Book: Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island Author: Tanith Lee
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: heartache, shipwreck, and a pirate Pharaoh
I just loved the first Piratica, so a sequel made me go, "Ooo, look!" in Barnes and Noble. And I wasn't disappointed.
Months after Art Blastside's release from the hangman's noose (see book 1), she has inadvertently started a craze. Piratomania has struck Lundon (alternate spelling intentional), and people of fashion are sporting patches, swords and parrots. Art Blastside and Felix Phoenix are now married, famous, and landlocked, but the last part's about to change. A war between Free England and the monarchy of France is looming close, and the British government enlists the help of Art and her crew as privateers to "worry" French ships on the ocean. Art and Co. also hope to return to Parrot Island and find the maps and treasure they had to abandon before their capture months before. Felix does not want Art to go and risk her life, but the sea is her life, there's no question in her mind that she's going, and so all is not rosy at home.
Meanwhile, the nefarious pirate Little Goldie Girl is also after Parrot Island's treasure, not to mention revenge on Art for besting her and scarring her mean, nasty, otherwise flawless face. Both women will have to look out for the legendary black ship of Mary Hell, the Scandanavian widow out to kill all pirates to avenge her murdered husband. The adventure ranges from England to Mad-Agash to a shipwreck to Egypt, where Ebad, Art's adopted dad, has quite the family obligation to fulfill.
Action, adventure, and colorful characters abound, along with a touch of the highs and lows of married love, and a menagerie of animals such as parrots, rhinos, elephants, and Muck, the Cleanest Dog in England. Plots and characters weave in and out rather intricately, and it all comes together nicely in the end. The slightly alternative world has fun altered spellings of familiar places, like Mad-Agash Scar, and slightly altered history, both of which are fun to spot if you know the originals, but aren't necessary to know to enjoy the story.
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