Boring. One chapter bled into the next and nothing happened and nothing made sense. Even James' character didn't make sense. Who is he? Hero? Villain? In-between? It's like the author couldn't decide. And everything just fades to background. All of the characters, the school, everything. Nothing stood out. Nothing was memorable. ( )

In general, I'm a fan of prequels to beloved stories. I wasn't sure what to make of this one at first. There was a LOT of time spent at Eton and dealing with being a weird kid with a mysterious past. I was disappointed that his yellow blood is never explained.

I adored the love story between Jas and the princess. I was hoping their story would play out more but it just seemed to end (will there be more stories in this series?)

The last third of the book takes place on Jas's first voyage out to sea. He takes a back-seat to the authority figures on board for a little while, but not very long, and the short leap to his becoming captain of the ship was well done, but quite violent. I wouldn't recommend this book to children under 8 years old, only because of the graphic violence in the last few chapters. Otherwise it's quite a nice story and I could see there being one or two more follow-ups. ( )

This is an interesting back story of the boy who will become one of literature's most notorious villains. The Eton period lays the groundwork for explaining the dichotomy between his ruthless personality and sense of fair play. James is utterly ambitious, patient -- to a point, cunning, and willing to take great risk to achieve personal gain, but insists that opponents and companions alike act with honour and "good form," attributes that we will see still hold true in his future dealings with Peter Pan.

I agree with the reviewer who wasn't too impressed with the first half (Eton) but enjoyed it a lot more once they went to sea. I did enjoy pondering the juxtaposition between Jas and bully Arthur Darling in this book and bully Hook and the children of Arthur Darling in Peter Pan. I also got a kick out of the fact that James Mathew B(astard) and J. M. Barry share the same initials. Coincidence? I think not. ( )

Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth isn't a terrible book. I just didn't like it very much. There are good things, such as the font, Brett Helquist's occasional illustrations, and Electra, a giant pet spider. The writing is generally okay. Honestly, though, I feel like J.V. Hart should have stuck to screenplays. After all, he wrote one of my very favorites (Muppet Treasure Island!), as well as Hook (RU-FI-O, RU-FI-O). In fact, Capt. Hook might have come across better on the screen. Perhaps, in visual motion, "King Jas." wouldn't come off as such a jerk. At the very least, maybe he'd be a more likeable one.

The rest of my review is at my highly neglected book blog because there are a lot of spoilers for the last part of the book. ( )