Official Review: Black Whiskers The River Pirate

[Amagine]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Black Whiskers The River Pirate" by John Williamson.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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It would probably surprise you if you saw a bunch of rats out on the sea. If you saw an otter, that probably won’t surprise you as much since they usually live in water. Now… if you see a black-whiskered otter with rat tails hanging from his neck, you better run as far as you can! In John Williamson’s Black Whiskers the River Pirate, we jump on board the ship of the most notorious sea otter you’ll ever come across, Black Whiskers. He’s large, mean, cunning and out to find the ultimate treasure…gold! Along the way, he and his rat crew must fight off the mink, Captain Silk, survive the medications of a swan and take back control of Wingtangleshire! Will they survive life out on the sea? Will they find the gold they seek? You’ll have to find out for yourself.

Like always, the illustration of the cover was the first thing that I noticed. I found it unappealing and poorly drawn. The cover art would have kept me from purchasing the book for a child. Honestly, I don’t even think a child would have chosen the book based on the cover. After spending a few moments looking at the cover, I decided to dive right into the story.

The plot started off confusing as it took me a while to figure out exactly what was going on. There were many action scenes in the novel that were very descriptive and well written. The rest of the plot, outside of the action, was hard to follow. There was a couple of instances where I thought the book was a little too graphic as it talked about flesh eating fish, tails being torn off and frogs being physically ripped apart. Also, there were many times I had to go back a few pages trying to get a sense of where the characters were at or what they were trying to do. There were quite a few grammatical errors in the story and random paragraph breaks.

One thing I did like in the story was the development of Black Whiskers’ character. He started off as a threatening, cruel captain and even crueler to his enemies. In the story, we see a change in his character as he becomes more patient, trusting and kind to his crew and to others. We also see changes in the way his crew views him and their relationships with each other becomes more positive. I love great character development and the author did well with Black Whiskers.

I rate this book, 2 out of 4 stars. It deserves at least two stars because of the exciting action scenes and the character of Black Whiskers. I wasn’t so impressed with everything else. The cover illustration was lacking and the plot was confusing. There were scenes that were too graphic for children and there were far too many grammatical errors in the story. This book is appropriate for older children ages 7-11, since it is a chapter book. Despite that, if I were to recommend this book, I would tell parents to proceed with caution because of certain scenes. This book has the potential to be on the shelves of many children or at least their virtual shelves. Until there are some improvements, however, it probably won’t be anytime soon.

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Black Whiskers The River Pirate
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[Chrys Brobbey]

Reads like the notorious Somalia pirates, but with a twist. Going to see if I can tangle with Black Whiskers to pull out a few of his whiskers. Alert the marines to come to my rescue if I get to much absorbed in the action. A good review, I dare say.

[Amagine]

Reads like the notorious Somalia pirates, but with a twist. Going to see if I can tangle with Black Whiskers to pull out a few of his whiskers. Alert the marines to come to my rescue if I get to much absorbed in the action. A good review, I dare say.

Thank you for reading! Also, don't provoke Black Whiskers. He wears rat tails around his neck. He's one otter I wouldn't miss with!

[kandscreeley]

Interesting. Sounds like an interesting plot, but I agree about the cover. It's not as appealing as some that I've seen. Thanks for the review.

[Amagine]

Interesting. Sounds like an interesting plot, but I agree about the cover. It's not as appealing as some that I've seen. Thanks for the review.

Yeah, the cover almost turned me off from choosing the book. I chose it anyway because I enjoy reading children stories and I didn't want to completely judge it by its cover. Thanks for reading!