The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon: A Novel [Hardcover]

Gideon Defoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2009

The Pirate Captain and his merry band of ne’er-do-wells face off against their toughest—but by no means their tallest—challenge yet.

Crushed with disappointment at the Pirate of the Year Awards, our Pirate Captain decides that it’s time for a career change. And so with his loyal (if soon-to-be-dismayed) crew, he sets off for St. Helena, a bleak speck of an Atlantic island a thousand miles from anywhere. But the Captain’s plan for a quiet island life of beekeeping (yes, beekeeping) is interrupted by the arrival of a new “visitor” to the island—the recently deposed Napoleon Bonaparte. Will the island’s twenty-eight-mile circumference be big enough to contain two of history’s greatest egos? Has the Pirate Captain finally met his match? And, lest we forget the most important question: which of them has the best hat?

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon is a swashbuckling tale of lavish tea parties, planning regulations, educational museum exhibits, and naked political ambition. And—unlike all of its thrilling predecessors—there is not much ham involved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pirate Captain returns in this installment of Defoe's loony pirate yarns (The Pirates! in an Adventure with Ahab; The Pirates! in an Adventure with Communists), only to lose the Pirate of the Year awards. (Though Captain's beard is fantastically glossy and luxuriant, he has oiled himself in preparation for a swimsuit round that doesn't exist.) Smarting from his loss, Captain retreats to the island of St. Helena, where—to the chagrin of his crew, including the pirate with the scarf, and the pirate who liked kittens and sunsets—he delves into bee husbandry. Alas, geography, goats and the machinations of Napoleon Bonaparte threaten to disrupt a life of bucolic contemplation. Lovers of Monty Python and the novels of Cabin Boy star Chris Elliott will appreciate this sendup of swashbuckling sea adventures. (May)
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Review

“[Defoe] can make even pirates seem as cuddly as a teddy bear. . . . [A] funny and downright easy-to-love book.” —Sacramento Book Review

“Laugh out-loud.” —Memphis Flyer
 
“A treasure chest of lighthearted laughs.” —Knoxville News-Sentinel


From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375423982
• ISBN-13: 978-0375423987
• Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 0.8 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a big fan of this series, June 2, 2009

By 

sb-lynn (Santa Barbara, California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is the 4th book of the Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe. These are the previous books, in order:

The Pirates! An Adventure with Scientists

The Pirates! An Adventure with Whaling

The Pirates! An Adventure with Communists.

The best way to describe these books is by saying that they are very, VERY, funny. In fact, a good way to tell if these books are your cuppa is simply to pick up one and read the first page - if you haven't laughed out loud by the end of that page, this may not be for you. Me, I couldn't get past the first paragraph.

They are about the adventures of Pirate Captain, an egotistical and woefully dimwitted, vapid leader of a the most oddball crew ever to hit the high seas . Except for Jennifer, the Victorian lady who decided to become a pirate, they aren't mentioned by name, and instead by description. There's the pirate with the long legs, or the pirate with the red scarf. There's the sassy pirate, and my favorite, the pirate with the nut allergy. (And in this book we meet a new crew member - the pirate who's arm candy.)

In each of these books, the inept Pirate Captain leads this crew into some absurd adventure, to which they loyally follow him. In this book. Pirate Captain loses a contest for "Pirate of the Year", and decides he's going to become a beekeeper. He ends up buying a fake deed to the island of St. Helena, where he runs into the equally egotistical Napolean Bonaparte. They end up vying for the same position - Head of the St. Helena Resident's Association.

This summary really does little service to express how very witty and funny these books are. They are quick reads - you easily read them in one or two sittings. They can also be read in any order, although I recommend starting with the first just to get better acquainted with the characters.

So often with series like this, the books start to fade in quality. But this isn't the case here, and frankly, I don't know how Defoe does it.

Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT Series!, January 20, 2012

By 

Maegan Gaudreau (Gloucester, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon: A Novel (Hardcover)

I highly recommend The Pirates! series to anyone with a sense of humor. All of the novels are excellent and we can't get enough of them. I only wish there were more!

5.0 out of 5 stars Gideon Defoe at his best, November 29, 2010

By 

David E. Mosier "1*" (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is fun to read and funny to boot!
This whole series is well worth the cover price. Get them all!