Captain Blood

By: Raphael Sabatini

Narrated by: B. J. Harrison

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Doctor. Scholar. Soldier. Peter Blood has been all these. But when he is exiled and sold unjustly into slavery, he finds there is another title he must own - Pirate. Now a man without a country, he wreaks his revenge upon the Spanish Main as a buccaneer. The only thing that saves him from absolute dissolution is the love he still harbors for Miss Arabella Bishop. Now, he is forced to balance the dictates of his conscience with his natural genius for piracy.

Public Domain (P)2009 B.J. Harrison

Absolutely enthralling!

If you could sum up Captain Blood in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing, exciting, strength

What did you like best about this story?

It never stops - the story always moves forward! The narrarator was incredible!!! He really did a great job!!

Have you listened to any of B. J. Harrison’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but I plan on looking him up and getting more of his work. He is great!!!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

My favorite chapter is "Thief and Pirate". It moved me and was so well written

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book- should be a must read for all!!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Rather entertaining

This was a good story, not great. It felt like pirates of the Caribbean sort of. It was the kind of story where you know what's going to happen but it's still entertaining to listen to. The narration is great. I love the accents that guy does. He's pretty good at them. I'm glad I listened to this book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

wonderful

nonstop from beginning to end a masterpiece of a story in immense detail....I almost passed it up thank god I didn't...

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Swashbuckling defined!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes. I love pursuits and escapes. Blood fleeing alone in desperation would have been good but he's always with friends.

What other book might you compare Captain Blood to and why?

Treasure Island. Pirates, gold, murder etc.

What about B. J. Harrison’s performance did you like?

He's good at fake accents. British , Irish , Spanish

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Any additional comments?

Great value at $3.95!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Exactly what I needed!

I am a big history buff and aside from ancient history I’m also very into pirate history. I was looking for an adventure hook as a way to take a break from the lesson based, non fiction history that I have been reading and listening to. This was exactly that. Following in the footsteps of real events, this novel had it all. The adventures were exciting. The gravity of consequences explained were powerful and the performance by the narrator, with all of the accents made it even more captivating. While in some ways, I feel like the author could have went even further with the story and the ending, overall I was very satisfied and left with a sense of wonder, such as one gets after partaking in something new. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to immerse themselves into a fun dose of adventure and pirate history.

Definitely keeps your attention, great narrator

This book was absolutely great! Need more like this. Kept my attention the whole book. Narrator was outstanding, will look for his name in more of the books I listen to. In my top TEN.

I feel I should love this. But I don't.

Would you try another book from Raphael Sabatini and/or B. J. Harrison?

No. The writing has aged horribly, even looking past the misogyny and racism. The characters are wildly uneven and the plot has gigantic lapses of logic. The characters often (but not consistently) suffer from modern thinking syndrome. The narration does the best it can with the material, but the actor is horribly miscast (an American doing crappy Irish accents? C'mon now.).

I really wanted to love this book and its seafaring, swashbuckling and Caribbean setting, but I just couldn't get past the faults. Thankfully it was only $4.

Would you ever listen to anything by Raphael Sabatini again?

Sadly, no. He gets all of the elements right, but it reads very much like a pulp novel from the 20's.

How could the performance have been better?

Different narrator, really. At the very least skipping the accents. The narration was bland and fairly uninspired, sounding more like a rough rehearsal than a polished read through. Compare this to Tull's thick, rich reading of any of the Aubrey Maturin series, and you'll understand just how thin this gravy is.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe. Because I think the bones of the story are there, you just need to get rid of the bad parts. Screenwriting is so good right now that I think this could be polished up and turned into a fun adventure movie.

Any additional comments?

It's cheap enough that if you're on the fence, have 10 hours to spare, love honest man turned pirate tales, can overlook a lot of racist references and women that are set pieces, and don't mind inept narration, then this is the book for you.

great adventure novel

loved it great characters great performance. my new favorite adventure classic. captain blood is my new favorite hero

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!

Close on to the best book I've ever had the priviledge to read/hear! Fantastic characters, epic adventures, marvelous plot, no waste of space in the pages with dull chapters! Edge-of-your-set reading the whole time! I think I may have finally find an author to follow in Señore Sabatini!

Suggestion: A foreknowledge (slight or significant) of the Caribbean geography, ships ("port/lee/starboard" especially), weaponry, Spanish, Latin, and French makes the story so much the easier to enjoy....The reader would be rewarded if research is done ahead of and/or during the reading.

Regarding the naration: B.J. Harrison does a marvelous job, nearly the best narrator I've heard! He straight up NAILS the various accents and appropriates PERFECT voices for each character which remain distinct and unique throughout the story! Also, for an American (or so he sounded to be), he does a fair job with the Spanish pronunciation and an even better one with the French. I could hear him read my least favorite book and enjoy it simply because he's the reader! I've also found perhaps a narrator to follow!