SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Before Captain Hook was the character we all know, he was a young man attending Eton. There he faces bullying and falls in love with a beautiful young women. While eventually learning about life at sea.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
James is the bastard son of a wealthy man. He has never been close to anyone but his Aunt Emily. He makes no attempt to fit in and is portrayed as a victim rather fast.
Roger is a fellow student who ends up friends with James. There isn't any particular reason why they become friends. Roger doesn't see James as normal but he doesn't seem intimidated by him, like everyone else. But we don't know why because we never learn anything about Roger. There is no process of developing friendship and they are just instantly friends.
Ananova is the daughter of a sultan. She is beautiful and smart as well as athletic and graceful. We get the feeling that she has been oppressed most of her life. But we don't go into any details about it and how difficult it must have been for her to have been raised in the middle east.
Arthur Darling is an upperclassmen who sets himself up as the villain from the beginning, when he is rude to James' aunt. James overreacts but Arthur still comes across worse. He abuses James through most of the story through the legal system of upperclassmen disciplining lowerclassmen.
PACING
Pacing is slower some parts and faster in others. Mainly faster during the sports match, when James attempts a rescue, and near the climax. But the slower pacing isn't slow to the point where it bothered me. There were enough interesting things going on in between these action scenes.
STRUCTURE-SPOILERS
The story is set up like this, the first part is James introduction to school life, Arthur and Ananova.
Eventually we get a reprieve from school life when James attempts to rescue Ananova. Then we go back to school, James ends up having a climax with Arthur.
After that, James is sent to work as a cabin boy as punishment. This slowly leads to the realization about the cargo and a climax.
JAMES' FATHER
James father is mentioned briefly and appears in the the story about two times I think. He is set up not necessarily as bad, but as neglectful. James doesn't seem to know him well enough to hate him but he does seem to resent him.
The only moment where he laments his lack of a relationship is when he wins a game, and he wonders why his father wasn't there. Or it might have just been the narrators comments. Hard to tell.
ANANOVA & JAMES
James and Ananova as both portrayed rather shallowly. James is a victim, brought up in a world of wealth that he doesn't belong in and Ananova is forced to leave England against her will and forbidden to ever talk to James (because his father is so famous that even the Queen knows who James is).
Add this to the fact that they fall in love almost instantly and yet spend such little time together. So the reader can only assume they find each other physically attractive, and that's basically it.
Also, as far as we know, James has never had any real relationships with anyone his own age before Roger. But just like his friendship just happens, so does this romance. Is he prone to falling head over heels for pretty girls? Because there seems no precedence for this sudden sentimentality (unless you count his love for his aunt, which we never learn about).
Their relationship often doesn't make sense either, like Ananova magically knowing that James has come after her on her ship to rescue her...because they had one conversation. And only because She sees a small boat from far away and just knows its him.
So much of their so called relationship is James and Ananova telling us about it, instead of actually watching it happen.
THE FAILED RESCUE-SPOILERS
James and Roger go to see Ananova. James says he will kidnap her (I don't know why). There is no discussion about what will happen afterwards. Not with Roger or Ananova herself. So they get off the ship on a horse (I am assuming the water is shallow...even though the ship probably wouldn't be) and get to shore, and get arrested.
So there was no point to anything. And James doesn't even seem to think of it as a failure. He thinks Ananova must adore him and never apologize for his failed rescue.
Sounds more like a saint then a real person. If Ananova was as bold as they portrayed her, she would have roundly scolded James for getting her hopes up and then having no actual plan.
ANANOVA
The problem with Ananova is similar to James, we learn so little about her. And yet we are told by the author that she is a goddess. That's how the Queen thinks of her. That's how James thinks of her. It's kind of cheesy to have two different characters think the same thing (James might be lovestruck but a Queen would most likely not call a girl a goddess even if she knew her well).
Her main reason of existance is so that James can rescue her, even though he fails at that. So it would explain why she has no real personality or history to speak of.
WHO IS JAMES?
I found myself confused about who exactly James was. At first he was a victim, with a neglectful father and no real relationships to speak of his whole life, except for his aunt. But I never got to see his mistreatments as a child, so I was kind of taken aback at how out of proportion his reaction was to being slighted by Arthur in the beginning. I expected to learn more of his past and was disappointed not to.
