Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (2002), Paperback, 368 pages
Description
George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels, praises this hearty saga as "one of the great unrecognized novels of the twentieth century." Doctor Peter Blood's quiet life is shattered when he is convicted of treason for helping a wounded nobleman in the 1685 rebellion against King James II. He's swept into a slave ship to Barbados but escapes from slavery and a brutal plantation owner during a Spanish pirate attack.
User reviews
LibraryThing member VicNoirReader
Chronicling the adventures in life and love of a gentleman pirate, Rafael Sabatini not only documents the Monmouth Rebellion in this piece of historical fiction, he also tackles issues of feminism, disillusionment with politics and religion, issues between nations, questioning corrupt officials,
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the spirit of piracy and other social outcasts--it has everything. Sabatini was a master of historical fiction, creating works such as Scaramouche and Black Swan, yet he was overlooked by every literary scholar since the publishing of his novels, and remains underrated to this day. Captain Blood IS the best piece of historical fiction I've read, and it can even be seen as a product of it's time, as it was published in post-WWI England. 5 stars for Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood! Show Less
LibraryThing member emclem
I always feel silly when I list a book titled Captain Blood on my lists of favorite books, but it's just so good! The book reads like a movie, which is no surprise since Sabatini was a screenwriter as well as a novelist. (This book became a film starring Errol Flynn.) It's extremely visual, and
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moves along at a very fast pace. The characters are engaging and personable, with all of them displaying strengths and weaknesses, faults and virtues. The title character is particularly well-drawn, and inspires the same admiration in the reader as a member of his crew would undoubtedly feel. An excellent and playful sea adventure. Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
Some books provide pure pleasure from beginning to end, and this is one of them. Sabatini is a brilliant storyteller, and this is surely the ultimate pirate tale. Except that Peter Blood is no pirate. Rather, he is a man unjustly made a slave, who, despite the continuing injustices done him by the
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English, Spanish, and French, remains true to an inner code of honor that even extends itself to alter the natures of the predominately motley crew who serve under him After reading this, the surface joys of watching Johnny Depp as a pirate seem absurd. While Sabatini's characters fit mostly into neat stereotypes, he fleshes them out through brilliantly rendered action scenes and superb, delicious dialogue so that the whole story takes on a real life and provides a whole world for the reader to revel in. There are no dull moments, just a series of cascading pleasures as the story draws to an immensely satisfying conclusion. Show Less
LibraryThing member fuzzi
Another classic bites the dust!
This week my intent was to read "Captain Blood", considered a classic, and a book that's been sitting on my shelves/e-reader for far too long.
I enjoyed "Captain Blood", partly for the story, and partly for the verbal fencing. I loved how the title character was able
The arrogance of the aristocracy of the time period is well portrayed, and the passages describing the battle tactics and life on the ship were interesting. None of the descriptions were distracting from the plot, which sailed right along. I was surprised to discover that this book was over 300 pages...it read much like a substantially shorter story.
Recommended.
This week my intent was to read "Captain Blood", considered a classic, and a book that's been sitting on my shelves/e-reader for far too long.
I enjoyed "Captain Blood", partly for the story, and partly for the verbal fencing. I loved how the title character was able
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to handle those who were under the impression that they were "somebody". Even the uncle of the love interest, Arabella, can't match wits or swords with Peter Blood.The arrogance of the aristocracy of the time period is well portrayed, and the passages describing the battle tactics and life on the ship were interesting. None of the descriptions were distracting from the plot, which sailed right along. I was surprised to discover that this book was over 300 pages...it read much like a substantially shorter story.
Recommended.
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LibraryThing member dknippling
Gr...I wanted to like this more than I did. Pirates! Rafael Sabatini, who wrote Scaramouche, one of my favorite books! But no. On top of being rambling, ranting, and overly episodic and without much point other than "I did it all for the respect of a woman," it was hypocritical! Captain Blood is
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MADE A SLAVE in the West Indies and the big deal was escaping slavery from the planter, then from various governments...Well, Blood then completely looks aside from slavery throughout the book. Negroes this and that, come here, do this, then disappear. It's not enough to assign menial tasks to nobodies, no, they specifically have to be Negroes. GAH. Published in 1922, so he should have figured it out by then. You know what? It wasn't realistic then, either. I just could not get over the hypocrisy of it. Could not. Show Less
LibraryThing member usnmm2
The movie with Errol Flynn was based on this book.(very loosely).
