Caught up to chapter 1, chapter 2 is fortunately short.
The writing really captivates, so the only reason I'm not reading faster is lack of time to do so
I like how the pirates and their code are portrayed, and how the action is written, which is always quite hard to do with just words.
Chandagnac starts out an action hero already, in spite of his background as a puppeteer, albeit reckless, instead of timid. But times were rough, and I like the concept of an entertainer putting that much effort into imitating reality, that he can basically DO the real thing.
I wonder if a similar thing would be true, e.g. for animators of realistic combat in a video game.