Summary: There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.
Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.
More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.
My Review: Well!
This was swashbuckling! Given that this book was YA Fic, I knew that it wasn’t
going to be too much serious pirating and more along the lines of Disney’s “Pirates
of the Caribbean” movie series. I was right.
The
story starts out awesome: “It should not be this difficult to stay prisoner on
a pirate ship. This is the second time I’ve had to stage my own capture.
Ridiculous.” I mean…right?! Super fun. I liked the main character, Alosa, and
loved the idea of a female captain. Her back story is cool, too, and she has a
secret that I won’t reveal here that makes for some fun depth to the story,
both for Alosa and for her father, the pirate king. In addition—and this cannot
be discounted—Alosa is a pretty awesome pirate. She fights well, knows her
stuff, has a ship and crew of her own, and can definitely hold her own in all
the piratey situations. I don’t want to say a lot about this, either, because I
feel like in a lot of ways this was an introductory book. There was a story
there, but much of the novel was spent discussing Alosa, her father the pirate
king, and the other main players that I assume will be with us in subsequent books.
I will let you discover those things on your own.
This
book does not create its own realm of pirating, and indeed it is basically as
if it were swiped right out of one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
The characters were stereotypical of the ones we all know and love from the
movies, including the villains, the heroes, the comic relief, and even the
ships as characters. If you have seen any of those movies (and I assume if you’re
reading this book you probably like pirates and therefore have seen all of the
movies) the setting and characters will feel very familiar to you. There aren’t
any blatant rip-offs of characters or storylines, but this story and its characters
can easily exist in that world.
Now
let’s talk story. I enjoyed the story, actually, and although I didn’t find the
twists and turns it took to be too shocking or surprising, maybe a YA Fic
audience would (although I don’t think so). It was entertaining, at least,
though not completely original or shocking.
The
writing of this book is standard YA Fic fare. I wasn’t blown away by its poetic
prose or its profound truths, but it was a fun little read. It wasn’t the kind of
book I couldn’t put down, and the end really didn’t surprise me at all, but it
was innocuous and a fun edition to the realm of fantastical creatures that mill
around in the YA Fic world. Why aren’t there more pirates there, anyway? There
should be more pirates. Pirates are cool.
Overall,
I found this to be a fun and quick little read. I’m not sure I’ll be rushing
out to buy the sequel, but I can see that should I be missing my more
swashbuckling adventures I may go ahead and take the plunge (see what I did
there?) and read it. This is a fun book for those who love the “Pirates” movies
and who wish that the adventure could just go on and on.
My Rating: 3 Stars
For the sensitive reader: There is
some piratey violence and some discussion of love, but I would say this is on
the tamer side of YA paranormal romance.
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