Sabatini was the premier adventure writer of his day. His books were the Star Wars and Star Trek of his day, and should be read with that in mind. Writing styles and stories would be concidered cliche today but still fun to read.
Sabatini was the premier adventure writer of his day. His books were the Star Wars and Star Trek of his day, and should be read with that in mind. Writing styles and stories would be concidered cliche today but still fun to read.
LibraryThing member flourishing
This one's a re-read... Just as gripping as I remembered it. Gross racial politics, but that's a product of the time it was written in. And it sort of rollicks along right until the end. I might not give this to a kid - too many racist bits - but if you're an adult, and can recognize them, it
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brings you right back to the days when you could get thoroughly engrossed in an old fashioned adventure. Show Less
LibraryThing member penelopemarzec
Peter Blood, forced into piracy, never abandons his sense of honor. Pining for the unattainable and beautiful Arabella, he names his ship after her and paints it red. With an amazing gift for strategy, he leads his buccaneers to victory despite overwhelmingly poor odds. Every chapter was a delight
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in this high seas adventure. Show Less
LibraryThing member clif_hiker
this story, along with Treasure Island sets the standard for Caribbean pirate stories... establishes the role-types for the swashbuckling handsome pirate captain, and the villainous stupid governor/admiral/general who always has a beautiful daughter who falls for the pirate captain... loads of fun
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and an easy read! Show Less
LibraryThing member neurodrew
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini
August 25, 2010
The true and original tale, exactly the same plot as the movie with Errol Flynn, with the character of the physician and pirate Peter Blood. He is wrongly sold into bondage in a sugar plantation after a rebellion in England, daringly seizes a Spanish ship
Rafael Sabatini
August 25, 2010
The true and original tale, exactly the same plot as the movie with Errol Flynn, with the character of the physician and pirate Peter Blood. He is wrongly sold into bondage in a sugar plantation after a rebellion in England, daringly seizes a Spanish ship
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come to attack the colony, then proceeds on his career as a pirate, before changes of fortune make him again a respectable man. It is a classic of romance with the planter’s daughter, mistaken motivations, sea battles, treachery and sword fights. Read in a Kindle edition in about 2 evenings, an escape. Show Less
LibraryThing member realistTheorist
Loved this book. Nice, involved plot, with a great swashbuckling hero.
LibraryThing member SaraPrindiville
The best pirate book I've ever read. Historical, a little romance, adventure. A nice break from scholarly reading- not serious at all. I certainly didn't know what to expect. enough variety in the fights that it was not boring even though there was the same type of thing several times.
LibraryThing member flourishing
This one's a re-read... Just as gripping as I remembered it. Gross racial politics, but that's a product of the time it was written in. And it sort of rollicks along right until the end. I might not give this to a kid - too many racist bits - but if you're an adult, and can recognize them, it
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brings you right back to the days when you could get thoroughly engrossed in an old fashioned adventure. Show Less
LibraryThing member TadAD
An enjoyable pirate romp. I don't think it's Sabatini's best, despite being the most famous due to Errol Flynn's portrayal in the film. The characters are a bit over-the-top and some of the naval battles aren't that probable...but it's still fun and we're not reading this as a treatise on naval
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warfare, are we? Show Less
LibraryThing member Artymedon
At the beginning of great popular historical novels, there are often excellent historical plots. The book starts at the end of the attempt by James Scott first duke of Monmouth - an illegitimate son of Charles II - to dethrone and replace England's Catholic King James II.
When his mostly popular
Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, 1685. Peter Blood, a former soldier retrained as a Doctor rides close to the battlefield as remnants of the beaten army flee the repression of the victorious soldiers. For having showed compassion for an injured nobleman of the defeated faction, Peter Blood is summarily arrested without protection of Habeas Corpus to become one of the victims of the "Bloody Assizes" of Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys - 25 August 1685. In this parody of justice, instead of releasing the innocent doctor from unlawful detention, the angry judge personally sentences him to slavery - along with 800 of the 1500 judged by Jeffreys- and to unpaid plantation work to the West Indies for life.
