This is not my typical read. I listened to it as an audio book, which I often do. It moved a bit slowly for me in the beginning with a lot of explanation of how ships and their crews worked hundreds of years ago. The book draws on the journals of the men who spent time on the Wager and, at times, has a very academic tone. However, once the action started, I was hooked. I enjoyed seeing how the author poured through what these men journaled (or didn't) to tell as much of the story as possible. Whether we deem each of them a hero or monster, they certainly endured an extraordinary experience at sea.

I get why people probably love it, but it just wasn’t my bag. I think the audiobook narrator is 10/10 and the writing itself is pretty good, but it didn’t change for me my general disinterest in sea stories. I know why it has to be written from an objective point of view (when recounting history), but it felt somewhere in between the longest research paper I’ve ever read and the never ending text crawl at the beginning of the Star Wars films.