I tried, I really did, but this just isn't my kind of novel. After reading a few chapters, I could see how some people may find this kind of action/adventure exciting, but it just was not interesting to me. My ten-year-old picked it up, read the cover, said, "cool, pirates" and then absconded with the book to his room. I was happy to give it up to him and will likely not try and track it down in the black hole that is his bedroom. Now, THAT's an adventure!