Sabatini reminds in a very comic manner that this Judge Jeffreys is to die from a bladder stone as he in fact did, after the Glorious Revolution, in the Tower of London in 1689.
The elegant prose of Mr. Sabatini crafts delicately the fate of his hero who is to rise again in the face of adversity and Royal absolutism. Fortunately for us, the reader, and regrettably for Peter Blood, in 1685 the Glorious Revolution was still three years in the making giving ample time to transform himself from plantation slave - though spared hard labor and beatings because he tends to the Island's Governor's gout - into a pirate.
When his mostly popular
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"Whig" forces are defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685, Peter Blood has to reluctantly leave his geraniums tended so carefully in his British garden, in the town of Bridgewater. Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, 1685. Peter Blood, a former soldier retrained as a Doctor rides close to the battlefield as remnants of the beaten army flee the repression of the victorious soldiers. For having showed compassion for an injured nobleman of the defeated faction, Peter Blood is summarily arrested without protection of Habeas Corpus to become one of the victims of the "Bloody Assizes" of Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys - 25 August 1685. In this parody of justice, instead of releasing the innocent doctor from unlawful detention, the angry judge personally sentences him to slavery - along with 800 of the 1500 judged by Jeffreys- and to unpaid plantation work to the West Indies for life.
Sabatini reminds in a very comic manner that this Judge Jeffreys is to die from a bladder stone as he in fact did, after the Glorious Revolution, in the Tower of London in 1689.
The elegant prose of Mr. Sabatini crafts delicately the fate of his hero who is to rise again in the face of adversity and Royal absolutism. Fortunately for us, the reader, and regrettably for Peter Blood, in 1685 the Glorious Revolution was still three years in the making giving ample time to transform himself from plantation slave - though spared hard labor and beatings because he tends to the Island's Governor's gout - into a pirate.
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LibraryThing member chocolatechip
well, no suprise this is a classic, its suprisingly exciting: peter blood is an educated doctor who is forced into piracy after being cruelly enslaved for a crime he did not commit, the rest is all super exciting=romance, adventure, intrigue, all on the high seas
LibraryThing member williamcostiganjr
I didn't enjoy this book. It was TOO swashbuckling and over-the-top for my taste. I guess I should have known by the title--I mean, it's hard for me to even buy the main character's name, much less all his adventures. I quit after about 75 pages.
LibraryThing member redbike
Exciting page turner. Very well-written novel based on the real-life adventures and exploits of Captain Henry Morgan.
LibraryThing member kalyka
Written in 1922, Captain Blood is truly a classic adventure story. We meet Dr. Peter Blood as he is tending to his garden on the very morning of the Battle of Sedgemoor. Wanting no part in the rebellion taking place, he nonetheless tends to the wounded, and is promptly arrested. During his trial, h
However, instead of being hanged to death, he, along with other convicts is sent to Caribbean to be sold into slavery. Upon his arrival in Barbados, he is bought by Colonel Bishop, who initially hires him to work in the plantation, but 'promotes' him as his personal physician, seeing the complete incompetence of the local doctors. Bishop immediately becomes Blood's enemy, and remains as such throughout the book. Complicating matters is the presence of Bishop's niece, Arabella. Given their respective social status, and the changing situations they find themselves in, their mutual attraction never really goes further than that.
Blood and a few others eventually find freedom, but at a price. Since they are slaves, they have no other choice but to adopt the pirate life, which is by no means easy. And that's when the real adventure starts.
The book really is a fun swashbuckling adventure, fast-paced swashbuckling with a hint of romance without being too cheesy. Some events may fly by too quickly, and some more might be qualified as fortuitous coincidences, but as a whole Sabitini succeeds in writing a good story.
Blood himself is a chivalrous man, true to himself, even when he does become an outlaw in the middle of the Caribbean. He draws his own line between right and wrong, and remains a true gentleman throughout the whole novel.
