Gideon Defoe’s Pirate! adventure series could quite possibly be one of the most cleverly conceived treatises on existentialism yet conceived. Sure, each installment is anachronistic, brief, side-splittingly funny, or what the erudites term “humorous”, and given the fact that the whole series not-so-subtly gains its impetus from Defoe’s unrequited love, is besides the point. Doesn’t existentialism entail all of the above anyway?

In any case, take Defoe’s latest exposition, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Napoleon, whereby our faithful and true Pirate Captain takes a brief respite to ponder his place in the pirate world, and whether perhaps beekeeping or even the unparalleled superciliousness of an exiled Napoleon can provide some meaning or contentment in this lifetime. For it is here that our fearless captain comes to a realization all Pirate Captains must eventually consider:

The Pirate Captain sighed. ‘Well then, I suppose we’d better go and see what’s more interesting than me.’

Beyond the philosophical reverberations of the work, we have the usual salty complement to offset the dueling shenanigans of the Pirate Captain and Napoleon; specifically, the pirate with a scarf, the pirate in green, and Jennifer the Victorian all lend a supporting hand. As this is a work of action and adventure, while reading of luxurious beards, ham and the highly democratic war over the St. Helena Residents’ association, take heed and consider your place in the pirate world. ( )

TPIAAWN is not the best piece of literature out there. However, it is a damn entertaining one. The fourth book in Defoe’s The Pirates! series sees the Pirate Captain growing tired of his pirating ways and after losing the Pirate of the Year contest, decides to give up his life at sea and devote his life to bee keeping. The Pirate Captain and his crew then retreat to St. Helena and quickly become to most popular residents on the island until Napoleon shows, thus sparking an epic battle. An epic battle of egos that is. The Pirate Captain and Napoleon constantly try and one-up the other and this is were the book starts to fail.

There is very little seafaring, swashbuckling or jokes about ham. For the adventure doesn’t leave the island and fails to create an adventure-esque feeling. Fans of the Pirates! series will most likely enjoy this book because the humor is still there. Surprisingly no jokes about Napoleon being short. Weird. If you have never read one of Defoe’s classic novels, may I recommend you go read The Pirates!: An Adventure with Scientists first and work your way up to this one. ( )

The fourth in a series I have previously enjoyed, this entry wasn't nearly as humorous and entertaining as the prior books although it did still cause a few chuckles. The Pirate Captain and his crew are back but the Pirate Captain is not himself. He seems weary of pirating and when he is beaten out by some pompous little upstart for Pirate of the Year, he declares his intention to retire. The crew cannot dissuade him and they loyally follow their captain as he is bested by Black Bellamy again, buying land on St. Helena, soon to be home to the infamous Napoleon, and trying to become beekeepers. Many hijinx ensue as both the Pirate Captain and Napoleon vie to be the most famous, most important citizen on St. Helena. I don't know whether the swashbuckling is getting old (even the author admits tongue in cheek that he might be a bit of a one trick pony) or if I missed the references in the jokes but this fourth in the series didn't captivate me like the others did. As a continuation of a running joke, it was a decent enough entry but it wouldn't have inspired me to read further had it been my introduction to the pirates. All of the usual characters are here: the pirate with the red scarf, the pirate with gout, the albino pirate, etc. and they do their usual covering for the dim-witted, laughably egotistical Pirate Captain. But the caper with Napoleon is less madcap than previous capers and perhaps that explains my disappointment here. Well, that and the noticeable lack of ham. Still of interest to fans of the series I hope future books will hark back to the goofy, off-kilter humor and plots of the prior books. ( )

Let's face it, it's neither high literature nor particularly clever comedy, but the job of these silly little pirate tales is to poke a bit of fun and raise a laugh. This one manages both pretty well and, in fact, a bit better than the last couple of outings. You'd be forgiven for thinking that there's not enough humour in a bunch of particularly useless pirates running around getting into ridiculous scrapes, to sustain anything more than the first, slim volume in this series. And, in a knowingly self-aware moment, this book acknowledges this particular potential rut. It then goes on however, and pretty much without trying, manages to make the whole escapade seem almost as clever and new as the first time I read "The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists". The added fun for me, as a thirty-something old-school Doctor Who fan, is trying to spot the odd little references to the show and in particular Terrence Dicks' novelisations of it. The Pirate Captain himself, for example is often referred to in terms poached straight from descriptions of Tom Baker's Doctor. Nothing happens here which isn't ridiculous and while every gag isn't side-splittingly funny, I did find myself laughing out loud in an empty room on more than one occasion while reading it. Silliness abounds, and enjoyably so! ( )