If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping, I’d suggest you rush right out and purchase a copy of Isle of Swords by Wayne Thomas Batson for the 9-16 year old on your list, especially the adventurous, piratical type. (Don’t we all have at least one of those?) Isle of Swords is pubished by Thomas Nelson Publishers, but it has a lot more in common with Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island and with the movie Pirates of the Caribbean than it does with the typical “Christian fiction” found on the shelves of your local Christian bookstore, even though you may have to look for it at the Christian bookstore because of the publishing imprint. Or order it from Amazon.

As far as plot elements, we’ve got treasure, a mysterious island, shark-infested waters, a treasure map, flogging, cutlasses, swords, guns, the British navy in pursuit, and explosions and swash-buckling battles galore. The characters are:

Declan Ross, captain of the pirate ship The Wallace,
Anne, his motherless daughter whose ambition is to join the pirate crew,
Cat, a mysterious castaway with amnesia,
Jules, Nubby, Midge, Red Eye, and Stede, members of the crew of The Wallace, each with his own memorable characteristics,
Bartholomew Thorne, the most ruthless pirate in the Caribbean and the sworn enemy of Ross and his crew,
Jacques St. Pierre, a half-crazy Frenchman with a penchant for blowing things up (perfect part for Johnny Depp in the movie adaptation),
and Padre Dominguez, member of a secret society, a holy order, sworn to protect the greatest treasure ever collected in one place, The Treasure of Constantine on the hidden and perilous Isle of Swords.

The ethical dilemma of having your hero, Captain Ross, be a violent, thieving pirate is dealt with in two ways. First of all, Declan Ross is a pirate with a heart; he eschews murder and violence unless it’s necessary in self-defense, and his crew is sworn to obey the captain and the ship’s articles. Check out Article #2:

Article Two: ‘The crew of The Wallace in a time of engagement shall willingly offer just quarter to any who request it. We shall not needlessly murder or do bodily harm to our foe. Neither shall we impress men into service. We shall not torture prisoners. Nor shall we mistreat women or meddle with them without consent. Any man who does violate this article shall suffer swift death.'”

I doubt there were many pirates with a code like that one, but it does serve the purpose of helping the reader to sympathize with the pirates, the good pirates that is. Also, Declan Ross and his crew are men who have been honest sailors in the past, but have been discharged by their own countries’ navies when the war between the British and the French was over, and now they have no honest way to make a living, according to the book. So mostly the “good pirates” fight the bad pirates, and the British Navy chases any pirate ship it can find in an attempt to bring them all to justice (hanging).

Isle of Swords is a rip-roaring pirate story in the tradition of POTC, but not too derivative. I think those who enjoy a fast-paced adventure story will love it. It is somewhat violent, so if that bothers you . . . Otherwise, read it over the holidays while it snows outside and dream of high-seas adventure in the tropics.