While some characters could have been more fleshed out and some scenes could have been written in more detail, the fun factor alone is enough to compensate for the few shortcomings in this novel.
Besides, I devoured the thing in a matter of days.
4.5/5
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is convicted of treason on the grounds that "if any person be in actual rebellion against the King, and another person—who really and actually was not in rebellion—does knowingly receive, harbour, comfort, or succour him, such a person is as much a traitor as he who indeed bore arms."However, instead of being hanged to death, he, along with other convicts is sent to Caribbean to be sold into slavery. Upon his arrival in Barbados, he is bought by Colonel Bishop, who initially hires him to work in the plantation, but 'promotes' him as his personal physician, seeing the complete incompetence of the local doctors. Bishop immediately becomes Blood's enemy, and remains as such throughout the book. Complicating matters is the presence of Bishop's niece, Arabella. Given their respective social status, and the changing situations they find themselves in, their mutual attraction never really goes further than that.
Blood and a few others eventually find freedom, but at a price. Since they are slaves, they have no other choice but to adopt the pirate life, which is by no means easy. And that's when the real adventure starts.
The book really is a fun swashbuckling adventure, fast-paced swashbuckling with a hint of romance without being too cheesy. Some events may fly by too quickly, and some more might be qualified as fortuitous coincidences, but as a whole Sabitini succeeds in writing a good story.
Blood himself is a chivalrous man, true to himself, even when he does become an outlaw in the middle of the Caribbean. He draws his own line between right and wrong, and remains a true gentleman throughout the whole novel.
While some characters could have been more fleshed out and some scenes could have been written in more detail, the fun factor alone is enough to compensate for the few shortcomings in this novel.
Besides, I devoured the thing in a matter of days.
4.5/5
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LibraryThing member mausergem
Peter Blood is a doctor who does not want to be involved in the politics. This is seventeenth century England and monarchies are ever changing. Peter Blood is accused of treason when he treats on of his patients who happens to be a rebel. He is convicted and is sold into slavery to a plantation in
This book is fast paced and very entertaining. The language is Dickensonian. It has adventure and a little bit of romance. A 4/5 read.
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West Indies. He escapes and gets into buccaneering ways. He has many adventures and this is a excellent narration of them.This book is fast paced and very entertaining. The language is Dickensonian. It has adventure and a little bit of romance. A 4/5 read.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
For some reason what I remnember from reading this is the opening when the hero is conmviced by Judge Jeffeys for giving medical care to one of Monmouth's rebels and in turn tells Jeffreys that he is doomed to a horrible death. Beyond that, I enjoyed both the book and the movie based on it.
LibraryThing member kwmcdonald
This was my favorite book yet by Sabatini. The main character is a doctor, army officer, plantation slave, or pirate, depending on what part of the book you are reading. This is a fun book with plenty of plot twists, and is excellently written. It's fairly short, and easy reading.
LibraryThing member VeritysVeranda
If you want more high sea adventures with pirates, look no further. Told in the same vein of great story-telling as his predecessor, Alexander Dumas, provides a thrilling tale of danger and desire when a good man, Dr. Peter Blood, is wrongly accused of treachery and sentenced to hard labor in the
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Caribbean, wherein he meets and falls for a fiery young woman. As is usually the case, life for a criminal on the outside is limited to piracy, with Blood taking the high road version. The ending shouldn't be too surprising... Show Less
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
When I was growing up, my companions were Karl May, Mayne Reid and Emilio Salgari. Their tales of adventure made me a reader in a lot of ways. Rafael Sabatini should have been in that list but the Bulgarian edition was in 4 hardcover volumes, with white covers (so not books you want to carry in a
What I did not appreciate back then is how much closer Sabatini was keeping to the actual history compared to the other 3. I did not care really - I was reading them for the adventures and it took me awhile to start looking at novels for their historical background.
