Customer Reviews

The Curse of Treasure Island

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If you check out the website of the real author of The Curse Of Treasure Island, Frank Delaney, you will discover that his purpose in writing it was to:

"...test how much language had changed (I never intended to publish it). Treasure Island by my beloved Robert Louis Stevenson seemed a suitable case for treatment; I wondered whether I, at the end of the twentieth century, might hook into the idiom of a nineteenth century man writing, as Stevenson did, in an eighteenth century persona. The exercise, published in 2001, proved wonderfully enjoyable and the English language, I discovered, has changed surprisingly little. Furthermore, Jim Hawkins may continue, to new adventures."

Let us hope that if he does continue, there will be greater emphasis on little things like PLOT and CHARACTERS and not leaving a bad taste in readers' mouths and less on his admittedly "dead on" imitation of RLS's language and writing style.

Delaney's "hook" for this somewhat conventional Treasure Island sequel (no Porto Bello Gold : A Prequel to Treasure Island, no John Paul Jones) is the last paragraph of Treasure Island:

"The bar silver and the arms still lie, for all that I know, where Flint buried them; and certainly they shall lie there for me. Oxen and wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island; and the worst dreams that ever I have are when I hear the surf booming about its coasts, or start upright in bed, with the sharp voice of Captain Flint still ringing in my ears: 'Pieces of eight! pieces of eight!'"

Thus we get a horror novel rather than an adventure novel. Ten years after the return from Treasure Island Jim Hawkins has become landlord of the family inn, and if I may say, something of a Mama's Boy, presumably in reaction to still recurring nightmares. His resolve never to return to Treasure Island is if anything stronger than before, but then a mysterious stranger and her young son come looking for him, begging his help in locating a man who turns out to be one of the three pirates left behind on Treasure Island. Though infatuated with her, Jim initially refuses, but then a series of events send him fleeing in terror: away from killers hunting him down, to his uncle's house, back to Treasure Island, away from Treasure Island, well, you get the drift. Maybe horror fans are licking this up, but I was checking the page numbers and wondering when (and if) the Worm would finally Turn, and we'd finally get some action OTHER THAN fleeing in terror!

Well, the Worm finally Turns on page 177 of this 291 page book. Jim, having drifted at sea for days, terrified of dying, is finally rescued by what turn out to be his enemies, among whom he is terrified of being discovered, but with his suffering altered appearance he is able to fool them and spin a tale about Plague on the Hispaniola. So they sail into harbor to consider what to do next and to seek medical treatment for "Master Mills", a port that Jim remembers well. He takes the doctor into his confidence and inquires about a former acquaintance, old You Know Who. Soon Jim and Long John Silver begin to plot about defeating the Bad Guys, rescuing the Good Guys, and, of course, picking up the remaining treasure.

This as you might imagine is the best part of the book, almost but not quite making up for what we have been dragged through before. Part of the problem is that there is a final nasty little twist that causes the reader to despise a couple of characters he has most likely grown fond of: one who turns out to have been motivated by wealth and power after all and another who knowingly betrays Jim and who is also, well, Jim's mother puts it best, "There's no fool like an old fool."

It could have been so much better, but then it was only a linguistic exercise after all.

Note: a number of reviewers have made the criticism that it is implausible that Grace could have kept her secrets from her companions for so long even as they are risking their lives for her. I think they are missing an important point -- Grace is a pretty woman with sad eyes and a sad story, what she'll tell of it, and is one of those women who have the effect of significantly lowering the IQ's of any susceptible males in the vicinity from Joseph Tait to Ambrose Hatt to Jim Hawkins. With the redoubtable Mrs. Hawkins shunted offstage early on as usual, there was no one left who might have pressed Grace to tell all. This book has a lot of faults, but Grace keeping her secrets to the end from a bunch of stupefied men is not one of them.

No, Francis Bryan is not as good as R.L. Stevenson, but this sequel is a well-written follow up to the original that moves along at a gripping pace. I don't think Bryan is slavishly imitating RLS's narratorial voice here; he imagines a more mature Jim Hawkins, and he does a good job bringing out the mixed feelings demonstrated by the original Jim at the close of Treasure Island. By comparison, I couldn't get through Porto Bello Gold, a prequel to Treasure Island. Bryan's book has better pacing and more sensitive writing than a lot of successful sequel writers; he seems to have real feeling for these characters.

If you are a fan of the original and interested in how some of the loose threads MIGHT have been tied up, this book is a pleasure to read and worth picking up. Keep it away from younger or more sensitive readers, however; it does contain some perfectly logical but disturbing elements.

"Treasure Island" is one of my favorite books (see my list on [website]), so the hought of a sequel was very interesting to me. Buying the book was an excellent idea, as I horoughly enjoyed it. I've always wondered what became of the characters in the original, and this book answers that question quite well. Jim Hawkins has grown into a fine man, and Long John Silver, a bit older and somewhat the worse for wear, is as wily as ever. We see all "the usual suspects" from the original, and there is a rollicking adventure tale included. The ending is a bit bittersweet, but quite satisfying in its way. This is a book well worth reading, and I highly recommend it!

