I’ll fully admit I bounced off the writing style. It felt like reading a Shakespeare play in which the characters occasionally stop to discuss in technical detail the design and construction details of a nearby windmill. It’s not just written in ye olde timeye, it’s written in technical ye olde timeye. It was written in technical ye olde timeye by a guy in the 1960’s, so it’s not only weirdly 250 years out of date, it’s also weirdly 50 years out of date. It’s amazing how much the use of single quote marks throughout threw me.
I also got a third of the way through the book and didn’t notice a plot? It seems to be a series of barely connected anecdotes. Like there’s a scene where they encounter a plague ship, and the doctor wants to row over and help, and “must protest” when the Captain says no, and the Captain quickly hauls him to his cabin and says “You really mustn’t protest, that would be seen as insubordination and I’d have to have you shot.” Plague ship is interesting world building, the exchange between the characters is interesting character building, and then with no transition whatsoever Jack is being gently escorted from an officer’s ball because he’s drunk and about to say something permanent. What the?
The film starts with the text of the Captain’s orders: Go sink or capture this ship." That remains the Captain’s mission throughout; everything that happens in the movie is an attempt to, or consequence of, trying to take the Acheron, give or take a couple related side plots like the doctor wanting to study the wildlife or the midshipman with bad luck. It’s easier to get and maintain a grip on what’s happening.
Ooh a rare example of a film better than the book, eh?
They’re both very good in different ways.
The film is a lot more accessible than the books.
I’ll fully admit I bounced off the writing style. It felt like reading a Shakespeare play in which the characters occasionally stop to discuss in technical detail the design and construction details of a nearby windmill. It’s not just written in ye olde timeye, it’s written in technical ye olde timeye. It was written in technical ye olde timeye by a guy in the 1960’s, so it’s not only weirdly 250 years out of date, it’s also weirdly 50 years out of date. It’s amazing how much the use of single quote marks throughout threw me.
I also got a third of the way through the book and didn’t notice a plot? It seems to be a series of barely connected anecdotes. Like there’s a scene where they encounter a plague ship, and the doctor wants to row over and help, and “must protest” when the Captain says no, and the Captain quickly hauls him to his cabin and says “You really mustn’t protest, that would be seen as insubordination and I’d have to have you shot.” Plague ship is interesting world building, the exchange between the characters is interesting character building, and then with no transition whatsoever Jack is being gently escorted from an officer’s ball because he’s drunk and about to say something permanent. What the?
The film starts with the text of the Captain’s orders: Go sink or capture this ship." That remains the Captain’s mission throughout; everything that happens in the movie is an attempt to, or consequence of, trying to take the Acheron, give or take a couple related side plots like the doctor wanting to study the wildlife or the midshipman with bad luck. It’s easier to get and maintain a grip on what’s happening.