On Stranger Tides

I'm easily pleased when it comes to vehicles for pirate adventures, which is why I was a bit alarmed when On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers – a well-known standard of the genre and inspiration for venerable modern buckle-swashers Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean – proved more dog than sea-dog. I found the syntax under-par, the ambience flavourless, the characters cardboard and the plot frequently unfocused. As a result, the book felt like something no swashbuckler should find itself being: unromantic.

There's a lot of moving parts, and On Stranger Tides never really hangs its hat on whether it wants to be a classic Captain Blood or Treasure Island adventure, with Jack Shandy saving the girl and half-heartedly filling a show more character mould halfway between both Blood and Jim Hawkins, or a more fantastical quest incorporating the Fountain of Youth and Blackbeard as a sort of voodoo priest. As it doesn't match the calibre of the former titles in its storytelling, the value of On Stranger Tides is more in the latter.

Voodoo, zombie pirates and a mythic quest; there's content here to sustain us, but it doesn't do much more than sustain. The magic elements seem ill-defined and don't really weave seamlessly into the plot – no one seems particularly unnerved by the existence of black magic or supernatural pirates, and said zombie pirates don't come across as especially indomitable or threatening in battle. Blackbeard himself lacks malevolence, and finds he has to share a crowded stage with a number of other minor antagonists – to the point where he seems minor himself. The plot jumps around; the Fountain of Youth is reached without much drama and then we're on to something else, the book far from over at that point. Character motivation is sudden and unseeded, such as Jack Shandy's frequent hyper face-heel turns or Blackbeard's sudden desire to take a certain character to wife to accompany him through eternity. And Shandy never convinces as a protagonist; everything comes too easily to him considering how green he is (all the events inconceivably take place over just a few months) and, fatally, he lacks charisma.

It's because of all this that I read On Stranger Tides in a sort of peculiar drift; happy to lazily indulge in superficial trappings of a genre the young boy inside of me will always have time for, and yet feeling the slightly hectic frustration of recognising I was not really getting anything from these pages. Busy, clunky and sailing along shallow waters, this ship occasionally lights its powder but was sorely in need of an anchor. show less

I love Tim Powers. Tim Powers was, in fact, the first writer I ever wanted to marry. Not that I'd met the man, I'd just read his work, but that's how it is. (Tim Powers was eventually supplanted in my affections by Neil Gaiman, but now that Neil has fallen from his perch, I'm open to reuniting.) I'm not saying that simply to gush -- I am notifying you folks that I have a bias toward this man. I pretty much love everything he writes.

And, yes, I loved this book. I am not claiming that it is perfect. In fact, Tim Powers does not write perfect books, but that always seems to be part of the charm. Sometimes he leaves you breathless with the pace of action, sometimes puzzled because a piece seems to be missing, until of course you stumble show more across it in the next chapter and realize that the book was just taunting you... but here's the key: you are always engaged.

This particular novel engages the reader in piracy, in fact. Interestingly enough, though the novel "suggested" the fourth installment of the tired "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, it is not at all the bloodless, artless affair the film depicts. In fact, by "suggested" apparently the Disney folks mean that the book and the film have exactly one character and one plot point in common. Never judge a book by its loosely-affiliated movie. The book is much more interesting, much more adventurous. All that is exactly as it should be, because this is a Tim Powers book.

Naturally, our protagonist, the unintentionally piratical Jack Shandy, roams all over the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico encountering not only pirates, but also vodun/voodoo and the sometimes awful and sometimes miraculous magic that it produces. Jack's multiple antagonists are, in fact, almost all practitioners of this mysterious art, which makes things tough for a former puppeteer. Yes, you read that correctly. Jack was raised as a traveling puppeteer. Not the sort of background one sees every day, even in a fictional character, but that is another wonderful element of a Tim Powers novel -- they are all deeply odd, in one way or another.

With the pirates -- some of whom are the stuff of legend, like Blackbeard, and some of whom are purely invented creatures -- Powers has the room to play broadly with peculiarity. The result is a novel that artfully balances authentic emotion and sometimes disturbing violence, including some gruesome death and reanimation sequences, with a wry humor that never carries one too far over the top. Powers also has a talent for descriptions that -- with similar balance -- create a rich, real visual but don't distract from the movement of the story.

