Customer Reviews

Corsair

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a young rogue adventurer, Gareth, and his band of fellow pirates, seeking revenge on the high seas for heinous crimes committed against their people. The story is gripping, the descriptions of the battles against the evil Linyati are riveting, and the imagery is truly intense - Bunch's ability to paint a clear picture of the landscapes that surround his characters, the vessels on which they sail, the foods they eat, the clothes they wear, and the people they encounter is amazing. Add just the right amount of romance between Gareth and his Lady Cosyra of the Mount, and you have a perfect mix of all the components needed for a great adventure novel. The only thing I found dissastisfying about this book was the ending - the reader is left with an empty feeling, almost as if Bunch forgot to add the final chapter. I can only assume he plans to continue this story in further novels. All things considered, though, I loved this story, and will happily await any future installments.

This is one of the better swashbuckling tales of modern vintage. The plot is analgous to the situation in England in the late 16th century. Saros is nominally at peace with the hostile Linyati empire, while pirates from Saros plunder Linyati ships and cities.

Gareth Radnor, driven into the Saros capital of Ticao as a teenager when Linyati raiders destroy his town, is sent to sea after a youthful escapade antagonizes a powerful lord. Events lead him into a position as captain of a pirate ship, the piracy being tolerated when it brings large revenues to the crown. Raids on the Linyati uncover many secrets about the enemy and establish various allies (the enemy of my enemy is my friend). Secrets are also revealed in Ticao.

Overall, it is an action filled novel that holds the reader's interest, with numerous battles and adventures, some on land and some on sea. I would give it a PG-13 rating based on sex and violence contained in the story.

He was a teen fishing in a secluded spot with two friends when the Linyati entered his village, killing those who fought and enslaving the rest. The village is destroyed and Gareth Radnor's family along with it. Gareth moves to the Capitol City to live with his uncle. When a bored Gareth pulls a prank on a noble, the lord vows vengeance. For his nephew's safety, his uncle sends Gareth to sea.

Over time he becomes voted the captain of the Steadfast. He leads his men in battle against the Linyati and wins. He returns home wealthy, but unable to rest on his laurels. He devises a plan to steal the Linyati treasury that requires trekking deep into enemy territory.

Chris Bunch is a wonderful storyteller who writes fantasy that adults will enjoy. The Linyati are a strange, enigmatic race who serves masters that seem more apropos as residents of hell. The innocent Gareth grows quickly into a hardened warrior filled with grief, anger and pain that shapes him into being a fan favorite while steering CORSAIR into a fast-paced, absorbing novel.

Harriet Klausner

I just finished Chris Bunch's Corsair. Since I have always enjoyed a good swashbuckling tale, I was quick to snap this book up when I saw it. I was not disappointed. The story was fun and filled with interesting characters. I had a hard time putting the book down. My only criticism was that the pacing felt a little rushed, especially at the end. It was almost as if the author wanted to get it done so that he start the sequel!?!?! Characterization suffered (a little) at the expense of plot.

When I first came across this book, I said, "Cool! A pirate fantasy!" Aside from Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, there's not a lot of this around. I was a bit hesitant when I saw that it was by one of the authors that wrote the Anteros series, which was pretty much fluff throughout. I figured I'd give it a chance anyway.

The characters that populate the book are nearly one dimensional. Bunch gives each personality quirks that distinguish them from one another but, aside from the main character, we never know their real motivations. This is especially frustrating with the antagonists. About 3/4 of the way through the book, something is revealed about them that just begs for more investigation, but it ultimately leads to nothing. The same thing can be said for the plot. After reading the last page, I wondered where the rest of it was and was disappointed that we didn't get to learn more about the true antagonists. The book was written two years ago, so it seems unlikely that we'll see a sequel if we haven't by now.

That was the major problem I had with this book. There was all this setup and development of the motivation for the main character, but there isn't ever any true resolution of this conflict. There's a somewhat "happy" ending, but it was completely unsatisfactory after all the build up. Not that the book wasn't somewhat enjoyable. There were some interesting plot twists and ideas put forth, but there wasn't any payoff for the reader. The character interaction was decent, but I felt that there should have been more space devoted to developing the supporting characters more and making all of them more three dimensional. The world could have used some more fleshing out as well.

