This didn't work for me. Theo, the master and the ship owner, was too dull, too slow for a successful smuggler and unnecessary brutal. And horny. Like all the time. Leon did all the work getting Theo out of trouble, and turned from I hate you to can't live without you in a span of an hour (tho based on what, I am not sure. Maybe his brain got fried too much.) I am that one spoilsport, sorry, but I can't give the story more than 1.5 stars. I am not sure yet if I want to round it up or down. Gonna sleep on it.

I found this novel’s cover intriguing so I had to read it. Inside, I found a story about a simple giant who was trying to make his way home via a network of smugglers and Charlie, a young boy who befriends the giant and together they have quite a journey. Charlie loved on-line video games, he was a champ, life was good until he met Jamie and then Charlie decided it was best if he tried to keep out of Jamie’s line of vision. Jamie was out to get Charlie. Charlie immediately felt a connection to the giant when he discovered him and he decided that he didn’t want to share him with anyone. This bond grows and deepens throughout the novel and I enjoyed how they depended on one another. They are like brothers and the inexperience of the giant to the size and ability of the giant’s greatness has these two depending on each other in different circumstances throughout the novel.   Charlie becomes the giant’s teacher, teaching him simple every day things and also important lessons about life. Charlie calls him Bruce after a movie Charlie shares with him and looking at the cover, I think the name fits him. Bruce teaches him many things, mature things and they both learn about family as their friendship grows.

People are looking for Bruce, he’s a giant and to have one at their disposal would be spectacular.   They’ve been hunting them down but haven’t gotten close to one yet. They’re trying to perfect their growth serum; a giant would make their life easier.   Jamie discovers Bruce and he is angry at his father for Jamie’s father is one of the individual’s who are chasing after Bruce and Jamie believes that Bruce is a product of his father’s research.  At the lab, Jamie confronts his father. A researcher brings in another test sample of the growth serum they are working on, a sample for the lab rats, but Jamie reaches for the serum and stabs himself with it. No! It’s too late, Jamie begins to grow, his anger along with him.   It becomes a journey, a race, an adventure as the giants each run for their destination and Charlie tries to protect his best friend. I loved the ending, it was magical and adventurous. This was a great fantasy, adventure book with a boy leading the way.

bookshelves: african-continent, nonfiction, pirates-smugglers-wreckers, autumn-2012, published-2010, turkish-and-or-ottoman-root, afr-morocco, afr-tunisia, afr-algeria, war

Read by Clive Chafer

Overview -
The true story that's "bloody good entertainment" (New York Times) about the colorful and legendary pirates of the 17th century.

If not for today's news stories about piracy on the high seas, it'd be easy to think of pirating as a romantic way of life long gone. But nothing is further from the truth. Pirates have existed since the invention of commerce itself, and they reached the zenith of their power during the 1600s, when the Mediterranean was the crossroads of the world and pirates were the scourge of Europe. Historian and author Adrian Tinniswood brings this exciting and surprising chapter in history alive, revealing that the history of piracy is also the history that has shaped our modern world.

Starts off with the modern day Somali Pirates and there is nothing pretty to report.

The Rainbow (left) unsuccessfully engaging John Ward's flagship

Issouf Reis of Tunis, fervent in his devotion to Islam, was so wealthy that that by 1615 he had built himself a ‘faire Palace, beautified with rich Marble and Alabaster stones’. His household was so big that when he had guests for dinner, it was served not by a demure maidservant but by 15 male waiters. Very short, white-haired but nearly bald, he had a swarthy complexion.

A typical North African, you might think. Only he wasn’t. He had been born and bred in Faversham, and his real name was John Ward. The exact date of his birth isn’t yet known, but it was around 1553. Maybe he was the John Ward who is recorded as living on the west side of Preston Street on 31 December 1573 and 31 May 1574 and by 22 December 1574 had moved to Court Street - and then disappears from view. Source: http://www.faversham.org/history/peop...

Europeans enslaved by North African captors - two mosques in the background.

John Ward (aka Yusuf Reis): Arch Pirate Of Tunis; in 1608, feeling insecure in Tunis, Ward offered James I of England £40,000 for a royal pardon, but this was refused, so he returned to Tunis, where Uthman Dey kept his word and he remained for the rest his days.





Sir Francis Verney (1584 – 6 September 1615) was an English adventurer, soldier of fortune, and pirate. A nobleman by birth, he left England after the House of Commons sided with his stepmother in a legal dispute over his inheritance, and became a mercenary in Morocco and later a Barbary corsair. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_...





Peter Easton (c. 1570 – 1620 or after) was a pirate in the early 17th century who operated along the Newfoundland coastline between Harbour Grace and Ferryland from 1611 to 1614. Perhaps one of the most successful of all pirates he controlled such seapower that no sovereign or state could afford to ignore him and he was never overtaken or captured by any fleet commissioned to hunt him down. However, he is not as well known as some of the pirates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.