There is a genuine pleasure in a book like this, one that offers so much, stitched together so well. The stitches may show in places, but this is the sort of book that becomes an old friend -- the kind of friend who wears old clothes comfortably and walks around in scuffed shoes, but always takes you on the best adventures. show less

Welcome to the Golden Age of piracy, where daring devils sail the Caribbean, waging war against fat merchants, corrupt officers, and the whole strictures of European society. Where renegades like Phil Davies and Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard) rule the waves, combining brutal combat skills with a sorcerers edge in the quest for immortality and ultimate power!

Wait, give me that last bit again? This is Tim Powers, so the world is recognizably our own, with the twist that magic works and is real. In this case, former puppeteer John Chandagnac is on his way to Haiti to reclaim a plantation from his evil uncle, when his ship is captured by pirates and he is given the choice of joining up or dying. It turns out that one of the Chandagnac's show more fellow passengers, Hurwood, orchestrated the whole thing in an effort to bring his wife back from the dead and put her in the body of his daughter, and he's teamed up with Blackbeard (the most powerful white sorcerer in the Caribbean) to do it.

What follows is a rousing picaresque through the Caribbean, to the Fountain of Youth and back, where Chandagnac learns how to fight and sail and sorcerer, as he defeats increasingly powerful bad guys to get the girl and save the day. It's a quick and fun light entertainment, and while I wish Beth Hurwood had a little more agency, this book is eminently enjoyable. show less

This was a pleasant surprise! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but all of those nebulous expectations were shot to hell. John Chandagnac, bookkeeper and former puppeteer, was on a ship to Haiti when his world was turned upside down by pirates. Over the course of only a few month John becomes the pirate Jack Shandy and is exposed to all kinds of magic, vudoun and ghostly occurrences. The writing is simple beautiful at times, and perfectly atmospheric at others.

I will be reading more from this author.

This book was the basis of the fourth of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. On the one hand, it's surprising they took so long to notice it--this was originally published in 1987. On the other hand, Powers doesn't write the same thing over and over, and this is his only "pirates of the Caribbean" novel.

Also, the movie is based very loosely on the book.

John Chandagnac is the son of a French puppeteer, who eventually left his father's business to become an accountant with an English merchant company. He's on his way to the Caribbean to track down his uncle, Sebastian, who cheated his father of his rightful inheritance when the ship, Vociferous Carmichael, is attacked by pirates. It's not long before he's pressed into pirate service, and show more renamed Jack Shandy.

And not long after that, working with the most famous pirate of all: Blackbeard.

Vodun, or voodoo, magic is a big part of this story, with dire consequences for quite a few people Jack comes to care about. On his trip out, he'd met Elizabeth Hurwood and her father, Benjamin, who turns out to have really dire plans for her. Hurwood's partner in magic, Leo Friend, has his own terrible plans for Elizabeth.

So does Blackbeard.

Jack at least wants to have better plans for her.

If he can outwit three powerful magicians.

The plot takes many interesting twists and turns, and Jack finds some very unexpected use for his puppetry skills.

This is, as always with Powers, smart, well-written, creative, clever, and thoughtful. The characters keep surprising the reader in ways that are utterly plausible and convincing. Powers also never fails to do his research, giving the novel an overall depth and reality that just can't be counted on in freewheeling historical fantasy.

I loved it.

Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook. show less

Pirates, voodoo, the caribbean, black magic... stop me if you've heard this story.

But OST is much more than a cobbled together version of a Disney ride. Powers has created a swashbuckling epic, and has enough ideas for any three other novels. There's epic sea battles, drunken sailors, some extremely nasty vilains, and a nightmarish trip to the Fountain of Youth that is worth a read all on its own.

Powers has a fantastic imagination, and the skill to get it all onto the page. I'm in awe of his talent.

On Stranger Tides is a historical romance in the best sense of the word; an old-fashioned adventure story that knows exactly what it is and will happily take yet another reader along for the ride. Pirates! Zombies! Voodoo! The famed Fountain of Youth! Villainous evil villains! (The famous Blackbeard is a dark sorcerer in this book.) Ghosts! Ghost ships! Dark, sticky magic!

The setting is great. Tim Powers has done his homework very well, and at the same time he paints an image of the Caribbean that truly belongs in a romance – a world where adventures happen all the time and heroes prevail against all odds.

Also, if you have read The Anubis Gates you’ll love how On Stranger Tides begins with quotes from Coleridge and William show more Ashbless. “Yes,” you’ll say, “now I know exactly what to expect.” show less