One of Raphael Sabatini’s more popular adventurous swashbucklers, The Sea-Hawk is exciting and great fun, though not so much so as the other Sabatini I read recently, Bardelys the Magnificent. Don’t read it expecting the story from the Errol Flynn movie, as that film took the title but none of the story. This one is about revenge and betrayed love and an Englishman joining Muslim pirates. A fun read. ( )

A romantic, swashbuckling adventure story about a Cornish gentleman sold into slavery and his transformation into Sakr-el-Bahr, the Sea Hawk.

A rather old-fashioned book of manly daring-do which irks a bit these days. However, I enjoyed it precisely because of this really. You can guarantee a 'happy' ending for the main characters despite all the hardships they have to go through and the wrongs done. so from that perspective it is an easy read.

I first picked this up as a little hard-backed book from a second-hand bookshop many years ago, enticed by both the pocket-size of the book and the image on the fly-sheet. I enjoyed the escapism at the time and sought out and enjoyed other books by Sabatini. Re-reading it now, during Covid-19, it is still a good means of escape, as it is a completely different world. This is not a book that would be written today. ( )

I don't think I've seen this movie, which is one of the few Errol Flynn films I haven't tracked down yet. I'm a little disappointed that it looks like the plot is substantially different; I would have liked to see the brother storyline play out.

ETA: just to update that no, the film has nothing to do with the book, aside from a little Spanish galley slave action.

The end result of all this is that I need to find me copies of [b:Showdown|2713491|Showdown|Errol Flynn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391417900s/2713491.jpg|1130893] and [b:Beam Ends|1143448|Beam Ends|Errol Flynn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387739040s/1143448.jpg|1130891]. ( )

I found this book to be rather engaging. Lots of betrayal and misunderstanding, lots of skulduggery, lots of racist stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs, lots of sexism, and so forth, but then it was written in 1915.

If you have to choose between this and "The Scarlet Pimpernel", choose this one. Not that Pimpernel is bad, it's just this one is better. ( )

Very well-told swashbuckling tale of the sea. ( )