Swashbucklers

By: Dan Hanks

Narrated by: Dan Calley

When Cisco Collins returns to his home town 30 years after saving it from being swallowed by a hell mouth opened by an ancient pirate ghost, he realizes that being a childhood hero isn't like it was in the movies. Especially when nobody remembers the heroic bits - even the friends who once fought alongside him.

Struggling with single parenting and treated as bit of a joke, Cisco isn't really in the Christmas spirit like everyone else. A fact that's made worse by the tendrils of the pirate's powers creeping back into our world and people beginning to die in bizarre ways.

With the help of a talking fox, an enchanted forest, a long-lost friend haunting his dreams, and some '80s video game consoles turned into weapons, Cisco must now convince his friends to once again help him save the day. Yet they quickly discover that being a ghostbusting hero is so much easier when you don't have schools runs, parent evenings, and nativity plays to attend. And even in the middle of a supernatural battle, you always need to bring snacks and wipes....

©2021 Dan Hanks (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Fun-tastical

Refreshingly fun 80s nostalgic journey with elements of adventure and horror. This book proves that not all books have to be taken seriously, some are best just to be enjoyed

A fun portal fantasy novel with relatable heroes

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks is a portal fantasy novel that is a dash of Stranger Things mixed together with Stephen King's IT, Ready Player One, and Ghostbusters.

The plot: In 1989 UK, a group of kids defeated a villainous pirate from a hidden world within their world, except that's not what everyone remembers. They remember a strange gas leak that caused a sort of mass amnesia among the populace.

Fast forward thirty years later, and the only member of the gang of kids that remembers what actually happened must convince his old friends that the otherworldly pirate has awakened again, and this time he wants to cause the apocalypse.

This was a fun and pretty light-hearted fantasy, adventure novel. I love that our heroes are not young twentysomethings in peak health and fitness, but fortysomething-year-old parents who might get winded going up a few flights of stairs, or they might feel their right knee tighten a bit when they turn their foot a certain way. They are not invincible, and though they are tasked with saving the world again, that's no excuse for missing one of their kid's dance recitals. I found our heroes relatable and worth rooting for. This would be a good book to adapt into a movie. It would be nice to see regular, middle-aged heroes saving the world on the big screen.

What I did not like:
1) The ending - abrupt and anticlimactic, then we are immediately thrown into the book equivalent of a post-credits scene setting up a prequel
2) The lack of development regarding the fantasy world's lore
3) The pacing - this book should have been two-three chapters shorter
4) There are not enough stakes. I never really felt like our heroes were in peril.

That aside, I will definitely be keeping an eye on Dan Hanks. I think he is already a natural storyteller, and think he has potential to write a really great novel in the near future.

Great Story, Terrible Ending

I really enjoyed the premise of this story, what happens when the teenage heroes grow up, have families and are called on to be heroes again? How do you balance saving the world with school pickups and marriages? Great premise, vivid action scenes, all wrapped up with holiday cheer.

Everything was so good, this would easily be 5 stars all around for me if it werent for the end. The last 20 minutes were so bad. The ending is a massive cop out that requires a sacrifice from the story's most innocent players. Held together with a vague promise to "fix it" and then cut to black. Terrible.

Great idea that fell short

I feel like nothing happened in this book. The idea was great but it was very slow moving.