Sometimes I think the author got that James might be slightly crazy (like when he bites arthur) but it was never really expanded upon. Why did he wish to plan the deaths of those who hurt him? Was he joking or serious? I didn't want to think he was serious, so he had to be mentally unstable. When he looked at the names on the bookshelf while being hit, I kept thinking that this was a coping mechanism that he must have always had, which meant he must have been abused before. But the author never reveals this.
For the most part this insane aspect of his personality was ignored, until it came out in full force when he fought Arthur. During this event, James comes off as sadistic and creepy. I might have not understood his motivations throughout the book but I always felt bad for him. But suddenly I didn't feel bad at all, I thought he was quite evil and Arthur was the one who was being abused far worse than he had ever abused James.
JAMES THE SADIST
There is bit about James telling Arthur to squeal like a pig that was extremly disturbing. I suddenly wondered who else James may have abused in his childhood. But the author is so oblivious he just kept pouring it on, as though the reader should have taken pleasure from the pain and humiliation that Arthur suffered. And that sadism was fine for James, so it should be fine for you too.
We all love seeing villains we hate receive their due, but the hero seldom enjoys having to kill the villain or hurt him. He just sees it as a necessary evil. And sometimes the villain is the one who ends up hurting or killing himself through his own anger and hatred.
THE SPIDER
James likes science and spends time in school laboratory. There he meets a spider who for some reason obeys him like a dog. And he later uses her spider web to make a vest that is nearly indestructable.
I think it was supposed to add some allure to his character but it didn't really make any sense to me. How on earth did he know how to make a vest, seeing as how he was brought up in wealth? It just felt like a clumsily put together concept designed to make James seem mysterious.
JAMES THE HERO-SPOILERS
In the last part of the book, James learns the truth, that the ship he is working on is picking up and delivering slaves from Africa (even though Slavery is banned in England). James is furious and seriously shaken to learn that his father is a slaver.
First of all, James shouldn't have been surprised, as far he knows, his dad could be the devil, because he never knew him. And he seemed to have little delusion that his father was moral. Perhaps it would have been surprising, but not earth shattering.
Even so, James seems to have no real moral convictions throughout the entire book, unless you count him being mad at Arthur for being rude to Aunt Emily. And that felt more like James being emotionally unstable than any real convictions.
He says “bad form” throughout the book but it has no real meaning, perhaps merely pertaining to appearing to have manners. After all, he thinks cheating is fine and even says so. And it's clear from the way he treats Arthur in the climax that he thinks he should do whatever he wants in retaliation if he feels abused.
JAMES' BELIEFS
Another confusing aspect is James' religious beliefs. He says in one breath that he believes Adam and Eve literally happened, but so did every other manner of mythology, including Greek myths. He doesn't seem to get the contradiction which is silly, seeing how he he lives in a culturally christian society.
And when the captain on his ship starts spouting scripture to justify slavery (never mind that it's illegal in his country of origin) James vows that no man should ever justify evil in the name of religion. This comes so out of the blue and feels so unlike James. He is not self righteous, certainly not in a religious sense.
SETTING UP NEVERLAND
There is no real explanation in how James discovers a magical island in the future, he just dreams about it a few times in the book. I kinda get that he felt victimized and wanted a place of all his own, so perhaps he could make up a place. Maybe coming from his mental instability (but that's never expounded upon, remember?).
So instead we are led to believe him wanting a magical place will lead him one day to finding not just any island, but the specific one he made up. So him and Ananova could live happily ever after or something.
It's vague and feels like it was thrown in last minute, as if the author forgot that this James should have a connection to neverland. So he went back in and inserted a few lines about daydreams that occurred.
CLIMAX
James ends up facing a new enemy at sea and becomse a hero and a captain. The story ends with hints that someday he will find a magical island. But no real idea how.
CONCLUSION
The story of James before he became a captain could be interesting. Unfortunately the author doesn't seem to know who James really is and never goes into his past. We only get a two dimensional view, and the same goes for his love interest, Ananova.
They have no real relationship, but fall in love in a matter of seconds. Nor does James have any real relationship with his only friend, Roger.
The story seems to meander around, not knowing where its going and events sometimes feel disconnected. Not that it's boring, it's not. I just kept waiting for pieces to come together, and they never did.
I give “Capt. Hook” one and half stars.
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