Customer Reviews

Flint and Silver: A Prequel to Treasure Island

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've given the book five stars for two reasons. First: because it deserves more, but five is all I'm allowed. Second: because I wrote it. (the sharp-minded will spot the connection here).

I'm joining in because I'm astonished at the quality of the reviews. The UK Amazon site, has just ten reviews mostly quite short. We don't have the Vine programme, and the US population is five times the UK's but there is a clear cultural difference in the formidable length, depth and breadth of the US reviews. So ... may God bless America because I certainly do.

Most seem to like the book, which flatters the ego of a keyboard-basher like me, trying to grind out a few lines to earn a crust. But all opinions are valid, and some people don't like it. So here is my responses to criticism.

1. The book is too violent. Well ... it's about pirates, not Snow White, Bambi, or fluffy the easter bunny. It wasn't written for children, and I point out that Stevenson was well capable of gothic horror. Blind Pew is a figure of nightmares, and in `Treasure Island' John Silver horribly murders a man whom he strikes down from behind. Also, Stevenson wrote `Doctor Jeckyll and Mr Hyde', so he's not turning over in his grave. Anyway, the witch in Snow white, and the death of Bambi's mother, have been terrifying children for ages.

2. It's sexy. Well it would be. It's about grown up men and women and it's written for grown up men and women.

3. Long John is too good. Yes he is. But this is only book one of three. I shall deliver him up as Stevenson's equivocal character. He's going to change.

3. The time Jumps are puzzling. Try `Catch 22' if you really want to be puzzled. That magnificent book set the convention for time jumps, 48 years ago. I'm following in its footsteps.

4. The prose is too modern. Have another look at `Treasure Island'. Stevenson didn't write 18th century pirate prose. He wrote in the then-modern style of the late 19th century. I'm doing the same for the 21st century. Give it a hundred years and my writing will look quaint. You wait and see.

But basically, thanks for the hours people have spent on these reviews which are so intensely gratifying to a novice author. The only bad thing would be to be ignored.

John Drake, Cheshire, England

It's been over 30 years since I read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (Enriched Classics Series), a book that I thoroughly enjoyed as a young lad. So reading Flint & Silver took me back to a story and of characters that I loved. But as I read John Drake's prequel I found things that didn't jive with my memory of how the main characters were and acted. So much so that I felt I had to go back and reread Treasure Island before I could address the issues in a review.

First, though, I enjoyed Flint & Silver as a story on its own. It starts off quickly and rarely lets up. In Flint Drake had almost a blank canvass to create a vile and treacherous character with a strange sense of humor that matched up well with Stevenson's brief description in TI. The battle scenes are detailed and rather bloody. Overall the story is exciting with many twists & surprises that made it hard for me to put down. But a word of caution, this is not Treasure Island, a book written for Stevenson's 13-year old stepson and made even more child-friendly by Disney. F&S has some very explicitly violent parts with a little perversion thrown in as well. It is not a book to read to young children.

Having said that, I have a hard time regarding this as a prequel of TI. The main issue is that Long John Silver is written too moral and too good, too much the hero in F&S, and not really close to the Stevenson original. In TI Silver is a charmer to be sure but also treacherous in his own right. His cowardly back-stabbing attack & murder on the island of a loyal sailor, his changing sides back-&-forth when it would best benefit him, his plan to murder all those loyal to Squire Trelawney including the boy Jim Hawkins. None of these traits are present in Drake's version of Silver. Here he is painted as a tough but loyal & moral sailor, one who if at all possible would let his captives live, one time going so far as hailing a Spanish merchant to release a group of female prisoners. It's possible that we may see Silver evolve in Drake's upcoming sequel "Pieces of Eight" to be closer to the scoundrel Stevenson wrote him as. But here it really isn't the same character.

But again, when read as a pirate adventure on the high seas it is a very good book. I am looking forward to the second installment with high anticipation. I would highly recommend Flint & Silver to any one looking for an exciting and action-packed adventure story.

Flint and Silver by John Drake is a prequel to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It serves as the backstory for the central figures (John Silver and Joseph Flint) of Stevenson's classic. Trying to add on to a classic is risky business, but Drake manages to do so with a high degree of success. However, Drake's novel is a different style than Stevenson's. While Stevenson wrote for children, Drake's includes violence, language, and sex. So don't expect to read this to your children as a bedtime story.

Drake begins his tale prior to Silver and Flint's becoming acquainted. If a linear plot is a requirement for you, then you should probably skip this one as time skips around significantly from one chapter to the next as a matter of course for about the first half of the book. To help the reader along, though, the author essentially starts each chapter like a captain's log with a date and location so you at least have a reference point starting out.

