View source for Dread Pirate Fleur and the Hangman's Noose by Sara Starbuck

{{infobox2
|title=Dread Pirate Fleur and the Hangman's Noose
|author=Sara Starbuck
|reviewer=John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A second book in the girl pirate adventure series, that paves the way for part three very heavily, but doesn't lose too much sight of what it's supposed to be doing.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=368
|publisher=Red Fox
|date=July 2010
|isbn=978-1862307292
|aznuk=1862307296
|aznus=1862307296
|cover=1862307296 
}}

When a mysterious young girl in a barrel is fished from the sea and rescued by the pirate ship belonging to Fleur's uncle William, it seems bad news might be on the way.  The girl turns out to have psychic abilities - and they're just about to hit landfall at Salem, right in time for the witch-hunts.  But worse is to come.  William gets captured there, and someone Fleur thought long dead starts to take his place on board instead.  Fleur then has to skipper the craft herself, on a rescue mission, in a very tense domestic situation.  That's hard enough when you're a mere teenaged girl, against ruffians and pirates, but when the ship has secrets of her own to be revealed...

This book has all the hallmarks of [[The Dread Pirate Fleur and the Ruby Heart by Sara Starbuck|the first volume]], which it might be better to read first - this tries to not rely on the first book in the series, and nearly succeeds, but lacks a couple of paragraphs to outline the prophecy set up earlier.  On the whole, to repeat, we are on familiar ground - a reasonably strong adventure, that might serve as wish-fulfilment for young teenaged wannabe pirate queens, with perhaps fewer of the flaws as before.

I said part one ground to a halt with a talky bit, and here we have more lengthy duologue scenes to slowly unfurl the secrets of Fleur's life, past, present and future.  You have to take some of it with a pinch of salt - not least the dread Captain William the Heartless handing his pirate ship to his niece, however feisty she may be.  But the character is strongly written as well as strong, and as simple as her linear rescue task might appear to be, it will not be plain sailing for anyone.

This book is richer too for the other characters, for Fleur and new mystery girl Astrid are not the only cast members from the target audience's age group, while the new adult onboard has a good part to play in the narrative.

Depending on your mood though, the biggest flaw is that too much of this is only gearing up to a third book in the series.  The 'we'll meet again' ending is the most blatant advert for future volumes.  But that is not anywhere near as big a problem as it might otherwise be.  The adventure here is strong, with good pacing more or less throughout, the pirate life clearly conveyed and relatively cliche-free, and the crisp writing allows for a vivid read, which as before could do with taking a step further to greatness, but still has merits to make it well worth a read - however many more there might be to come.

I must thank the kind Red Fox people for my review copy.

For something a bit more fantastical, we loved [[City of Thieves by Ellen Renner]].  For some non-fiction from Starbuck, we can recommend [[Born Free Lion Rescue: The True Story of Bella and Simba by Sara Starbuck|Born Free Lion Rescue: The True Story of Bella and Simba]].

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[[Category:Teens]]