The Sea-Hawk

By: Rafael Sabatini

Narrated by: John Bolen

Sir Oliver Tessilian, a Cornish nobleman, is abandoned or betrayed by everyone he ever loved. He is framed for murder, affronted and shunned by his fiancee and sold into slavery by his half-brother.

Tessilian converts to Islam and becomes the Barbary Corsair, Sakr-el-Bahr, "Hawk of the Sea." He invades the coast of England on a captured Spanish ship and kidnaps the woman whose love for him had been poisoned by deceit and whose unforgiving repugnance had kept him form returning home. This 1923 best seller, doused with pirates, sea battles, villainy, romance and revenge, is considered one of the great classic swashbucklers of all time.

©2002 Tantor Media, Inc. (P)2002 Tantor Media, Inc.

I've heard fifth graders who could read better.

Great Sabatini story that barely overcame a very poor rendition. Thank goodness Scaramouche and Captain Blood were read by someone else!

A silly tale, very badly narrated

I expect had the narrator been able to pronounce the words correctly, adjust his voice and diction to fit the sentence structure, I would have written a better review. Other Sabatini tales, equally fatuous, had been much better narrated and were enjoyed. This was a tortuous experience.

Great Story

I wish modern stuff was this good. Adventure on the high seas. With morals. Real morals. Not virtue signaling. Go figure.

Great story ruined by a bumbling reader

This is is a great story. Read it. Listen to another rendition. But don't listed to this narrator mispronounce words, stress the wrong words in sentences, and overall distract the listener from the story rather than enhancing the story. Disappointed.

A Swashbuckler that Sloshes

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

If you are a fan of Rafael Sabatini, you will probably enjoy this book. I read it as a young lad and was enthralled.

However, the narrator of this version is probably not the best reader I've ever heard and detracted from the story. Also, the story is supposed to be set in Elizabethan times, but it sounded too much like the 19th century to me. This is probably the fault of Sabatini rather than the narrator, however.

All in all, the plot line is good enough to keep me interested, but a better performance would have made it more enjoyable.