The story revolves around three main characters: John Silver, Joseph Flint, and the runaway slave girl Selena. We learn about the mighty John Silver who is the last man standing aboard his ship after being attacked by pirates. After taking out six pirates before being surrounded, Captain England decides to offer Silver a chance to join the crew as a "gentleman o' fortune" rather than losing his life. Silver chooses life and begins his life of piracy. Meanwhile, Joseph Flint is on a ship of the English Navy sailing under the command of Captain Springer. However, Flint executes a slowing planned mutiny whereby taking the ship and crew for himself to use for the gathering of other people's riches. In an unlikely turn of events, Silver and his ship come to the rescue of Flint and his crew as they are all but beaten. The two join forces under Captain Flint's leadership and enjoy great success as pirates. Along the way they make port in Savannah, Georgia. It is here that both men meet Selena with Flint bringing her aboard ship when they depart. The rest of the story deals with the breakdown of Silver and Flint's friendship and the burying of the treasure that they have amassed.

Drake does a great job of developing his main characters. Silver is the natural leader who even as a pirate operates under a strict moral code. His men follow him out of great respect for his natural leadership abilities and the way that he treats his men. Flint, however, rules his men by fear. Even before he led his mutiny, he kept his ship in order through cruel physical punishments. He is also a master manipulator of the simpleminded and is capable of elaborate and devious plans. The contrast of Silver and Flint creates a thick tension that propels the compelling story up to its conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Flint and Silver. In addition to the great story, the author actually enters into the book as well. Told in the first person omniscient point of view, he occasionally adds commentary at the end of major scenes. This technique could become annoying if overused, but Drake manages to use it judiciously such that it benefits his storytelling.

Overall: A

Like other readers, I was eagerly awaiting this prequel to "Treasure Island". However my hopes were destroyed on the reefs of disillusionment once I concluded Chapter 1. Long John Silver's initiation into gratuitous blood letting was disconcerting enough. Mr Drake's unstoppable compulsion to demonstrate his overly fertile knowledge of profanity was the final straw in marring the atmosphere at a time when greater imagination could have engineered a more convincing prequel. It also seems at certain intervals that there was a preoccupation with his main characters' sexual adequacy (or lack of). Such carnal ingredients only debased the story further. I was also appalled by the constant details of Captain Flint's sadism. I am not naive to presume that the age of piracy did not have its dark side, but I have read enough pirate literature to realize that the profane aspects of this practice do not have to be constantly indulged in to get the point across to readers. I wonder how the estate of R.L. Stevenson feels about this book. Personally I do not know what to do about this book- whether to give it to somebody who likes this filth or jettison it. I think I will just have it walk the plank.

The best compliment I can pay an novel I'll give this book...I wish I had written it. Seriously, I've always though wouldn't it be cool to take a 125+ classic, one with loads of backstory and unanswered, unasked questions and do a prequel (or two). Obviously I wasn't the only one aside from Drake to have this notion we have..."Silver: My Own Tale As Written by Me with a Goodly Amount of Murder" by Edward Chupack and "Dead Man's Chest: The Sequel to Treasure Island" by Roger L. Johnson, for starters.

Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is the definitive boys adventure story in lovely 19th century prose, Drake's prequel is not only modern of style but much more mature and gritty in nature. As interesting and accurate as Stevenson's work is FLINT & SILVER has swearing pirates and WOMEN! Interesting ones, too, Stevenson's classic is less likely to be read by women than this prequel, Silver and his brethren are some much more interesting with this treatment, infact there is very little of the Long John we know, yet. And Flint, who is dead before Treasure Island takes place, we only know via pirates frightened whispers, Drake is free to make this character his own. The evolution of the two is of to an excellent start and I look forward to the next 2 prequels.

I agree that this book isn't for kids.

I apprecialte Mr. Edward's (Drake's) insights in his review.

Since I don't know when Pieces of Eight will be available in the US (it's not on Amazon), I've ordered it from a bookseller in England. It should arrive shortly.

As an aside, I wish publishers would coordinate their efforts so that those of us in the US could enjoy books such as this here at the same time they're published in the UK. I'm also a Lindsey Davis fan and the one year lag of a while back encouraged me to find a source in the UK that shipped to the US.

Added note: I've just finished Pieces of Eight and I'm glad I didn't wait.

Wow! This book satisfied my gold fever. I had always wanted more of the story after watching Disney' movie and reading the book several times in my youth. I recently revisted the literary world of Treasure Island and watched my favorite video version with Heston giving his affy davey. But that wasn't enough to stop me wanting more pirates, more gold, more booming cannons so I started to search for more pirate books and videos and then I found this book. It wasn't released yet, so I waited and purchased it hot of the press, and I again say "Wow!"

