Thirteen Brother Pirates: The Journey Begins, by John R. Mattox II, is a captivating story about loyalties, trust, friendship, survival, and more. It is well paced, with a storyline that evolves throughout the chapters. The characters seem to come to life as you read the pages of their story. Itis set in London during the time of the Revolutionary War. The main character, an orphan named Mac and a sibling,are in need of shelter. They search and find a house that agrees to take them in. There, they are expected to work, and all food is a shared commodity for all. The orphans, along with Mac and his sibling, go down to the beach for a picnic when they are forcefully recruited into service by the Royal Navy. They are expected to sail the seas hunting pirates. If they thought being an orphan was rough, this is even worse.

The siblings are truly put to the test when pirates turn the tables on themand attack them instead! The strongest are captured, and the rest, the weaker half, are left abandoned by a traitorous captain who surrenders to the pirates. With a broken ship, the weakest links must fight to survive. They must also decide if they should risk their lives in order to save their friends, or if they should choose the easy way out and try to save themselves, instead. By the end of the book, we realize that brotherhood is more than blood ties.

Each chapter of the book is a different character’s point of view. I really enjoyed this style as we get an inside look into each character. To me, this added a level of depth not experienced in a more linear or one-sided point of view style. This novel started out as a story for his own children, and soon it grew into the novel we have today. To me, that is as amazing as the story itself.  The storyline is very adventurous and moves along in a timely manner. There is definitely nothing boring about this story!

Thirteen Brother Pirates: The Journey Begins has become a favorite book in our home. My son and I read this together just a few months before he turned 13, and both of us enjoyed reading this every night. Quite often, he would ask to read “just one more chapter.” He was enthralled from the first chapter, and we were able to finish this together in about four days. While I personally feel this is appropriate for all ages because I enjoyed reading it as much as he did, it is very well suited for the tween to early teen ages of 10 to about 14.

We both found this to be an exciting book that kept our attention and left us wanting more. I would highly suggest checking out the website. It has some really great character descriptions that I felt really added to the overall feel of the book. We can’t wait to read the second book!

-Product review by Missica Jenay Skeens, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July, 2018