Book Review: Captain Blood

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini

While browsing through the audio books on LibriVox, I came across this book. I had just read some Sci-Fi (Permutation City, which was good) and I wanted something more epic in scale, like one of the Dicken's novels. So this was the best fit. It turned out to be a good choice, it kept me good company for the next week.

I listened to this book in twenty minute chunks during my commute to and from the office. All the voices who read the story back to me were clear and precise, though I did find it a little difficult to relate to the Captain's character after hearing multiple renditions of his voice.

The book is well written, even though a bit clichéd. The story is fairly simple but with some twists and turns which kept me on the edge of my seat. The story is coherent and well told. The narrator has gathered these stories of the Captain from the logs kept by one of his buccaneering companion (Jim). The primary theme of the novel is the love between Arabella Bishop and Captain Blood and the narrator breaks-character to give reader glimpses about certain future events which concern it. However, otherwise the narrator remains chronological.