Yes, there are a lot of plot point holes and flowing issues and missing information in Dan Hanks novel, Swashbucklers. But (pause) I do not care. This was a funny, easy to read, but need to give a bit of attention to, warped ride.
Part fantasy, part adventure, part horror, and a lot of humor cover the pages of this novel. Our hero (question mark) Cisco comes back to his hometown 30-odd years after that Halloween and the “gas leak” which he knows was not any old gas leak. In fact, it was not a gas leak at all, but a dead ghost pirate hell bent on taking over the world. But nobody wants to believe him. Even his best friends from that time. But now their past has caught up with them again when a toy rabbit attacks and kills a man and seeing is believing. Even if the seeing shows talking gnomes, killer stuffed toys and a blow-up Father Christmas attacking the center of the city. Now Cisco and friends (30 years older, parents, and having to do the school runs) are told by a talking fox of all things, they are chosen to fight again. Cisco is all ready to save the world from impending doom. That is, as long as he has some warning so he can find a babysitter.
Mention of current events as well as 1980s pop culture references (and yes you can mix Battlestar Galatica and the A-Team) mix things up. Yes, there is a message here (the ending gives you that as well) but also it is just a fun adventure read.
I decided on this title finally. But I could not make up my mind. In the running was:
There was this talking fox.
You can’t mix Battlestar Galtica and A-Team
The Day Father Christmas Attacked and George Slept Through it
Cisco, Jake, Michelle and Doc went to fight the Dead Ghost Pirate
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