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Summary
Summary
Middle-grade adventure readers will love this fresh take on classic pirate tropes. Dean Seaborne is thrown off his ship by the Pirate King and given one last chance to redeem himself before he meets Davy Jones's locker. He has to spy on the Pirate King's biggest rival, Gentleman Jim Harper, and find the treasure hidden on the mysterious island of Zenhala. Once on Zenhala, Dean realizes the inhabitants of the island think he is the lost prince who went missing 13 years ago. In order to fulfill his mission for the Pirate King, Dean undergoes intense and fantastical trials to prove he is the lost prince. But the longer Dean stays on the island, the more he questions his mission.
Author Notes
Matt has been drawing ever since he could first hold a pencil, and super heroes have always filled up the majority of the pages in his sketchbooks. That lifelong love of comic books spurred him to write the Jack Blank Adventure series, published by Simon & Schuster's Aladdin imprint.
Prior to that, Matt worked at MTV Networks for nearly ten years. During that time, he was involved in everything from booking and producing celebrity interviews, to helping launch mtvU (MTV's 24-hour college network), to managing Spring Break events in Panama City Beach, Cancun, and Acapulco. He also worked on several less exciting projects as well, but never mind that now. Matt's true passion has always lain in his writing and artwork.
Matt lives in New Jersey with his wife and family.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Thirteen-year-old orphan Dean Seaborne has been a spy for One-Eyed Jack the Pirate King ever since he can remember; it's a life he hates but can't escape. After a misadventure involving a ship from the mysterious hidden island of Zenhala, where gold grows on trees, Dean learns that the crew thinks he might be the long-lost island Prince. This allows Dean to infiltrate the island on behalf of One-Eyed Jack, but as he encounters dangers and meets new friends, he resents his mission more and more-and he starts to wonder if he might truly be the prince. There is plenty of derring-do and swashbuckling in this fast-paced adventure, mostly provided by Dean, who not only wins fights with men twice his size but invents his own skateboard and sailboard, tames sea dragons, and speaks and behaves with quite a bit of polish for a boy who was raised by uneducated pirates. VERDICT Despite some credulity-straining plot elements and weak character development, this is a salty tale that most middle grade readers will enjoy.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's a pirate's life for 13-year-old orphan Dean Seaborne, who serves as a spy for the fearsome One-Eyed Jack, pirate king of the Caribbean, infiltrating other ships to find loot for his implacable boss. After trying to go straight and getting caught, Dean is given one last chance: find the fabled island of Zenhala and deliver its legendary golden orchard to One-Eyed Jack. Or else. To do so, Dean poses as the missing prince of Zenhala, a role for which he feels drastically unsuited. To his surprise, the natives of Zenhala seem ready to believe him, but before he can assume the throne, he has to survive three tasks proving his worthiness. As Dean dodges assassination attempts and inexplicably succeeds at each trial, he starts to wonder if he'll find a home in Zenhala. Myklusch (the Jack Blank trilogy) offers a rousing nautical adventure (first in a duology), filled with suspense, action, and colorful characters. He makes great use of familiar and much-loved tropes-pirates, lost royalty, death-defying challenges-while incorporating some nifty novel elements of his own. Ages 8-up. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Young Dean, having run afoul of the Pirate King, is forced on a secret mission to find a route to the fabled golden island of Zenhala. Myklusch relies too heavily on stock settings and characterizations, and the story feels clichid; nevertheless, the action is tense throughout as Dean overcomes one obstacle after the next. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Orphan, pirate, spy, and prince are just some of 13-year-old Dean Seaborne's many titles. His surname indicates that he is an orphan born of the sea. His employment as spy for the ruthless pirate king One-Eyed Jack suggests a life full of duplicity and danger. The mark on his arm hints at a surprising destiny. Dean's latest mission ends badly with a sunken ship, a missing captain, and a crew thrown into the sea. When his rescuer tells him that he is the lost prince of Zenhala, a mythical island full of treasure, Dean is more than a little suspicious. But when One-Eyed Jack decides to hold him personally responsible for the ship he lost, Dean's only option is to leverage the situation to his benefit. However, not everyone in Zenhala, a real place after all, is happy to see him. Dangerous quests, a beautiful girl, and an epic battle force Dean to decide who he is and what he believes. Nonstop swashbuckling action is sure to entice even the most ardent landlubber, while courtly intrigue and well-crafted characters will satisfy readers looking for depth in their adventures. The proposed first in a series from the soon-to-be-shuttered Egmont USA, it will have readers hoping the rest of the series is picked up quickly by another publisher. High-seas adventure with surprising twists. (Adventure. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Sharks and sea serpents! Treachery and treasure! Dean Seaborne has been part of a pirate crew for as long as he can recall, purchased by the dastardly One-Eyed Jack and forced to commit acts of larceny. Now Dean has run afoul of his master and, in exchange for sparing his life, must become a spy on Gentleman Jim's pirate ship, which is crewed only by children, some of them younger than Dean's 13 years. But is there more to One-Eyed Jack's plan? Does he know more about Dean's past than Dean himself? Could Dean actually be the lost prince of Zenhala? There are many questions, and not all of them are answered, as this is just the first volume of the planned Seaborne series. Fast-paced action, short chapters, and plenty of plot twists make this an ideal read-aloud for intermediate grades, particularly those who enjoyed Sid Fleischman's The Whipping Boy (1986) and Jonathan Auxier's Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes (2011).--Lesesne, Teri Copyright 2015 Booklist
