Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Tanith Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2004

Artemesia—also known as Art—spent her childhood on a pirate ship, and she’s sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. Escaping, she sets out to find her mother’s crew and breezily commands them out to sea. Fiery Art soon shapes her men into the cleverest pirate band afloat. And then they meet the dread ship Enemy and her beautiful, treacherous captain, Goldie Girl. The Seven Seas aren’t large enough for two pirate queens. Art will have to wage the battle of her life to win her mother’s title—and the race for the greatest treasure in pirate lore!

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 6-9–This rollicking tale features 16-year-old Artemesia Fitz-Willoughby, alias Art Blastside, who seeks to recapture her deceased mother's piratical lifestyle. A blow to the head awakens in Art memories of storms at sea, a deadly cannon shot, sword fights, distant lands, and stolen riches. Escaping the school chosen by her unsympathetic, detached father, the teen heads for Lundon and adventure. Undaunted by the discovery that her vivid seafaring recollections were stage performances, that her infamous mother, nicknamed Piratica, was not a pirate but an actress, Art seeks to turn fantasy into reality. Through guile and bravado, she hijacks a seaworthy galleon; inspires devotion and toil among her mother's motley crew of actors; demonstrates instinctive skill for sailing, swordplay, and parley; and pursues the rumor of buried treasure. With melodramatic flair, heroes and rogues are introduced and the plot twists and turns. Handsome Felix Phoenix, fleeing mistaken identity as a highway robber, joins the crew and tantalizes Art with his inscrutable, aloof behavior. Little Goldie Girl, pirate captain of the Enemy, is her cutlass-wielding nemesis. Ultimately, the wit and antics of her thespian crew save Art from the hangman's noose. The lively, whimsical narration is filled with a concoction of puns, 18th-century British references and spellings, and a smattering of modern slang. Presented in three acts with multiple scenes, Piratica is a refreshing, tongue-in-cheek, tangled tale that will entice readers who crave adventure and fantasy.–Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. Set in an alternate world akin to the nineteenth century, Lee's latest novel depends heavily on contrivance, beginning with the first scene: 16-year-old Art bumps her head and suddenly remembers her forgotten childhood, including her mother, a famous pirate. She knows her mother is dead, but she's determined to find the ship crew she remembers. She succeeds, but she's in for a metaphorical head thump. Her mother wasn't a real pirate; she only played one in a long-running stage show. Nonetheless, Art still thirsts for sea life, and she convinces the old stage crew to apply their skills to an authentic ship and try pirate life on real open seas. Perilous treasure hunts, near-death escapes, and a hint of romance ensue. Lee's plot often stretches credibility, and the setting in a "closely parallel world" seems unnecessary. But readers able to overlook the blatant plot manipulations will enjoy a thrilling adventure, which, like Celia Rees' Pirates [BKL D 15 03], lets girls control the main. Find more pirate titles in Ilene Cooper's Read-alikes column "Ship Ahoy" [BKL S 1 04]. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• ISBN-10: 0525473246
• ASIN: B0009HARTI
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun & Fanfair and a little Bounty!, October 3, 2004

By 

Kotori (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas (Hardcover)

You've read the blurb - Art turns into a pirate and sails the high seas, convinced that she is after all, daughter of Piratica. There are some interesting little twists and turns of the plot, and not until close to the end is the denuement.

This is a brillantly executed tale of adventure and derring do!
Art is so well conceived and written, full of normal human frailties and doubts but determined to soldier on through life.
She meets up with, and robs a very handsome young gentleman who accompanies them - albeit unwillingly at first and later out of curiosity, we are told...

So, ingredients - high seas, adventure, lost loves, new faces, wicked enemies and a dog - what more could you possibly need for a wonderful story?...!!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ahoy, Artemesia, March 18, 2008

By 

Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas (Hardcover)

Artemesia Fitz-Willoughby Weatherhouse was practicing grace and deportment, as befits a fine young lady of early 19th-century British society, when a clumsy tumble down the stairs restored lost recollections of her youth. Now 16, she suddenly remembers the accident six years earlier when an exploding cannon on her mother's pirate ship robbed her of both her memories and her mom. No longer content to be a "lady" -- and thoroughly despising the father whose only wish for her was to suppress her natural instincts and personality -- Artemesia escapes her rigid school and seeks some means to resume her former life.

After an unexpected encounter with a notorious English highwayman, Artemesia makes her way to a seedy dockside tavern, where she finds a large portion of her mother's former crew making a bare living as coffee salesmen. But they, though pleased to see this younger model of their beloved former leader, have more memories of hers to restore -- particularly those proving that Art's version of events were never true. They weren't pirates, the crewmen insist, but actors portraying pirates on stage. Their popular productions -- with Art's mother always starring in the lead role of the good-spirited and merciful pirate queen Piratica -- were so realistic that they had impressed on young Art's mind memories more vivid than the truth.

Or did they? Tanith Lee's young-adult novel "Piratica" has a good many twists and turns in the plot before readers discover the real story of this young girl's past. But, until they surface, Art isn't content to pass her time in that seedy pub; instead, she -- now using the name Art Blastside -- leads her acting troupe to sea, where they commandeer a ship and make their fiction into reality under her mother's trademark black-on-pink Jolly Roger.

Compared to some of Lee's other, more mature fiction, "Piratica" is a trifle awkward and oddly paced, and its heroine is just a little bit too good at everything she tries to do. Acting solely on memories from, in some cases, her infancy, she demonstrates unparalleled skill at seamanship and knowledge of the sea. Her crew, meanwhile, is presented as a tight collection of actors who, once prodded by their 16-year-old captain, excel at all things nautical. It stretches even the most pliable limits of belief.

Not that "Piratica" isn't an enjoyable read. It is, and I was never tempted to cast it aside; Lee's mastery of character and plot are too deft not to hold my interest. Still, a far better example of young-girl-as-pirate fiction can be found in the pages of L.A. Meyers' excellent "Bloody Jack" series, which I heartily recommend. Even so, I am sure I'll want to read "Piratica II" if the opportunity presents itself.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enormously Fun, April 29, 2005

By 

Christine J. Warner (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl's Adventure Upon the High Seas (Hardcover)

First, let's get something straight. In order to enjoy Piratica, you must suspend reality. Half of the things that happen in this book would never work in real life. So if you're looking for a deep, intellectual novel, you will be seriously disappointed.
If, however, you are searching for a book that will make you laugh out loud even on repeat readings, where fantasic adventures are possible and an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl can become a heroine, then this book will be a joy for you. It's also my personal favorite of Tanith Lee's books.