There are spoilers for the first book, Piratica, below. You have been warned.
My copy of Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island (Dutton, 2006) arrived with remarkable speed, and I devoured it just as quickly. The subtitle this time is "Being: The Return of a Most Intrepid Heroine to Sea and Secrets." This direct sequel to Piratica (discussed here) finds pirate Art Blastsides and her husband, artist Felix Phoenix, married and retired to a beautiful country estate in the year Seventeen-Thirtenty (approximately 1803). Her crew is scattered, with some trying to make a living as actors and one involved in smuggling. It's not quite a happily-ever-after opening; none of them are quite as happy or successful on land as they were at sea except perhaps Muck, the Cleanest Dog in England, who has been adopted by an adoring young lady who finds him much more interesting than her fiancé.
In the wake of Art's exploits in the previous book, all of England has succumbed to Piratomania:
Inside twenty paces, Eerie swerved around ten cutlassed and beplumed persons, three with stuffed parrots glued to their shoulders, one with a real parrot standing on her head, two pet monkeys in boots with small sword belts, and a carriage horse with a feathered three-cornered hat and black eye patch.
I can't help wondering whether this is a poke (affectionate or otherwise) at the many pirate-reenactor groups (of varying degrees of historical accuracy) that exist and hold pirate feasts and cruises and such. Whatever her intention, it's quite funny. And Piratomania has, naturally, produced a sort of anti-pirate salvation army movement, the Pirate Intolerance Regiment and Teatotalers of England (PIRATE), who drink nothing but tea and try to save citizens from "Buccaneerafear."
More seriously, however, revolutionary Free England is now at war with monarchical France, and Art and her crew are called into service as legal privateers, though they are more interested in eluding both English and French and sneaking back to the Treasured Isle. Also complicating the plot are the villainous Little Goldie Girl and the widowed Mary Hell, who sails the seas in a creepy black ship called the Widow, executing pirates in revenge for her husband's death at their hands.
So Art is happily married and soon reunited with her ship and her crew, including her adoptive father Ebad Vooms, all ready to set off to sea again to race Little Goldie Girl for the Treasured Isle. It seems like Lee is setting up to simply rehash the first book. But she doesn't. At this point I was forcibly reminded of, I believe, Lois McMaster Bujold's plotting tactic: find the worst thing you can possibly do to your character and go from there. I'll say no more about the details, but they involve ancient Egyptian culture, a major sea battle, and the exploits of the Purple Daffodil (or perhaps it's the Purple Foxglove) who is busily smuggling revolutionaries out of France. This may be a YA book, but there's plenty here for adults.
The usual humorous little touches abound. I was particularly fond of Fringlish:
"Je ne sais quoi de wot."
"N'importe. None'll voos attrapeh. Trusteh moi."
"Mais ils on our heels, n'est pas innit."
Lee provides translations for readers who don't know the language. I'm pretty sure I've spoken it, myself. The rhino-ring and Badgeridgar wine-shop in Tangerina are also not to be missed.
But despite the veneer of silliness, this is a much darker book than Piratica. Art faces the ethical challenge of keeping her vow to steal but not kill when facing actual war and must deal with the marital difficulties her pirate adventuring causes with her firmly anti-pirate husband. There's considerably more, and more serious, violence and death and loss. I enjoyed the book, but it's not quite the same sort of rollicking pleasure the first one was. I will be very interested to see where Lee takes things for the third and apparently final book. While I'm waiting for my copy to arrive, here's a shopping link for this one:
"...Trusteh moi." (...) I'm pretty sure I've spoken it, myself.
Somehow I doubt that you'd find yourself unable to speak in any language at a level better than "Fetchez la vache".
As for pirate-reenactor groups of varying degrees of historical accuracy... Are you sugesting that the Pirate Babes calendar might depict pirate ladies in less than perfect accuracy? I want my money back!
Posted by: Serge | December 09, 2009 at 11:56 AM
I never realized until I read your review of this book that YA novels can feature grownups, or kids becoming grownups in later stories.
Posted by: Serge | December 09, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Speaking of YA books, Susan, of all the ones you've read this year, which do you think is the best? I was thinking of picking one up for Barnes and Noble's "give a book to a kid" holiday drive, and I'd much rather do a well-recommended one than pick one at random.
Posted by: AJ | December 09, 2009 at 08:54 PM