is the curse placed upon Emer Morrissey, feared pirate of the Caribbean, just as she and her true love are killed. She must live 100 lives as a dog and then be reborn again with all her memories intact. Now she is a teenager in the 20th century, dealing with a rotten brother, demanding parents, and the memories of Emer - and her buried treasure.
Things I Liked:
I liked most of the Emer parts - her childhood in Ireland, the historical section about Cromwell, her piratical adventures in Jamaica. Those parts were a lot of fun to read.
Things I Didn't Like:
Pretty much, everything else. I think this book will appeal to a very particular niche of readers and I was not one of these. I was turned off by the jumping around between stories and characters. I was thrown by the third and first person narrative switching. I really had a hard time identifying with Saffron at all. I struggled with wanting to finish the story; it appeared to be going nowhere to me. I guess I was expecting more of a pirate adventure, curse of 100 dogs story and got more of an angsty teen drama with a lot of extra baggage thrown in. I loathed Fred Livingstone (but I think everyone does and I can't think of any other way for King to have depicted him). I ended up skipping lots of sections. Anyway, overall, this was just not the book for me.
Read-alikes:
I am really struggling to come up with any for this - suggestions from those who've read it?
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#$
It's got it all!
mrg-factor: XXXXX
Plenty of this going on - thank you Fred (ugh).
v-factor: ->->->->
Gory pirate fighting and the like.
Overall rating: **
*And because I am hoping someone else will enjoy this more, I am offering my very gently used copy of The Dust of 100 Dogs. Just leave a comment on this post if you are interested - please tell me why you like or don't like pirates - and I will draw a winner next Tuesday, September 1.*
Posts
I am kinda on the fence with pirates. I kinda like them because I love action, swearing, and funky clothes. I don't like 'em because they were extremely glamorized and-bottom line-they were thieves.
ReplyDeleteshutupjessicasreading(at)gmail(dot)com
Jessica
I love pirates. The fictional kind, that is. Whenever I thin of pirates I think of my son when he used to like to pretend as a child.
ReplyDeletewandanamgreb (at) gmail (dot) com
I'm not a big fan of unwashed, unshavened men, so I am in the not a fan of pirate camp.
ReplyDeletelesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com
Since I was a child I have always liked pirates, they had treasures, adventures, talking parrots and I though they were something like a Sea-traveling Robin Hood. Now I know they weren't exactly the better people in the world but still I like them.
ReplyDeletesheere.dry@gmail.com
It's a shame you didn't like this book all that much, I've heard such great things about it!
ReplyDeleteWhy do I like pirates? I'm not sure if I do like pirates specifically, but Captain Jack Sparrow is just hilarious in Pirates of the Carribean, as are the ones in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series with their wit and typical-guy-ness, and in Robin Hobb's The Liveship Traders Trilogy, although they're not great people, you love them for being how they should be; evil, nasty, dispicable people who seriously need to be locked up - in this case, without their nastiness, there wouldn't be much of a story. So although I hate them, I know they're needed.
And who doesn't love saying "Oh-ar"? :)
Email: joannestapley[at]googlemail[dot]com
I love pirates, although I've never read a book about them. My favorite aspect of pirating is the burried treasure. I love the idea of an adventure following a map, navigating the seas and of course, dueling with a sword, arrg.
ReplyDeletezenfoxflower@yahoo.com
Sorry you didn't like your book, I hate it when I get a dud. This sounds pretty good to me, though. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'm that big on pirates. They're great in the fictional arena, but I can't seperate in my mind the swashbuckling good-time guys from the modern terrorists of the sea.
zombiegirrrl21 at aol dot com
I've linked you on my sidebar and I'll be sending a few people your way. I know one person in particular who's very intersted in this book (and pirates). :)
I love Pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean is my all time favorite movie(:
ReplyDeletekelseythebookscout@gmail.com
Why pirates are cool?
ReplyDeletePeg legs, gold teeth, parrots, hooked hands, and "Arrrrgh!"
Yeah that about sums it up.
Dani.
lightningstreak123@comcast.net
I love Pirates. They are great especially in fights against ninjas!
ReplyDeleteForgot to include email address:
ReplyDeleteneverendingshelf@gmail.com
I just love pirates because they are never quite heroes, but they can be quite heroic. I like my characters naughty but nice and pirates fit that bill nicely. Not to mention there's always a fight a'brewin' when there's pirates - and I like me a good fight.
ReplyDeletebittahsweetharmony@Yahoo.com
Pros for pirates: Sword fights and adventure on the open seas.
ReplyDeleteCons: They were thieves, dirty, and generally a bunch of scoundrels with no respect for authority.
hauntingorchid (at) aol (dot) com
I think what I liked most was Emer and Seanie's love for each other (and how it manages to transcend into the future). But I agree with you: it's not a book for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI like pirates because the idea of living on the sea and raising anarchy seems like such a cool way of living. (back then, of course. now you'd just get arrested and never get out of jail).
pancakesthepenguin(at)hotmail(dot)com
Who doesn't love pirates? Three words: Captain Jack Sparrow.
ReplyDelete=D
mya DOT rooney AT gmail DOT com
As a fictional character --- I love pirates, they have adventure, excitement, and battles to just survive. Conversely, I wouldn't want to hang around with this crowd.
ReplyDeletersgrandinetti@yahoo(dot)com
Pirates are exciting and they can be really funny (ex: all pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean!). Also, I've neer read a pirate book I didn't like (loved Pirates, the Bloody Jack series) so I don't think an author can go wrong writing about pirates.
ReplyDeleteI love pirates because they don't follow the normal rules and live life their own way.
ReplyDeleteandie.v107(at)yahoo(dot)com