Kit Gerado, capitán del Seaflower, era un hombre sin nombre. Porque el vergonzoso secreto de su nacimiento estaba oculto en el misterio, se consagró a la piratería como único medio de conseguir poder, amor y venganza. Rápido como un halcón emigrante, recio como el mástil de un bergantín, con los ojos tan azules como las aguas del Caribe, se apoderó de cuanto quiso por todos los puertos del Nuevo Mundo. Pero El halcón de oro es también la historia de las mujeres que amaron a Kit: la de Blanca del Toro y la de Rouge, la dama inglesa convertida en pirata, la mujer de los ojos verdes como el mar y pelo rojizo que luchó contra Kit con un cuchillo, un látigo y una pistola, sintiendo redoblarse su furia por el lento convencimiento de que aquel era un hombre a quien no podía dominar.

Título del Original, The Golden Hawk,
Traducida al Español por Enrique de Juan. ( )

Synopsis:

Kit, who recently became the captain of a pirate ship, wants to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of Don Louis Del Torro. While seeking this revenge Kit falls in love with a lady pirate named Rouge. Kit and Rouge share the same foe and desire for revenge. Unfortunately, Rouge has only vengeance in her heart. She has no time for love. While Kit is pining for the lady pirate, Del Torro's wife is falling for the handsome young pirate captain.

Rouge's sister was murdered and she was raped, ending her engagement and forcing her into a life of piracy from the man she believed was her rescuer. She knows she will never be able to reclaim her role as a lady until her sister is avenged.

My rating:
4/5

This was a book I first read in my late teens and I absolutely loved it. It was one of my favorite books. Now, reading it as an adult, I understood why I loved it but I also don't necessarily love it at the level I once did. I still think the writing is amazing. This book has some brilliant dialogue. It has some of the wittiest, most ironic, and tongue in cheek quotes I have ever found. There are quotable lines and memorable scenes throughout. Many of which I had remembered from previous reads but enjoyed even more this time around. The writing of this book is just amazing.

I am not usually a fan of adventure stories but even now I was enchanted by this book and the things that were going on.

I thought this book did an excellent job or portraying the time period in which it is set. The setting is rich and feels well researched.

This book was written in the 1940's and the story takes place in the 1600. This gives it some problematic elements such as issues with consent. Many times throughout the story Kit is pushing Rouge for kisses and more. There is a time she is, quite literally, beating him with a whip to get him to leave her alone and he still grabs her and kisses her. I believe in the context of the story it is meant to be romantic and, the 20 year old me who grew up before the me too movement, probably thought it was swoon worthy. He wanted to kiss her so bad he fought through lashings that were bloodying his chest. Oh how times and my ideas have changed.

Overall, the treatment and portrayal of women in this book is poor. Aside from the age of the story and the time period of the book this issue is likely due to it being written by a man. This is an adventure pirate story and I can only assume the author thought his audience was more likely to be young men than women readers (though I can only assume that as the covers I have for these look somewhat like romance covers with shirtless men and busty women). One example of the poor portrayal of women was in an instance where Bianca is noted by the narrator to be playing head games like all women do.

Another problematic element to this book is the treatment of servants and ideas about servants such as their enjoyment of eavesdropping etc. Again, this is something I have noticed in older books so I want to be careful about holding it against this particular work. I feel that classism was extremely prevalent during the time of this writing.

The last problematic element I feel like I must mention is places where there seems to be some racism. However, the author is a person of color, so I am not sure if I can accuse the book of racism on that front. Racism was a thing in the 1600's and it is possible the author was simply trying for an accurate portrayal of the times. One discussion involved the Caribbean slaves. There were discussions about certain slaves from certain areas being better at certain tasks. Some for protection. Some for planting. Etc.
There is a movie version of this story which is very different but also quite good though for different reasons.

I am hesitant to recommend the Golden Hawk because of the problematic elements of this book however if you can look past those and forgive the book because of the time it was written and the time it was set, this is a solid read. I found it engaging and the dialogue some of the best I have read still to this day. ( )

Enjoyable, well-researched pirate yarn, rich in historical and nautical detail. Characters are somewhat TOO boldly drawn, with behaviors and emotions that splash frequently over the top of the tankard. Otherwise, a nice mixture of action, aventure and romance. ( )

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2006/08/this-is-inagural-post-for-my-new-fire.h...

Although little remembered today, Frank Yerby was one of the last great writers of swashbuckling adventure novels. In The Golden Hawk he tackled the quintessential swashbuckler subject, piracy on the high seas.