Synopses & Reviews
As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional . . . for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth.
Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where an unexpected new life awaits him. At first, he resists joining the notorious Brethren of the Coast, but he soon embraces the life of a buccaneer, even as he succumbs to the seductive charms of a beautiful and enigmatic senorita. As the captain of his own swift ship, which may or may not be cursed, he plunders the West Indies in search of Spanish gold. From Tortuga to Port Royal, from the stormy waters of the Caribbean to steamy tropical jungles, Captain Chris finds danger, passion, adventure, and treachery as he hoists the black flag and sets sail for the Spanish mainland.
Where he will finally come to port only God knows . . . .
Pirate Freedom is a captivating new masterpiece by the award-winning author of The Wizard Knight and Soldier of Sidon.
Gene Wolfe is winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, as well as two Nebula Awards, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Prix Apollo. As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional . . . for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth.
Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where an unexpected new life awaits him. At first, he resists joining the notorious Brethren of the Coast, but he soon embraces the life of a buccaneer, even as he succumbs to the seductive charms of a beautiful and enigmatic senorita. As the captain of his own swift ship, which may or may not be cursed, he plunders the West Indies in search of Spanish gold. From Tortuga to Port Royal, from the stormy waters of the Caribbean to steamy tropical jungles, Captain Chris finds danger, passion, adventure, and treachery as he hoists the black flag and sets sail for the Spanish mainland. “Straight-up adventure in the mold of Robert Louis Stevenson, Rafael Sabatini or even the Pirates of the Caribbean films. We start with a winning hero . . . We next add in vivid secondary characters . . . and a scrupulous attention to historical and technical details to produce a highly palpable saga. At every possible moment, Wolfe also makes sure to substitute hard reality in place of any cliché.”Paul Di Filippo, SciFi Weekly
“Wolfe's very fine new novel is the story of the two lives of Father Christopher, a Catholic priest in the contemporary world and a successful pirate on the Spanish Main three centuries earlier. As always, Wolfe has done his homework, as the roster of famous pirates to whom the book is dedicated immediately indicates. Piratical Christopher certainly takes advantage of his chosen career to free himself of many of the restrictions of his era, though he did also take a wife and father a child, both of whom he lost in his passage to the future. At the end of a superlatively well-done sea story, the modern-day priest is looking for a way back to his original self, to his family, and to the treasure that, however ill-gotten, he regards as his. Fans of fantasy, of Wolfe, and of sea stories should all beat paths to anywhere this yarn is on the shelf.”Roland Green, Booklist
“Parish priest Father Christopher has an unusual past, one that gives him insight into the problems of his many parishioners who take confession. His secret is that hundreds of years ago, he was a pirate captain and a terror of the high seas. The latest novel by the prolific and sophisticatedly literate author of the 'New Sun' and 'Latro' series launches a new series featuring a man of many cloths and many more complications. A new Wolfe title is always cause for celebration; all libraries will want to add this to their fantasy collections.”Jackie Cassada, Library Journal
“Fantasist extraordinaire Wolfe dabbles in time travel paradoxes for this charming tale of a monastic novice in postcommunist Cuba. As the years pass, Christopher, the son of an American crime lord, gradually loses touch with his family and decides against taking holy orders. He leaves the monastery and finds himself in the 18th century. This unexplained time slip, along with Chris's equally mysterious jump to the late 20th century, are the only fantastic elements in what's otherwise a fairly straightforward tale of derring-do on the high seas. Wolfe describes his plucky young hero's rise from much abused common seaman to successful pirate captain, filling his story with duels, treachery, ship-to-ship combat and an abundance of accurate period detail, avoiding both the larger than life romanticism and the fantastical elements often associated with such pirate tales . . . Wolfe's elegant prose . . . makes [Pirate Freedom] worth reading.”Publishers Weekly
Review
"Gene Wolfe is the smartest, subtlest, most dangerous writer alive today, in genre or out of it. If you don't read this book you'll have missed out on something important and wonderful and all the cool people will laugh at you."--Neil Gaiman, author of
Anansi Boys, on
The Knight "Most writers of fantasy or science fiction know how to tell rattling good stories. But Gene Wolfe not only entertains, he invests his work with a complexity and trickiness that place him among the most important writers of our time." --The Washington Post "A welcome addition from one of the genre's most literate and thoughtful authors; highly recommended." --Library Journal starred review on Soldier of Sidon
"Powerful and pleasing. It's all rather like Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, only vastly more interesting and significant. Wolfe is a grand master of the symbolic epic, and as with any other of his novels, the events in Sidon will fuel years of re-reading, decoding, and reinterpretation. This is a remarkable artistic accomplishment by Gene Wolfe." -Nick Gevers, Locus on Soldier of Sidon
Review
“Most writers of fantasy or science fiction know how to tell rattling good stories. But Gene Wolfe not only entertains, he invests his work with a complexity and trickiness that place him among the most important writers of our time.”
--The Washington Post
“Offers plenty of action, romance, and historical color. Nearly every pirate cliché is given a new spin, from mutinous crews to cursed ships, from beautiful women in disguise to treasure beyond imagining.”
--San Francisco Chronicle
Synopsis
As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional . . . for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth.
Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where an unexpected new life awaits him. At first, he resists joining the notorious Brethren of the Coast, but he soon embraces the life of a buccaneer, even as he succumbs to the seductive charms of a beautiful and enigmatic senorita. As the captain of his own swift ship, which may or may not be cursed, he plunders the West Indies in search of Spanish gold. From Tortuga to Port Royal, from the stormy waters of the Caribbean to steamy tropical jungles, Captain Chris finds danger, passion, adventure, and treachery as he hoists the black flag and sets sail for the Spanish mainland.
Where he will finally come to port only God knows . . . .
Pirate Freedom is a captivating new masterpiece by the award-winning author of The Wizard Knight and Soldier of Sidon.
Synopsis
It starts with a confession from a priest. His past has reached further back than what many would consider possible. Before he was a priest, he was the pirate Captain Cristofo, and before he was a pirate, he was just Chris, a boy living in a monastery in Cuba the day after tomorrow.
One day Chris realizes that he is not meant for the monastery he has grown up in, and leaves. On the streets of Havana everything looks strange and out-of-date, but Chris is too busy trying to find his next meal and a safe place to sleep to contemplate the city's odd lack of modern conveniences. He finds that this world is a much harder one than the one he remembers; it's a place where people steal, lie, and cheat. Where slaves are sold at auction, and the Spanish, French, and English are all battling for supremacy. When Chris is offered the opportunity to work on a ship in exchange for food and a small bit of money, he takes it, and thus begins his life as a pirate. People die, treasures are found, women are taken captive, and crews rebel.
Gene Wolfe is a masterful storyteller, and in Pirate Freedom, he uses his customary vision to invite us into the captivating world of pirates, their lives, and their adventures.
About the Author
Gene Wolfe is winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, as well as two Nebula Awards, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Prix Apollo.