The Black Banner Paperback – 25 Sept. 2015

I bought this book a while ago now for my niece but accidently forgot to give it to her for her birthday mainly because when it arrived I wanted to read it myself. As it is aimed for the teen and young adult market though (a fact I didn’t appreciate at the time) I might just hang onto it for a couple of years as my niece is only ten.This is the sort of story I would have luxuriated in as a young tomboy of a teen, when I had time to fill and can remember whole days where I’d shut myself away with a book, lost for hours and taken completely into another world. If only I’d appreciated that luxury at the time! This is one of those books that would have stayed with me, it has stayed with me now even though I’m a little over its target audience age.This story is set in 1719, a time when pirates plagued the seas, preying on the merchant ships of the Caribbean. Becky Baxter leaves her drunken Ma and the evil Mr Crudder behind in Bristol, cuts her hair, and changes her dress for breeches before calling herself Billy and taking to the seas on the Bonny Marie. She is soon to come across pirates who sail under the black banner, which came before the more traditional skull and crossbones, and as entire crews are condemned to die beneath a cutlass blade unless they swear allegiance to the black banner what is to become of the crew she has sailed with so far?“There was a moment of horror as the Portuguese sailor’s eyes bulged and I felt him go slack. He was down. Someone cheered nearby and gripped my shirt, propelling me on into the fray. Musket shot whistled past and chewed up the deck timbers. Cutlasses clashed and recoiled. My nostrils prickled with the stench of grenades and gunpowder. Reeling, I staggered up onto the quarterdeck of the Sao Silvestre just as the plea came for Quarter.Rapturous shouts filtered up into the rigging. Scorching sun beat down on my head. I stood still in the midst of the cheering crowd and gazed at my hands. There was blood on my blade and up my wrist. But I’d had my first fight - and won!”This tale is written as a series of diary entries in Becky’s journal which works very well. The writing is tight and graphic and the story is paced perfectly. Hart has done a very good job of depicting her characters and as so often happens in fiction we are drawn to the pirates, willing for them to survive...and not all of them do. If I was to be really, really picky there is one reveal which I wish could have been drawn out a little longer but that’s just a personal thing and took nothing away from the story. I don’t know that much about the history of this time but as this book was written in association with The Long John Silver Trust I feel confident in the authenticity of the details.This is a terrific book for all those who like well written action and adventure with great characters and an emotionally realistic storyline.

There are a lot of pirate adventure books, some are good, some aren't - the Black Banner comes under the "superb" category!Not only is the adventure exciting, the characters interesting and the plot intriguing, but the historical and nautical detail is spot on.A highly recommended read!(Note: the author is known to me: however, this is a genuine personal review of a book I enjoyed reading)

If you are looking for a good alternative to zombies and vampires for your YA reader, The Black Banner is an excellent choice. It's a rollicking, swashbuckling romp through a tale that also remains very true to history. Set in the 1700's when piracy was rampant, the author brings to life the action on board ship as well as on land through her attention to detail and obvious knowledge of the world at that time.Becky Baxter runs away from an abusive life at home at the age of twelve. Disguising herself as a boy, thus becoming Billy Baxter, she signs on as crew on a ship bound for the New World. When the voyage is interrupted by a pirate attack, she chooses to join them rather than be killed.The action is non-stop and exciting with believable and colourful characters, many of which are extremely likable. The story touches on gender issues and the moral conflicts Becky/Billy faces as she matures during this time. Intrigue, passion (for life, not lust), suspense and romance keep the reader engaged from beginning to end. In fact, definitely not a YA reader, I found it to be great fun!

This was such a fun read!I've never read a novel based around pirates before so I didn't really know what to expect but I sure wasn't disappointed.From the first page of The Black Banner I was thrown into a different time with a different way of speaking, dressing and travelling.I'm a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and this book reminded me of them. The book had a different take on pirates and that was great but throw in a female protagonist dressing as a boy and I'm all set for a really great read!A lot of things happen in the book so it was a really quick, mostly easy read. Apart from a few sad events throughout the story it was packed with a perfect combination of adventure and great characters.I thought the ending was a little abrupt but, overall, The Black Banner was a fantastic read and is definitely recommended.

Never before has a story encapsulated a strong, female spirit as well as 'The Black Banner'. Billy, or should I say Becky, Baxter proves that boys aren't the only ones who can sail the high seas and live a pirate life. 'The Black Banner' is as empowering as it is fun. From the first page I found myself routing for the Billy and his (her) group of buccaneer friends. Helen Hart does a great job of giving a story about swashbuckling pirates a heart and warmth that most pirate novels just don't have.

This is a fabulous, shortish book most suited to 11+ girls. The heroine of the story, 13 year old Becky masquerading as Billy, is a realistic and fun character who escapes a life of squalor in 18th century Bristol as her drunken mother is about to marry her off for £35 or booze to that value. She lives the fantastic desert island life of a Pirate plundering and all on the high seas. It's not twee and sanitised piracy they go full throttle flogging, mudering and plundering so it shouldn't bore young readers to death as the cover suggests. It is in the Pirates of the Carribean, Elizabeth Swann, mould of humour, piracy and the hangmans noose.Highly recommended. I know my 11 year old daughter will turn her nose up at the 'old fashioned' cover (she'd have never picked this up in a bookshop) but it's an excellent 'must read' of the same quality of authors such as Philip Reeve.As an adult I immensely enjoyed it too. I will definitely be reading this authors next book.