Review of Shanghai'd
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Nick_James
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- Latest Review: Shanghai'd by Curtis Stephen Burdick
Review of Shanghai'd
[Following is a volunteer review of "Shanghai'd" by Curtis Stephen Burdick.]
Shanghai'd is a historical fiction tale of adventure, set at the time of the California gold rush of the 1840s and is the first instalment in a new series by author Curtis Stephen Burdick. Shanghai'd tells the story of Joshua Cabot, a Harvard-educated mineralogist who is asked to travel from Boston to San Francisco on behalf of a wealthy businessman to assist in establishing an assaying office to capitalise on the gold rush that has just begun. Joshua, whose dream is to own his own laboratory, begrudgingly accepts the job knowing the money he earns could make his dream a reality, but soon finds his entire world flipped upside down. After a series of tragedies, misfortune, and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Joshua finds himself Shanghai'd - drugged, sold to the captain of a short-staffed ship and forced to take up life as a sailor on a merchant ship travelling to Shanghai and back.
Shanghai'd is packed with adventure, action, suspense and vibrant characters that, in combination with such an interesting premise, is sure to leave lovers of historical fiction craving the next book in the series.
While there's much to love about Shanghai'd, where it really shines is in how well it describes the era and locations in which it is set. Burdick's interest and passion for the time period, sailing, ships, and world history - as well as what I can only imagine must have been a tremendous amount of research - are put on full display from start to finish. This, combined with Burdick's excellent descriptive writing left me captivated and truly feeling like I was exploring the 1840s world alongside Joshua.
Another highlight was the excellent characterisation. Joshua, along with several other characters, have deep and meaningful character arcs and personalities that made them entertaining to read about while still feeling authentic. Burdick also did a great job of realistically building relationships between characters as Joshua's crew slowly transitioned from strangers to his new family, with ever-increasing layers of depth being added as Joshua, and therefore I, got to know each of them better.
There are very few criticisms that I can make of Shanghai'd, but I'd highlight the pacing of the book as an area that could have been a little better. At times it felt like there were major events that came and went with only a few sentences to describe them, while other things that most would view as more mundane, were described in excruciating detail.
The editing of Shanghai'd also bears some mention. I noted several errors throughout the book, though for the most part they were infrequent enough that I did not find them to be overly disruptive. I did notice, however, that the errors did seem to become more frequent in the latter stages of the book.
Overall, I can certainly say that I loved Shanghai'd, largely due to its captivating story and Burdick's terrific descriptive writing and characterisation. I would wholeheartedly recommend any fan of fiction, especially historical fiction, pick up a copy of Shanghai'd and I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for the next book of the series. The minor issues with the pacing and editing of the book do, however, prevent me from giving it a perfect score, and therefore I would rate Shanghai'd 4 out of 5 stars.
******
Shanghai'd
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Shanghai'd is a historical fiction tale of adventure, set at the time of the California gold rush of the 1840s and is the first instalment in a new series by author Curtis Stephen Burdick. Shanghai'd tells the story of Joshua Cabot, a Harvard-educated mineralogist who is asked to travel from Boston to San Francisco on behalf of a wealthy businessman to assist in establishing an assaying office to capitalise on the gold rush that has just begun. Joshua, whose dream is to own his own laboratory, begrudgingly accepts the job knowing the money he earns could make his dream a reality, but soon finds his entire world flipped upside down. After a series of tragedies, misfortune, and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Joshua finds himself Shanghai'd - drugged, sold to the captain of a short-staffed ship and forced to take up life as a sailor on a merchant ship travelling to Shanghai and back.
Shanghai'd is packed with adventure, action, suspense and vibrant characters that, in combination with such an interesting premise, is sure to leave lovers of historical fiction craving the next book in the series.
While there's much to love about Shanghai'd, where it really shines is in how well it describes the era and locations in which it is set. Burdick's interest and passion for the time period, sailing, ships, and world history - as well as what I can only imagine must have been a tremendous amount of research - are put on full display from start to finish. This, combined with Burdick's excellent descriptive writing left me captivated and truly feeling like I was exploring the 1840s world alongside Joshua.
Another highlight was the excellent characterisation. Joshua, along with several other characters, have deep and meaningful character arcs and personalities that made them entertaining to read about while still feeling authentic. Burdick also did a great job of realistically building relationships between characters as Joshua's crew slowly transitioned from strangers to his new family, with ever-increasing layers of depth being added as Joshua, and therefore I, got to know each of them better.
There are very few criticisms that I can make of Shanghai'd, but I'd highlight the pacing of the book as an area that could have been a little better. At times it felt like there were major events that came and went with only a few sentences to describe them, while other things that most would view as more mundane, were described in excruciating detail.
The editing of Shanghai'd also bears some mention. I noted several errors throughout the book, though for the most part they were infrequent enough that I did not find them to be overly disruptive. I did notice, however, that the errors did seem to become more frequent in the latter stages of the book.
Overall, I can certainly say that I loved Shanghai'd, largely due to its captivating story and Burdick's terrific descriptive writing and characterisation. I would wholeheartedly recommend any fan of fiction, especially historical fiction, pick up a copy of Shanghai'd and I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for the next book of the series. The minor issues with the pacing and editing of the book do, however, prevent me from giving it a perfect score, and therefore I would rate Shanghai'd 4 out of 5 stars.
******
Shanghai'd
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Shanghai'd by Curtis Stephen Burdick
