Reading – Pirate Latitudes

I started reading Michael Crichton back in High School and really enjoyed the snappy action and smart science fiction elements in The Andromeda Strain and Congo though I was growing dissatisfied with the endings being so abrupt, bordering on deux ex machina (I’m looking at you Sphere) but I did keep reading several of his novels, primarily the sci fi thrillers.

Pirate Latitudes sat on my shelf for some time, but when I finally got around to it, I did enjoy it. It’s got a good feel for the gritty and morally grey age of piracy and it would likely make a good movie when they get around to it. The main characters are colorful and fit nicely into the heist element of the main plot, a ship full of Spanish gold waiting in harbor defended by well armed fort that is reportedly unassailable by any conventional means. There’s a fair number of historical references to ground it in 1665 and enough nautical terms to whet the nautical appetite for wooden ships and iron men. Crichton does his research and it shows.

Apparently this was a novel that Crichton had worked on for a number of years and the manuscript was found after his death. The front half feels finished but the back half less so. Plot elements are introduced that don’t seem to go anywhere (minor spoiler – witchcraft being one). Minor adventures following the primary high point feel like superfluous speedbumps to further delay the finale and fulfill a required page count. Finally, principle adversaries seem to meet their ends rather quickly for all the lead up. That last point matches up with one of my main complaints about Crichton novels, so it at least matches up with my expectations. The book ends with a recounting of what happened to the main cast in the years that followed, closing down most sequel options, but also creating an anticlimactical finish. That might have been deliberate choice, illustrating that even though we cheered for these scoundrels rising to meet unbeatable odds still meet grim endings.

For The Gamer Eye

I’ve got a shelf of pirate themed games, a few I hope to get to the table sooner than later – Pirate Borg, Sea of Dead Men (multiple scenes feel like a PC did some flashbacks), Lilliputian, and maybe some version of 7th Sea (I’ve got both editions and the D20 version in PDF, but the core mechanics and world need some tinkering IMHO). This book has some great inspiration with the main characters, the descriptive scenes, challenges met, and the setting of Port Royal.