Book Review: Pirate's Son by Rob Ruggenberg

 

 Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Piratenzoon.

A prime example of "a book I picked up from the library just because it has wolves on the cover". The actual book itself has very little to do with wolves outside from them showing up in a few scenes. Ah well, spoilers ahead, as well as content warnings for mentions of slavery.

We meet Zain, a Moroccan teenager living during the Eighty Years' War. He's the son of his slave mother and his pirate father, but has a strong connection to neither and instead just wishes to learn form the Quran, mostly. However,  one day he and a few others he knows get taken by the Spaniards and are now kept as slaves on their ships. Zain and his friends, all getting worse in health quickly, try to do whatever they can to escape. Then, one day, they end up in what would later become the Netherlands, where Zain finally tries his luck and frees himself. But now he's all alone in poor health in this strange country, and it is up to a brother-sister duo named Splinter and Kat to look after him.

I was mostly compelled by the first part of this book, mainly back when Zain's life in Morocco was being described. I found it fascinating to read about this historical Morocco. I can't tell if it's accurate, obviously, but it felt believable to me at least.

The characters also are far from perfect, with even Zain being quite bigoted at times despite being our protagonist. He's also quite the hypocrite. Like he'll scold a person for doing something that's haram but then later lie or steal something himself. Honestly, despite him being not a very good person at the start of the book, I was still weirdly into his character? Like yes he's super far from perfect and a bigot but it's also like, refreshing since most protagonists of most books I read are always the do-gooders that start out good.

Zain does gradually loosen up over the book, especially after meeting Splinter and Kat and befriending them. They learn him about their ways, he them about his, and from there on he kind of starts to realize his mistakes, but I also appreciate that he never really has one light-bulb moment or anything. Him becoming a better person and shaking his old bigoted ways is very gradual. He also doesn't loose his Muslim faith or anything, something I was afraid the author'd do, but he just becomes a lot more appreciative and supportive of people he would before just dismiss as awful based on his first perception of them. 

The story itself kind of lost me about two thirds in, however. I liked it fine, but my initial engagement gradually left. A lot of this book is just Zain being a slave and seeing horrible things happen to the other slaves, and after a while it just got so dreary and depressing it didn't make me want to keep reading. It also felt like it was getting old, by now I really wanted him to meet Kat and Splinter since we know they do from the prologue.

The part where he's with the siblings in the Netherlands was once again a bit more engaging to me, but aside from some meaningful character development and interactions it too didn't hold my attention as much as first.

It's a good book, but a bit too long for me. I do like the ending, however. Zain makes amends with his father, and while he isn't able to return to Kat like he wants to, he instead decides to become a Quran teacher working with his father and try and better things for people in his hometown. Pretty wholesome ending after such a brutal book.

That said, content warnings to really apply. Graphic wounds, slavery, misogyny, Islamophobia, racism and abuse are just a few of them. So I get why this isn't for everyone and I myself also found it a bit too dreary, depressing and dark sometimes. But it's still a pretty good book, just a shame it didn't hold my attention more.

Rating: 3/5