Pirates!

Pirates! is a much darker story than Piratica. The main female characters of Pirates! seem more like victims and yet they are somehow more real than the colourful Piratica. Nancy Kington is the only daughter of a wealthy merchant; she runs free and wild and is spoiled by her father and brothers. When times get hard and the family business is in jeapardy, her father remarries, his new wife is determined to make Nancy into a woman of quality. Nancy has her own ideas of who she should marry and what her future will be. Several people try to tell her how unrealistic those dreams are but she is resistant to their clarity.

More troubles come on the family and Nancy finds herself promised to marry a rich and scary man who used to be a pirate. show more She also learns how much of her family fortune is dependant on the slave trade and she is upset. Nancy still can't bring herself to settle down or accept her engagemnt and when she murders an evil man (on the same night that she kills a man to release him from torture) she flees with a family slave into the mountains of Jamaica. Fleeing from her abusive fiancee, Nancy and Minerva join a pirate band. These are not the gentle pirates of Piratica although the crew does not kill often since it is a waste and they do stick by their rules. They are ruthless in their dedication to their goals and some are more bloodthirsty than others. None can compare to the treachery, dedication, and blood lust of the jilted fiancee. Nancy can feel him chasing her through her dreams.

Along the journeys, Nancy finds the restrictions on her gender everpresent and sometimes oppressive. She and Minerva work hard to dispel the stereotypes of the time and yet sometimes do fall within those lines.

In the end, Nancy heads back to a more demure and ladylike life but she is doing so on her own terms. After all, it isn't that she objected to marriage in general. show less

"I was of a roving frame of mind, even as a child, and for years my fancy had been to set sail on one of my father's ships. One grey summer morning, in 1722, my wish was granted, but not quite in the way that I would have wanted."
So begins Pirates by Cecilia Rees. Though sixteen-year-old Nancy Kington is dressed up like a doll and drilled in the ladylike arts, her heart cries out for more adventure than an eligible match. When misfortune devastates the family fortune, Nancy’s brothers attempt to use her as a bargaining chip. But, Nancy is no fool. She taught herself how to read and write, and she is determined to teach herself how to survive independently—even if it means turning to a life of Piracy!
This historical novel opens in show more 1722 coastal England. Nancy is horrified to discover that her family fortune is derived not just from a sugar plantation in Jamaica, but from slave trade. Consequently, freedom is explored through the perspective of multiple characters. Nancy and her fearless friend Minerva, are not content to live lives of luxury built on the broken backs of others. They risk everything to escape and make for the high seas. Beautifully worded descriptions and spicy dialogue practically allow readers to taste the salty tang in the air. Nancy and Minerva find adventure sailing from confederacy ports, to tropical climes, and through harrowing storms in the company of daring and dangerous characters. In pursuit of plunder, they quickly learn that the greatest treasures—love and friendship-- come from the heart. show less

Audiobook.

I enjoyed this quite a lot -- there were sections so gripping I had to sit in the car to finish the scene. I particularly loved the depiction of the strong and lasting friendship between Nancy and Minerva.

It was interesting to see how the author handled the embrace of a piratical life by the various characters. I would have liked to see both Nancy and Minerva question the morality of their actions a bit more. I could certainly sympathize with both of them (especially Minerva, a former slave) feeling that the piratical life was the only one that could afford them freedom, but I did feel as if some of the ethical questions were glossed over more than I would have liked.

But overall it was an entertaining and very atmospheric show more tale of high adventure that I quite enjoyed listening to! show less

This book is about as girl-power as it gets. Nancy Kington's father has made his fortune by growing sugar cane and shipping it all over for trade. She never thought much about it (although she objects to the way her brothers treat the slaves in her family's employment) until a devastating storm destroys most of her family's fleet and her father dies soon afterward. She finds herself on a boat bound for the island where the sugar cane is grown, and she eventually learns that her father and brothers have pledged her in marriage to an evil Brazilian with a neighboring plantation. To escape her unpleasant fate, she takes her slave Minerva and runs off with pirates, all the while hoping that her true love, the hopelessly middle-class show more William, will still love her as a pirate. To its credit, the story doesn't linger on the star-crossed lovers bit. Instead, it detail just how bada** Nancy and Minerva become. show less

This one just didn't hold my interest like the other books by this same author did. Great character development, but the plot just seemed to drag in too many spots.

This is a YA historical fiction about two young woman, one an heiress to a shipping and a Jamaican sugar plantation fortune, and her former slave who became pirates together as a way to avoid their proscribed destinies.

Although there were some faults in the writing/editing, this book was so adventurous and fun that I really didn't mind at all.

An action-packed, girl-power story of adventure on the high seas. Nancy, the daughter of a wealthy sugar-plantation owner, finds her comfortable world turned upside-down after her father dies. Sent to Jamaica and set to be traded in marriage to a cruel and devious landowner to profit her stepmother and brothers, Nancy looks for an escape--and finds it on the pirate ship Deliverance. What follows is a year of adventure, great fortune, a little romance, and a lot of danger.