In the book The Sea Hawk Rafel Sabatini has written the story of a reluctant pirate. The story begins with the young Sir Oliver who belongs to the Tressilian family, a family which has a reputation for hot tempers and for morals that could be described as relaxed. Oliver is aware of his tendency to anger quickly and he is trying to curb that weakness.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
His motivation for that is his love with Rosamund Goldolphin. The Godolophins are both neighbours and traditional enemies of the Tressilians and Rosamund's unstable brother Peter hates Sir Oliver with a passion. Sir Oliver swore to Rosamund that Peter will never meet with harm from him. However, when Peter Godolphin is found dead the general assumption is that Sir Oliver was his slayer. Even Rosamund believes this. He is in fact innocent, but is trapped between family loyalty and self-interest and is unable to convince her that he is guiltless. His troubles increase as he is treacherously kidnapped and finds himself at sea. The ship is taken by the Spaniards. He is sentenced to the galleys, but his galley is captured by Moslem corsairs. Sir Oliver decides that being a Christian hasn't done him much good and he is easily persuaded to adopt the Moslem faith. Within a few years he is the right-hand man to the Basha of Algiers. Sir Oliver Tressilian is now the famous Moslem corsair Sakr-el-Bahr, the Sea-Hawk. Piracy is a profession for which he has a true gift.
The story is about is adventures, and his past, which comes back to haunt him in unexpected ways and he faces some very difficult choices.
Best part of story, including ending:
I liked the fact that this story has got everything - adventure, drama, romance, and exotic locales.
Best scene in story:
My personal favorite is when he is kidnapped and the series of events that follow.
Opinion about the main character:
Sir Oliver proves to be a man with tough mentality and this is what i liked about him the most.