The story starts in 1685 in England during the last acts of the Monmouth Rebellion. Peter Blood, an ex-soldier and current doctor, decides to behave like a human being (and a doctor) and helps an wounded man. Unfortunately for him, the man is a rebel and the current laws make Blood a rebel as well so he is arrested and eventually shipped to Barbados as a slave (which may or may not have been an improvement - as he tells the reader, had he been tried a day earlier, he would have been executed). As it is, he ends up in the hands of one of the English governors who believe everyone else to be under them. Peter Blood finds his way - he may be a slave but he is also a doctor and he even falls in love. Then the Spanish show up, things get a bit complicated and he ends up a captain of a pirate ship and his adventures continue at sea before ending up back on Barbados for the end of the novel - although not in a way anyone expects. And I am happy that Sabatini did not decide to give our captain a fairy tale ending - it would not have fit the narrative. He did leave it open enough though.
The novel works both as an adventure novel and as a historical one (if you don't have issues with reading about the battles). It ties together the story of England between the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution 3 years later and the story of the Caribbean islands exploitation and the pirates that spawned at the time. Most of the characters are invented by some are the real people who lived and even most of the invented ones are based on actual people - changed, merged, split or otherwise manipulated but the read like 17th century people. I read a non-fiction book about the Caribbean pirates a few years ago (Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire by Jon Latimer) so I had a bit of a background which helped but Sabatini's story covered the same ground in a lot better way in places despite being fiction. Which does not happen often.
Sabatini never continued the story - what is considered a continuation by some is actually a set of stories set during the pirate years of Peter Blood. That leaves the whole Peter Blood story spanning a bit over 3 years (although we hear a lot about the years before that as well). And despite the somewhat open (or unhappy if you want to call it that) ending, I think that was the right choice.
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backpack) and they looked a bit more like the books I was not ready for yet (that changed one summer when I decided to investigate and discovered Captain Blood but I never read any of them more than once as I was doing with the other 3 authors. Add another year and I discovered Science Fiction and the rest as they say is history). What I did not appreciate back then is how much closer Sabatini was keeping to the actual history compared to the other 3. I did not care really - I was reading them for the adventures and it took me awhile to start looking at novels for their historical background.
The story starts in 1685 in England during the last acts of the Monmouth Rebellion. Peter Blood, an ex-soldier and current doctor, decides to behave like a human being (and a doctor) and helps an wounded man. Unfortunately for him, the man is a rebel and the current laws make Blood a rebel as well so he is arrested and eventually shipped to Barbados as a slave (which may or may not have been an improvement - as he tells the reader, had he been tried a day earlier, he would have been executed). As it is, he ends up in the hands of one of the English governors who believe everyone else to be under them. Peter Blood finds his way - he may be a slave but he is also a doctor and he even falls in love. Then the Spanish show up, things get a bit complicated and he ends up a captain of a pirate ship and his adventures continue at sea before ending up back on Barbados for the end of the novel - although not in a way anyone expects. And I am happy that Sabatini did not decide to give our captain a fairy tale ending - it would not have fit the narrative. He did leave it open enough though.
The novel works both as an adventure novel and as a historical one (if you don't have issues with reading about the battles). It ties together the story of England between the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious Revolution 3 years later and the story of the Caribbean islands exploitation and the pirates that spawned at the time. Most of the characters are invented by some are the real people who lived and even most of the invented ones are based on actual people - changed, merged, split or otherwise manipulated but the read like 17th century people. I read a non-fiction book about the Caribbean pirates a few years ago (Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire by Jon Latimer) so I had a bit of a background which helped but Sabatini's story covered the same ground in a lot better way in places despite being fiction. Which does not happen often.
Sabatini never continued the story - what is considered a continuation by some is actually a set of stories set during the pirate years of Peter Blood. That leaves the whole Peter Blood story spanning a bit over 3 years (although we hear a lot about the years before that as well). And despite the somewhat open (or unhappy if you want to call it that) ending, I think that was the right choice.
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LibraryThing member Benedict8
I really enjoyed this swashbuckler and am glad I came off my high horse to do so!
Sabatini is a wonderful writer and was very famous in early Hollywood days. I had thought he was "earlier" than that.
Sabatini is a wonderful writer and was very famous in early Hollywood days. I had thought he was "earlier" than that.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1922
Physical description
368 p.; 7.58 inches
ISBN
0142180106 / 9780142180105