Comments for The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate

The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate: 01/30/14

The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate by Scott Nash is a pirate adventure in the style of the Redwall books but with an avian cast. Captain Blue Jay loves collecting eggs as treasure but this time, his plunder hatches.

Imagine, Jim Hawkins as a gosling on a ship designed for much smaller birds. Captain Blue Jay has a problem now as he's trying to do right by his foundling, while keeping his ship afloat.

In the background there's a food shortage as winter approaches. The Thrushian army demands a tithe for protecting the villages, except their demands are crippling the local economies. There is starvation and civil unrest.

The best part of the book is the artwork. The illustrations include portraits of all the shipmates, a map of the area, a cross section of the ship, as well as scenes of adventure from the book.

Frankly, this book would have done better as a graphic novel on the strength of the artwork. The prose lags in parts, especially as things segue from the discovery of Rafael the gosling to the trouble with the Thrushian army.

Three stars

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