Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson is an adventure classic first published 1881 to 1883 under the name The Sea Cook

The young boy Jim Hawkins manages an inn, called Amiral Benbow, with his sick father(who later passes away) and his mother in an old port town, during around 1745 as stated in the book. One day and old drunkard pirate called Billy Bones arrives, later revealed as an ex-mate of Captain Flint's ship and possessor of the map of Treasure Island. He seems afraid of something and tells Jim to keep watch if anyone suspicious arrives in the town.

One day Bones is visited by another pirate called Black Dog who get in a fight with Bones. Dog flees. Later a shadowy figure arrives called Pew who gives Bones The Black spot. Pew leaves and later Bones dies from a heart attack. Jim and his mother takes his belongings including some sort of map, later revealed to be the map of Treasure Island where captain Flint buried his great treasure. Later at night several pirates arrives and Jim flees the inn and embarks on a ship called the Hispaniola, with doctor Livesey, patron Trelawney and captain Smollett and a rag tag crew. Among the crew there is a cook with a wooden leg called Long John Silver who seems very sympathetic.

But on dark night aboard the ship Jim learns while hiding in a barrel of apples that the crew is in fact pirates searching fro the map and captain Flint's treasure and plans a mutiny. When they arrive at the island Silver reveales his true brutal face and starts a deadly fight with Jim and his companions to get possession of the map.

This novel is an enjoyable adventure with several twists in the story during the search for the treasure. People get killed in a brutal manner. Interestingly the story was originally published as a children's story. Jim is a likable character who takes center stage, leading the rebellion against the pirates mostly on his own with his companions in the background. There's lots of shootings and Silver leads the pirates with cunning and deviousness.

The novel is considered to a coming of age story of the main character Jim Hawkins. It's also about loyalty mainly shown through doctor Livesey who unquestionably treates at one moment the wounded pirates after a fight. Long John Silver represents the lack of of this loyalty and truthfulness and it distinguishes him from the heroes. Silver is a very convincing liar and very skilled at it. The novel is also clearly critical of drunkenness shown by the excessive drinking by Billy Bones and all the other pirates, except Silver.

A fun fact is that the novel has been adapted for the screen over twenty times.

I wholly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to all who loves pirate stories. I consider it to be a true classic and superior to, for instance, the Pirates of the Carribbean movies.