Since discovering "The Adventures of Ben Gunn" when I was a young admirer of "Treasure island", I have tried to keep up with the sequels and prequels, but it's becoming a big job!

SPOILERS COMING

"The Curse of Treasure Island" is in many ways a worthy sequel, developing the situation and the characters, adding worthwhile new ones and taking us through many exciting episodes.
I did not, like others, feel that it fell apart when they organised the expedition without knowing Grace's full story. In the end I felt that Grace was an incomprehensible character, but maybe that is a good period point - people of opposite sexes did not expect to understand one another.
I got a bit uneasy about roping in Long John Silver "to catch a thief". We had a fairly sentimental version of Silver, a bit reminiscent of Robert Newton in his television series. If I were Jim, I might have worried a bit more about a possible double-cross.
But what is wrong period-wise (and a bit odd anyway)is his comparatively unconcerned assumption that his beloved has had a child out of wedlock. Which turns out to be correct - but not by the repulsive father he imagines. A lover might make every allowance, but Jim does not seem to think as people of his time did think (at least conventionally) about extra-marital sex. There is another problem - COULD Louis be legitimised by a subsequent marriage? And a storytelling problem, which is that Tait the monster and cannibal seems a completely different man from Tait the credible witness, which Louis's claim to the title requires.
Finally, of course, surely Jim has been consciously tricked, matrimonially, by his uncle? He does not seem to see it that way.
Altogether, a strange book, but a good read.

I was very hesitant to buy this book. Sequels by other authors are often very disappointing. After reading the prologue I was hooked. I read it all in a day & half. There are many interesting books in the world, but not enough books that you don't want to put down & can't wait to see what happens. This is one of them. I was trying to tell someone about the plot, & just saying it out loud, it doesn't seem like it could work. But it does, & wonderfully. This book is just pure fun, one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite a while. Anyone who likes pirates should read this book.

Years after returning from his Treasure Island adventure, Jim Hawkins, is now a man and back in the mix, defending a young woman and her son from the powers that be. For reasons that have little to do with the original, Jim soon finds himself on the run and en route to Treasure Island, to locate one of the pirates marooned there in the original--Joseph Tait--with an older John Silver and Ben Gunn.

Though an interesting novel written in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson's original, there are too many references to previous events, and not enough fleshing out of new characters. This might have been better if the author, Francis Bryan, hadn't tried so hard to sound like Stevenson.

Worth the couple of days it will take you to get through it, but not overly compelling.

I imagine Robert Louis Stevenson would approve of this exciting tale. It measures up well to the original novel in all aspects. In fact, I found myself enjoying "The Curse..." more than the original. As a boy I recall wishing for Jim Hawkins' courage and nobility of spirit. And now, two decades after I first read "Treasure Island," I find myself thinking these same thoughts.

Now a young adult, former treasure hunter Jim Hawkins manages the Admiral Benbow Inn following his renovation of the former dive. However, the twenty-one years old Jim spends a lot of time boasting about his island adventures over a drink or two. Grace Richardson hears about the brave Jim's incredible escapades with pirates on the high seas and Treasure Island. She, accompanied by her son, beseeches Jim to find the pirate Joseph Tait, whose last known residence is Treasure Island.

Jim rejects her plea, but that fails to stop menacing thugs from harassing her and him forcing the retired adventurer back into the action hero role. This time Jim kills a noble, and is forced to flee for his life when the law accuses him of murder. Accompanied by Grace and her preadolescent son, they begin a trek that will take Jim back to the "accursed island" that he last stepped on a decade ago in search of the meanest of Long John Silver's former associates.

THE CURSE OF TREASURE ISLAND is fast-paced and loaded with action, starring a mature Jim as a young adult whose potential relationship with Grace adds a romantic flavor to the adventure. The story line is very exciting, but the flaw remains that men risk their lives, but none know why as Grace keeps secrets that everyone seems to allow her to do while they blithely venture to death or near death. Still Francis Bryan furbishes a strong tale that pays homage to the grandmaster Robert Louis Stevenson while setting the seafaring further adventures of Jim and company.

Harriet Klausner

The much beloved characters of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic are recycled in what is basically a script for a made-for-TV horror movie. Stick with the original. If you can't get enough of Long John Silver you'd do better to read Bjorn Larsson's Long John Silver, which does a much better job at staying true to the original.

In "The Curse of Treasure Island" Francis Bryan- whoever that may be- has crafted a sequel certain to please hordes of Stevenson fans, and infuriate just as many more. Some will appreciate the opportunity to sail once again with such favorite characters as Jim Hawkins, Ben Gunn, and Long John Silver, while others (and I must include myself in this category) will find the revival of these classic characters almost sacrilegious.

In novels such as this, an author will customarily throw in everything up to, and sometimes including, the kitchen sink, to titillate fans of the original work. "Bryan" proves no exception...