Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jaques

An eternal journey of a boy and his dog. Getting stuck on the Flying Dutchman wasn't Neb's idea of fun, he just wanted away from his horrific life. Starting anew wasn't exactly what happened on the sip ether. The Flying Dutchman was captained by a madman and his murderous crew, because of that it was cursed by an angel to spend the rest of eternity sailing cursed waters. On the ship though some good fortune does happen to Neb, he finds a large black lab and soon both are best friends. The angel that cursed the ship sent Neb and Denmark on an adventure to do good everywhere and soon come to a town named Chapelvale to save it from an abolishing fate.

The characters in this book are great. They’re funny, intelligent, and mysterious. Neb is fourteen, but extremely wise for his age with deep blue eyes to prove it (“and a mysterious air about him as if he’d had some sort of sea faring experience (p.80)”. His dog, Denmark isn’t really his, he chooses to stay by Neb. H has a sense of humor that you wouldn’t expect from a dog, he’s a sort of dog that likes to cut to the chafe. He’s a large black lab and a “companionable dog (p.80)” as the book puts it. There are many other villains and friends as well. The characters definitely got me hooked on the book.

The author has a great writing style that glues your eyes to the book. The writing style and plot were great. The writing was descriptive, entrancing and believable. There’s quite a bit of mystery and suspense. The author has a way of putting things in front of your eyes without you seeing it then without warning its there and you’re left saying ohh, duh why didn’t I see that?! The plot is totally fast and you realize the book is over and gone before even starting.
Some passages and areas I loved were when Denmark (the dog) would figure something out and tell Ned (they can communicate) and Ned would tell it to someone else and they’d compliment Ned, not Denmark. Or Denmark would get a compliment and he would reply now there’s a smart person (or something along those lines). I would recommend this book to others because its funny, fast paced and suspenseful with 4.5 stars of 5. I loved it.


Written and published by Megan F.