Swashing! Buckling! What a fun, light bit of entertainment. As a longtime ardent fan of the naval adventure stories of Patrick O'Brien, I was disposed to like this book. But still, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. Or in my case listen, as I got this as an audiobook. Peter Blood is a former soldier retired to country life as a doctor in 17th century England. When called to treat a man wounded in the Monmouth Rebellion, he is arrested for treason by the king's men. Shipped to the Caribbean, he finds himself the property of a cruel landowner who happens to have a gorgeous niece. The rest of the plot is completely expected, but still enjoyable. He escapes his slavery, takes to the life of a pirate and somehow must find a way to win the lovely Arabella. Written in the 1920s, there are some nasty racist attitudes (the white slaves are terribly oppressed, noble figures; but the black slaves are beneath the author's real notice). The writing can seem pedestrian (I lost count of how many times Blood was described as having "startling blue eyes in a tawny face"), but in action and plotting, Sabatini excels. It was also filmed as great action film featuring Errol Flynn in his first starring role.