Pirate Freedom

August 13, 2007
Fantasist extraordinaire Wolfe (The Wizard
) 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. Captain Chris is a laconic and rather unemotional narrator, which may put off some readers, but Wolfe’s elegant prose still makes this relatively minor effort worth reading.

October 15, 2007
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.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2007
Wolfes 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)