Okay so the problem with this book is that it's way too gruesome for me. It's got pythonesque body horror and torture gags and execution humor with an absolutely dumb premise (a fake treasure island meant to lure victimes to an executioner's school to practice on). Now, I know that that kind of crazy humor was massively popular at one point in like the fifties sixties and seventies. Harvey Kurtzmann, the previously mentioned Monthy Python, Itchy & Scratchy. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying I'm not into it. If you thought Escape from Monkey Island (the fourth game with all the prosthetics gags) was the best in the series, chase down this book. But for me, that kind of stuff detracts from the book and I really have to squint at the corners to find stuff to like here. And when I do, then yes. Adventure, high seas, amazing location work, Jason's perfect sense of comic timing. The corpse-and-torture gags are just a couple of spoonfuls of poisons in an otherwise wonderful brew that whets my appetite for more of the classic adventure genre.

So yes, great book once you look past the worst 60% or so of it.

Recos for better adventure stuff: the Monkey Island games (the good ones), the Alphabet Squadron series, the Count of Monte Cristo, The Beetle. Hmm, I'm realizing that even my "recos" are pretty lacking; for a genre I love there's not a lot of good books in it yet. Yeah, yeah, the Princess Bride... but can't we do even better? I really long for that sense of wonder.

Recos for better Jason: Why Are You Doing This? (Although he has a lot of really good ones.)