2006-04-08 Lots of excitement in this book!

Book three in the Kydd series (see my reviews of _Kydd: a Novel_ and Artemis) is very good. Kydd is slowly climbing the ladder, but sometimes falls a few rungs first. Lots of good action in this book. Good fighting, good adventure. This series has really grown on me. A few minor criticisms: sometimes I feel that there is not a good resolution to the episodes. All of a sudden, the action ends and problem solved. The transitions are too abrupt. I'd like to see more on how Kydd and crew get out of their predicaments. Also, I would strongly urge Mr. Stockwin to issue a dictionary (not of sea terms-we already have _Sea of Words_ ; see my review of that ) but of the dialogue. There are just too many words and phrases that the average reader (especially Americans) will not understand. Also, the dialogue is written in pronunciation spelling, and that takes some getting used to, especially for American readers who will not immediately recognize such spellings as 'er'(it means 'uh'). A dictionary is a must. However, the odd spellings add realism to the speech of the characters and I have come to appreciate it. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.