All in all, a pretty mediocre read. Nothing that I'd really recommend, but it wasn't badly written. I think the page count could have been doubled to add more meat to the story as well as to develop a satisfactory ending and the lack of these really hurt the book.

This is a good read - much of the story is described in the other reviews. It is roughly based on the escapades of Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan against the Spanish. The story ends after the sacking of a major Linyati City, comparable to Drake or Morgan's sack of Panama I think. The twist, which would have been very interesting to see developed, is that the hero's love interest is going to become Queen of the equivalent England. How this would have tied in with the equivalent of Drake sails around the world, sacks Cadiz and deals with the Armada would have been fascinating. However, Bunch never went back to this series and died in 2004 I think. So, its a really good Captain Blood type series with some interesting twists to come - but - there is nothing else to come. Certainly a 4, too bad there is no series to follow.

This is a pirate fantasy. As with most of the author's works, it is not deep or full of characterisation but an easy and quick read. And to be fair, Chris Bunch doesn't pretend his stuff is anything else. His Sten series (SF Military action) was the same, very readable but also very easy to forget too.

Here we have a young man whose family are abducted by slavers and he ends up as the captain of a Corsair ship taking the fight to the slavers. It's a bit 'by the numbers', some nice banter between the characters and a certain pace to the story but there is no real depth and at times the storyline is too obvious and sometimes lazy. This almost dropped to 2 stars but I will leave it as a low end three, the reason for this is that I suspect the author was going to continue the series but never got around to it before his sad death in 2005. This leaves a number of storylines incomplete and you are left with a number of unanswered questions about the slavers, their lizard masters and their motives. The incomplete aspect of the never fulfilled story arc does leave you a little unsatisfied and frustrated.

I picked this up because, like a few folks, I like pirates and fantasy, but not alot of books written for that combo. I enjoyed it a lot, I liked the idea that magic is not trusted by sailors and inclusion of blackpowder weapons. I'll agree with a previous review that there isn't much of a wrap up, but I got the feeling this was supposed to be a series that never got off the ground. I read this book through pretty quick, wanting to see what was going to happen next, and even threw the book down once or twice exclaiming, "Don't these guys ever get a break!"
Maybe not the deepest of books, but a fun read none the less.

Fast-paced pirate adventure in a fantasy setting. Lively and engaging, but hardly deep, Corsair is entertaining fluff.

Exiled lordling Gareth Radnor takes up arms as a privateer against the inhuman Linyati in an effort to rid his land of the slavers' evil. Gareth is a likeable hero, an admirable mix of dashing and average. His crew of colorful sidekicks makes for lighthearted fun, but the rather gritty battle scenes are more intense than the generally PG-13 tone of the rest of the book. It lent a dash of realism to what was, overall, a cotton-candy plot.

The only real complaint I could make is that the moral dynamic was trite. The villains were utterly inhuman monsters with no depth or motivation.

While I like a good "kill the monsters plot" as much as anyone, this book seemed to be aspiring to more, and the overly simplistic black-and-white portrayal of the Linyati ultimately hurt the plot's credibility by undermining the depth of the characters and their motivations. You cannot pit three-dimensional heroes, or even colorful two-dimensional ones, against one-dimensional bad guys who are all identical.

Absolutely not sorry I read it, but for genuinely quality fantasy there are better places to turn.

What a damn good read! A blend of swashbuckling naval adventure and magic combines to make a thoroughly entertaining tale.
The magic detracts slightly from our hero's audacity and cunning, but makes for some interesting scenarios; and the handling of the ships is over-simplified, especially the sailing qualities of square-rigs vs lateens. Having said that, and accepting that this IS fantasy, the story is believable, although our hero, as a pirate Captain, seems out of place with his aversion to alcohol and extra-marital sex, but his moral stand on human rights rings true, reminding one of the real-life Lord Cochrane in the early 19th Century.
Based at sea, this is a slight departure from his Seer trilogy, but he still retains the same basic elements, the brilliant youthful tactician allies with a wizard to make a formidable team. The story feels like 2 books combined into one at the last minute, there is a noticeable hiatus halfway through where one feels that all is lost, followed by an up-beat finale that ends in a surprising high. The scene is set for a follow-up.
I thoroughly enjoyed it - as did my wife. *****