Buccaneers and privateers, Carib hunters with poisoned darts, killer sharks, fiends, angels, and insane Captain Vanderdecken of the ghost ship Flying Dutchman converge in this rousing second installment in Jacques’s Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001). Ben and his faithful black Labrador, Ned, the only two to escape Captain Vanderdecken’s doomed ship in the first volume of the series, return to sail with buccaneer Captain Raphael Thuron, the terror of the Caribbean. The immortal duo, who communicate telepathically, continue the mission of the Angel of the Lord: “to do good and help others wherever the need arose.” After swashbuckling adventures in the Caribbean and the sinking of Thuron’s La Petite Marie, Ben and Ned find their mission: go to France, rescue the nephew of Comte Vicente Bregon of Veron, and help Father Mattieu, Captain Thuron’s younger brother. Rescuing Adamo means entering the clutches of evil Maguda Razan in her caves in the Spanish Pyrenees, and a new round of adventures begins. Joining Ben and Ned are Dominic, the legendary Facemaker of Sabada, and Karayna, gypsy singer and accomplished pickpocket. Labyrinthine passageways, hideous tortures, the cobra-like Maguda, avalanches, and the help of new friends make this a faster-paced read than its predecessor. Jacques’s formula works well again. Readers always know who the good and bad guys are, and vivid language, larger-than-life characters, and multiple story lines yield a sprawling, epic tale. Anyone, young and old, who enjoys being immersed in big, romantic adventures, will love this series. Young readers hooked by Jacques’s storytelling magic in Castways and the Redwall series are destined to be readers for life. May his readers be legion. (Fiction. 10+)
