Book #26: Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley
or, the Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough
Number of pages: 428
First off, I didn't really get into this book until almost half-way through. The start seemed to be largely about Amyas Leigh, the protagonist, desiring to go to sea, and his romance with the character Rose.
The story really gets going after Amyas loses Roses to the main antagonist, Don Guzman, and the characters start buckling their swashes, and travelling across to the Americas and fighting the Spanish.
I found the imagery in the book to be incredible, with descriptions of Amyas sitting on deck with sea spray hitting him during Christmas Day and also the depiction of a journey through South America that comes later on in the book.
At times, this book felt really long-winded, with a lot of talking of events and several moments where it seemed to go for a long time without dialogue, but I was glad I kept going with this. I liked the way that the narrative included real-life historical events, including shocking chapters involving the Spanish Inquisition and an epic climactic scene portraying the battle against the Spanish Armada.
Don Guzman remained a constant presence throughout the story, but his conflict with Amyas was bought to an end in a way that I definitely had not expected.
Overall, a recommended book.
Next book: The Well of Lost Plots (Jasper Fforde)