If you want a rip-roaring tale that's a real page turner, you could do a lot worse than turning to Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stephenson. The action starts on page one, and just keeps going all the way to the end. Our young hero, Jim Hawkins, becomes embroiled in the hunt for Captain Flint's treasure when one of his crew arrives at The Admiral Benbow (the tavern where Jim lives with his mother and ailing father). Jim is both frightened and fascinated in equal measures by this visitor, but events start to take on a darker hue when this resident pirate is handed the "black spot" by Blind Pew, and promptly drops dead. Jim and his mother have to run for their lives into the night, with Jim taking an old parchment from the dead man's belongings in payment for all the rum he has consumed without reparation. At the house of the local Squire, Jim, with his friend Dr Livesey, hands over the parchment which is revealed to be a map showing where there is a hoard of treasure on a far away island. Unable to resist the promise of such wealth, the Squire determines to get a ship and crew together and find this island - with the Doctor and Jim in tow. Unbeknownst to them, they inadvertently take on Long John Silver as ship's cook - who, together with other old shipmates of Captain Flint, bide their time, but have mutiny in their hearts. This is a great adventure story for young and old alike. And while the tale is a familiar one, it is well worth reading. Recommended - indeed, this could be the start of a run of RLS books if they all measure up to this cracker!
My STAR rating: FOUR
Length: 224 print pages
Price I paid: Free on Kindle.
Formats available: print; audio CD; audio download; ebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment