From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8–This is a thoroughly researched and exciting tale of war, piracy, and intrigue. In 1800, continuous war has depleted France's treasury, but Napoleon still wants to expand his empire. To this end, he needs money to defeat the superior British Navy and to exploit Louisiana for the greatest gain. In England, midshipman Peter Raven, 13, is assigned to HMS
Torren. When powerful, sadistic pirates murder everyone on the ship except Peter and jack-of-all-trades Matthew Book, the protagonist finds himself apprenticed to a British spy, Commodore Beaumont. Together, these three outwit politicians and outfight pirates. Fast paced with multiple plot twists, the story sails from the English Channel to Paris to the Caribbean and back. Molloy's writing is intelligent and engaging, allowing readers to experience one part of the struggle for political and economic control of the Americas. This long book, which promises to be the first in a series, is indeed an epic. It would be best for deeper collections, or where high-seas adventure and historical fiction are popular.
–Christina Stenson-Carey, Albany Public Library, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. It's Portsmouth, England, 1800, and 13-year-old Peter Raven boards the
olphin as a midshipman. In Paris, General Ancre, head of France's secret service, meets with Napoleon and is sent as an envoy to the extremely wealthy, appallingly sadistic, and quite mad Count Vallon on his Caribbean island. In the backwoods of the Hudson Valley, Lucy Cosgrove, a beautiful, rich young American who has just run away from her school in New York, learns that she must put aside her aspirations to attend Princeton, as she is being sent to Europe. These characters and many others converge on Paris, where the plot thickens and roils, complicated by deception. Both Peter and Lucy's stories--along with those of the adults--play out on a very broad stage of international intrigue. Molloy's evident (sometimes
too evident) research contributes to the convincing portrayal of the period setting. A long, heroic seafaring adventure.
Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
