The Best Books About Pirates From Next Chapter [March 2023]
Pirates have been a part of human history for centuries, with their actions ranging from robbery and kidnapping to acts of violence and terror on the high seas. While pirates were active in various regions of the world, the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy" in the late 17th and early 18th centuries saw the rise of notorious pirate captains such as Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and William Kidd.
Pirates were notorious for attacking merchant ships and seizing valuable cargo, which they would then sell on the black market. They often operated in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off the coast of Africa, taking advantage of the vast, unregulated stretches of sea to evade capture. Pirates also formed their own communities on remote islands, where they could repair their ships, rest, and trade their loot without interference.
While piracy may seem romanticized in popular culture, it was a dangerous and often deadly way of life. Pirates faced constant threats of violence from other pirates and the naval forces of various countries. While some pirates were eventually caught and executed, others escaped and continued their life of piracy until they met a similar fate. Today, piracy still occurs in some parts of the world, but the actions of modern pirates are often driven by political and economic factors rather than the romanticized ideals of freedom and adventure associated with the pirates of old.
On this page, we’ve collected some of the best pirate-themed books from Next Chapter authors, all available from major online bookstores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Rakuten Kobo and Google Books.
We hope you enjoy the stories on this page - and if you do, please don’t forget to leave the author a review! Don’t agree with our choices? Please leave a comment below and let us know which pirate book is your favorite :)
Books featured on this page
Queen of the Seas (The Pirate Queen Series Book 1) by James Fuller
The Flight of the Griffin (The Flight Of The Griffin Book 1) by C.M. Gray
Queen of the Seas (The Pirate Queen Series Book 1) by James Fuller
Book excerpt
Dusk was just about upon them before Callisto’s brothers, Macario and Tad found them on the roadway still two miles from their house. Worried at their father's delay, they had hooked up the old nag to the wagon and set off in search.
They could not have come at a better time. Callisto’s body ached with the strain of half dragging, half carrying their father’s near limp form. He had lost so much blood that she was amazed he was still conscious or alive.
“What has happened?” Macario cried, jumping from the wagon before it could come to a complete stop. He ran to his father’s aid, seeing the bloodied stump where his hand should have been. Simao’s face was pale as alabaster, and thick sweat clung to his skin as his hollowed eyes starred blankly at the dusty ground.
Callisto’s eyes were crusted red from the last hours of crying, her cheeks stained with dirt and grim. “He—that man—was a monster—made Father—” she couldn’t force the words out, couldn’t shake the vision from her mind.
“Quickly, Tad, help me get Father into the wagon. We will take him to the healer!” Macario ordered his younger brother, taking the burden from his sister. “Father? Father, can you hear me?”
Pirates And Pickled Heads by Helen Susan Swift
Book excerpt
There are specific phrases that illuminate the pages of history, bringing alive a period otherwise consigned to the pages of a book or the disc of a computer. ‘Scotland Forever’ is one such, supposedly bawled out by the mingled Gordon Highlanders and Scots Greys at Waterloo. ‘The British are Coming,’ is another, recalling the manic urgency of the American Revolutionary War as Paul Reverie galloped to raise the buckskins.
From that same war comes the equally well remembered ‘I have not yet begun to fight’, a pithy statement that could be used to describe the stern early years of the conflict. Reeling from defeat after defeat, the fighting men of the infant United States regrouped, retrained, and proved themselves the equal of any nation of their time. Although most of the fighting was on land, the sea was of vital importance, and it produced one of the young republic’s foremost heroes, a fighting man with few equals and a sense of audacity matched only by his skill in ship to ship combat. This man was John Paul Jones, famed as the father of the United States Navy but less known in the land of his birth.
Jones was born as unadorned John Paul in 1747, son of the gardener of the Craiks of Arbigland in South West Scotland. The Craiks were merchants, with Dr James Craik being a friend of George Washington, eventually rising to organise the American Army Medical Service. As he grew up beside the Solway Firth, John Paul could have had no notion that he too would have a strong American connection.
The Flight of the Griffin (The Flight Of The Griffin Book 1) by C.M. Gray
Book excerpt
Bartholomew Bask awoke in a groggy haze; his head thumping from drinking too much good berry wine the evening before and yet another awful night’s sleep.
‘This confounded heat is getting the better of me,’ he mumbled. ‘Thirteen weeks of blistering weather that torments me night and day - will there be no end to it?’ He pulled his great bulk to the edge of the bed and sat with his head resting in his hands. Mornings were seldom good for Bartholomew Bask.
He eventually managed to heave himself up and stood, swaying slightly, squinting at the light streaming in through his open window. Padding across the room, he leant on the sill and gazed down, watching for a few moments, entranced, as always, by the clutter of shops and the human tide coming and going below him. A donkey and cart was causing a commotion a little way further down the busy street as the driver tried to pass several tables set up outside the little brewshop. The early morning customers, unwilling to move from their breakfasts, were goading the driver, who was arguing vocally while failing in his attempts to reverse his stubborn animal. Tempers were rising early these days in Freya.
Jedrek And The Pirate Princess by David Littlewood
Book excerpt
The local nobles held classes for the village boys to teach them how to handle swords, spears and other weapons they might have to use in battle. They believed that it was bet-ter to train up the boys while they were young and then, if an enemy were to attack in the future, there would be men who knew how to fight. One thing that they noticed was that Jedrek appeared to take to their training like a duck to water. He particularly liked learning to use the sword and looked forward to the day when his father would make him one of his own, something Rhydon had promised him after he had passed all the tests set by the nobles.
Jedrek was returning from one of the classes at the castle when he heard a cry and shouting from just round a bend in the road. He ran to see who was in trouble and saw three ruffians standing over the prostrate figure of a man. They had obviously ambushed him and were beating the man with their fists and threatening him with knives, so Jedrek quickly came to the conclusion they were robbers.
The Time Driver by G.A. Franks
Book excerpt
It stayed 10.11 for what felt like hours, then 10.12 for days. It seemed to take weeks to reach 10.13 and by the time 10.29 finally came around, Chase was convinced he’d been in that one maths lesson for longer than he’d been alive up to that point.
At 10.30, all the other pupils abruptly stood up in unison. No bell had sounded, nor had there been any sort of signal from the teacher but, acting as one, the students silently collected their bags and headed off down the corridor with none of the clatter and clamour that one usually finds at the end of a lesson.
Chase hesitated for a moment, torn between an overwhelming desire to get out of the room as quickly as possible and the temptation to speak to Mould and try to explain that he hadn’t meant to cause a problem, but the dark-haired girl made up his mind for him. She was marching along with all the other students but kept sneaking glances back over her shoulder at him, as though she was hoping he would follow her. His mind made up, he slung his bag over his shoulder and set off before he lost sight of her.
There you go: the best pirate books from Next Chapter in 03/2023. If you enjoy one of the books above, please take a moment to leave a comment below, or a review in Goodreads or your favorite store. We’d love to hear from you :)
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