About book Under The Black Ensign: A Pirate Adventure Of Loot, Love And War On The Open Seas (1935)
Tom Bristol is a press-ganged sailor aboard a British naval ship in the Caribbean. An innocent mistake results in his being condemned to a flogging that will surely result in his death. When a pirate vessel interrupts his flogging and captures the British ship, Tom gladly joins the pirate band—and who could blame him? This story progresses rapidly and the fates of our Douglas-Fairbanks-like hero and surprisingly adventurous heroin are wrapped up quickly and tied in a bow at the end when the plot makes a sudden and not very believable 180 degree turn. It is all quite fun and not worthy of a serious pondering, though I was pleasantly surprised when Tom rescues the starving captives aboard a slave ship and puts them all "on the account" to become his pirate crew.It's a fun swashbuckling story with little depth of characterization, typical of other stories with a 1930's adventure magazine origin. Authors made a penny a word and wrote fast. Their chosen genre was often anything the magazines were looking for. Hubbard wrote sea stories, detective stories, westerns, science fiction--basically, adventure stories far-flung in place and time.This audiobook has a full cast, music and sound effects. It’s a good production. The voice work is a little over-the-top at times, but that fits the story"Under the Black Ensign" was first published in the August 1935 issue of Five Novels Monthly magazine under L. Ron Hubbard's own name (as opposed to one of his 15 pen names). Because it is a novelette of only eight chapters, the audiobook, though unabridged, is a 2-disk set. It comes with the booklet "L. Ron Hubbard in the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction", which incorporates both the "Foreword" and "About the Author" sections found in the paperback and eBook versions of this book. My review copy also came with a booklet by Hubbard titled, "Yesterday, You Might Have Been a Pirate", which includes a useful glossary for those unfamiliar with terms like "chain shot" and "press gang". As usual I received this title for free in exchange for a review. This time from LibraryThing and in AudioBook format. Despite that kindness I will give my scrupulously honest review below.First and foremost, it should be realized that my review is predicated entirely on the understanding that this is pulp action fiction pure and simple. Is there a grand and complex plotline to keep you guessing? no. Is there Dickensian detail and character development? no. Is there a grand social commentary buried in these pages? Not really... but sorta. This is just action, action and more action and that's all it tries to be. And at that, it does pretty well. OK, so that understood, lets get down to it.So, on the positive side (and remember I have the audio book version of this) the book isn't really a book so much as a radio play. The narrator's voice is strong and steady and flawless throughout and the sound effects are comparable to what you would have heard in one of the radio broadcasts back in the 40s-50s. I'm a fan of such rot so that's a positive for me. It may well be a negative for you. To the negative, while the narrator is steady his supporting cast is sometimes a bit off their game. The only other real negative is, possibly, everything I said in the first and foremost category. If you want depth or complexity look elsewhere. If you want sword battles and cannon fire, then stay right here.In summary, it's pretty good at what it tries to be. I cannot fathom actually reading this text as it is pretty pulpy but as an audio book is does pretty well.
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I won this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Hope to read it soon. Thanks.
—bri33
meh.I think I should have read this in the 1930s. I probably would have enjoyed it.
—liontinx
Not my type of book but a fast paced adventure none the less.
—courttneeezy
I enjoyed it alot. Read while recovering from injury.
—Keshia
