than he does in Redwall, where there is morality and a force for good, but not angels from God. Jacques is a master of storytelling, but in the Castaway series, he also shows his ability to explore different characters. This book will both "teach and delight."
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