User blog comment:Captain Dashing/My Glorious Return and Your Summer Reading/@comment-1984959-20120703042713

Oooh, this sounds like a book club. I was thinking of having either On Stranger Tides or maybe Treasure Island done at the book club down at Community Wiki(who's currently doing Harry Potter), but I somehow doubt they'll do our books. Anyway, great idea and welcome back Cap'n Dashing! :)

Now this will probably get me alienated on this wikia, this needs to be said; ...I thought the book was better than the movie.
 * As Ezekiel would say: "Don't be a fool!" We would never do something so barbaric. But still... lol xD
 * All kidding aside, it is good that one fan has such an opinion...especially one who has read the book first.(at least from what I assume lol) So, to each his own on the matter. ;)

Perhaps I'm being to hard for one could argue that the movie and the book are not on the same caliber, but ce la vie.
 * Well, to be honest, I kinda knew that we wouldn't get too much from the book aside from Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth(at least upon reading this interview) mostly because of the book "starting" while the film was "continuing". I guess Tim Powers seems to be ok with that as far as the belief that movies shouldn't follow the books(as per this interview starting around 8:00-9:00 to the end of the video).
 * So yea, pretty obvious I liked the movie more than the book; of course reason being that I am/was CJSFan(depending on where I'm at lol). All in all, I was still pleased with all the elements included onscreen, which as far as is listed about 6...my favorite being Angelica(not going to say why to avoid spoilers haha). And of course Tim Powers himself credited, which was one of my personal hopes on this matter - fully used or not, the novel's author must be credited!

But enough of my blabber...to the MAIN topic: what I thought of the book! Properly warned ye be, says I...I'm pretty sure I'll mistakenly blurt out a spoiler in my review, so **SPOILER**!

Now, I am of course one of the many majority who has not heard of the book until the announcement of the film...dopey me. :P But I will have it said in great pride that I did read it before June 14th, in which filming had started(so I guess that should be something worth being proud of). Around the same time, I also did it as a book report of sorts(I had to do a diorama-like project)...and used the D23 poster as a little extra bonus to show off my geeky-ness.

Ok, NOW is where the spoilers begin...

It was a great universe to introduce what to expect in the film, in a way(the film didn't use much :P). Anyway, from the beginning to end, it was a great read...and that's saying something as I'm not much of a bookreader. Pirate battles, duels, and of course Blackbeard's REAL first discovery of the Fountain of Youth. However, I will say that the book does have points where, as Dashing wrote, "the reading gets hard to follow at times", but still worth the booty!

One thing I will say about the book that exceeds even the film: Blackbeard. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Blackbeard from POTC's "alternate universe"(in which Mr. Beard lived after his fateful battle in 1718, living as far as 1750)...and to me, Ian McShane did give us the bad-@$$ villain needed. But certain traits of Blackbeard from the book made me like him more, particularly knowing of his activities outside of British knew he'd done(finding the Fountain, becoming the Hunsi Kanzo, etc). Plus his chapters were some of my favorites of the whole novel, particularly of course the battle of Ocracoke Inlet...pure excitement of seeing historical events in fiction(brings out the history geek in me). Though I will say that I'm glad they kept the "dark coat"(?) from Blackbeard's description into the costume design for the film. I was shocked to have not noticed that at the time of reading.

So, final verdict of Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides(one of the few times I will ever post a rating): 8.5/10 And if I ever found the time to read again, this would be the first book I read...or maybe second(depending if I can get The Price of Freedom soon!).