Get ready for a powder flashing, steel clanging, [...], flint striking ride that will satisfy your gold fever and leave you thirsting for more. Drake's storytelling offers up such vivid imagery, like Israel and the Spanish 9, or Englands enrollment of Silver as a Gentlmen o Fortune. I reccomend this book to all adventure seekers who aren't afraid of musket fire and spilt blood. Think Treasure Island meets Braveheart.

I will admit that I didn't like the jumping around in time from the early chapters as I prefer a straight told story and was pleased that the second half of the book took that course. But that's not enouhg of a con to take away a star as this book will stay in my collection and I can't wait to read the next 2 and then Treasure Island again.

And lastly, the contrast of Silver and Flint is to a tee. Silver needs to have good to balance the blood thirsty Flint so I don't agree with the other reviews on Drake's Silver being too "Good"

Order this book today, you won't be dissapointed.

When books classices were written many, many years ago - the time and enviroment surrounding these authors really plays an important factor in how the story was written - more imagination had to be utilized.

When an author today attempts to write a prequel of a classic - the setting and enviroment must be recaptured in order to have the full effect.

I could not get into this book - the first chapter should have gripped me - but it did not. I found it challenging to get into this story and I found the story to not be engrosing for me. I guess that is why the classics are called classics.

Author John Drake is wrong in thinking that he did right by Robert Louis Stevenson with Flint and Silver, his prequel to Treasure Island. There are a number of problems with the story: the profanity is excessive and contemporary, the level of graphic violence is too high, and the only female character is a brave, strong-willed 16-year-old slave love interest/sex object of cretins and poltroons (whose mother delivers her to the Master to be forcibly deflowered). Additionally there are two pedophiles (one whose antics are described in disgusting detail). And the book contains way too many references to the state and contents of a certain male body part.

Here are some examples - profanity: use of the "b" word (female dog), "b" word (illegitimate male), "c" word (the one I hate the most), "f" word (seven times on one particular page), a certain religious name used in vain, "n" word, "s" word. These are words I can't imagine they USED in the mid 1700s - violence: (p 2) "blowing large parts of his heart, lungs, and breastbone clear out through the back of his shirt," "The heavy blade clove to the teeth, slicing bones, brains, meat and gristle," "the Englishman stamped a heel snapping and crunching into the base of his victim's spine," (p 3) "the tip of the swordsman's elbow was off like the top of a breakfast egg," (p 138) "They took off fingers, thumbs, buttocks, faces, knees, elbows and limbs. Then they threw men down, they opened them up, they blinded, castrated and disemboweled. They ripped out livers and kidneys, lights and pipes, and spewed them hot and slimy on the deck." As far as the women - Drake claims that he (p 350) writes "no books without women and the delights and sorrows that go with them," but the purpose of his only female character (Selena, the teenaged slave girl) seems to be an object of desire, lust and derogatory references of a sexual nature to her female body parts.

In summary, Drake (in spite of his cool authorly-sounding name) takes indecent liberties with Stevenson's masterful pirate adventure. The PG-rated Treasure Island is infinitely better than this NC-17-rated, profanity-filled, sexist story with its strange mixture of contemporary and traditional piratespeake. Better: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, especially the book on CD as read brilliantly by Richard Matthews.

John Drake may not have been a writer all his life (he more than dabbled in the hard sciences first), but we are lucky that he decided to make a career change. "Flint and Silver" is a rollicking sea-faring adventure par excellence.

Like many of us, Drake was fascinated by Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." That classic novel introduced many of us to pirates, buried treasure, and the thrill of going cutlass-to-cutlass with murderous villains. But "TI" plunked the reader down into a story almost in mid-sentence - just who were these guys, Long John Silver, Blind Pew, Ben Gunn, and the rest? How did they come to bury their loot on Treasure Island? And just who is this guy Flint who skulks offstage with enough sinister bile to frighten even the hardiest soul?

With "Flint and Silver," Drake seeks to answer these questions in the most entertaining yet logical fashion. Well-grounded in the lore of Treasure Island, "Flint and Silver" keeps the pages flying with action while simultaneously filling in so may key back stories.

Too many prequels get bogged down in their own legend. Not so "Flint and Silver," perhaps benefitting from the fact that Flint is long-dead before the reader gets to page one of "Treasure Island." Drake uses this freedom to create one of the truly enjoyable "new" villains of recent memory - a pirate of style, panache, and utmost cruelty and malice.

Silver emerges as a flawed-but-heroic man thrust into many awkward choices of necessity. While undeniably the hero of this piece, he is hardly a white knight riding in on a noble charger to save the day (but he does get the girl, a ravishing escaped slave named Selena).

Drake's style is closer to Bernard Cornwell's than Patrick O'Brian's - this is a readable lark that will have the pages flying by as you find excuses to ignore your friends and put off chores in order to read a few more chapters. Here's looking forward to Drake's planned sequel, which I believe is to be called "Pieces of Eight."