#370 - Black Sam

Black Sam: Prince of Pirates by Mat McLeod

My rating: 2 of 5 stars













Sam Bellamy isn't so much a faux Pirate, as a faux pas.  All you will get here is a mealy mouthed main protagonist with a vapid blonde lady love, with more hair than wit.

In my mind, and this is only a personal view, a Pirate should buck his swash and be full to the brim with derring do - nothing like that happened in this book, it was dull as a Florida Swamp.

I need a big pat on the back for getting through this, it was quite an achievement as it was so dull I kept dropping off to sleep - and I love an all action Vast Me Harties story full of plunder and mayhem.

On the positive side, apart from a big corker, there were very few errors - as usual, I will list them below.

The corker I will talk about here:  Now, I've just re-checked it on Amazon and it is still showing the Author as James Lewis both on the Amazon page, and on the cover image that downloaded.  I will say though, when the file was opened it clearly says Mat MacLeod. Interestingly, the cover image above, which was obtained from Good Reads, seems to be showing the correct Author name.

Why put a different author's name on the front cover? It's not the first time that I've come across this: I still remember what I like to call "Highlander's Hope Gate" earlier this year (if you're interested Blog Post #381 in July 2013.

I digress ......... like most of the cannon balls in the book .... it fell way short of the mark, and only got 2 stars from me (one of those is for being relatively error free).


Product Details:

I downloaded as a freebie Kindle book in March of this year - it was on of my DSOA (in my defence, from memory I think it was a new release at the time, and hadn't had any reviews).  

At the time of writing this it's listed HERE at £2.63.  I will leave you to decide if you want to read it.

343 long boring pages in length.

Errors/Bug Bears:

See above for the big one, after that not many more.  Reasonably good spelling and grammar.

9%:  Sam looked up as he chuckled noticing the many blossoms still on the tree.  They gave off a lovely, fragrant scent.  He looked back at the young woman to comment on the flowers, when a wall of white pedals slapped him right in the face.

To be honest, that would have engendered a bit of excitement into the book, but it should be corrected to:  

Sam looked up as he chuckled noticing the many blossoms still on the tree.  They gave off a lovely, fragrant scent.  He looked back at the young woman to comment on the flowers, when a wall of white petals slapped him right in the face.

18%:  "You are very hansom when your forehead wrinkles like that", Maria said.

Correct to: 

You are very handsome ....

32%:  He turned his attention back to their current task, resupplying at Bathtowntown.

Correct to:  He turned his attention back to their current task, resupplying at Bathtown.

34%:  Maria stood between her parents, holding a white umbrella.

I might be a bit of a nit picker here, but shouldn't that be a parasol?

Correct to:

Maria stood between her parents, holding a white parasol.

37%:  He missed her terribly and wished he could go rescue her from such drudgery...

Conjunction missing here, and possibly a comma.  Correct to:

He missed her terribly, and wished he could go and rescue her from such drudgery...

46% (and several times more at 72%):  "Here" Sam threw an extra blouse to his friend.

See, I told you they weren't particularly pirartical pirates ... blouse?  Women wear blouses, and men don't.

Correct to:

"Here" Sam threw an extra shirt to his friend. 

51%:  He set the bread inside cell.

Correct to: 

He set the bread inside the cell.

55%:  Weaving in and out of trees, Sam did his best to keep a safe distance between he and the redcoats....

Correct to:  

Weaving in and out of the trees, Sam did his best to keep a safe distance between himself and the Redcoats....

I did Bookmark a few more things, but looking back at the I did I was being too pedantic!

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay