Daughter of the Pirate King | Tricia Levenseller | Review

Daughter of the Pirate King | Tricia Levenseller | Review

• Friday, 5 May 2017

*image from Goodreads

The Story

Alosa is the only child and daughter of the Pirate King. He rules and terrorises the waters, and he's after something. Something only Alosa can get a hold of. While the Captain of her own ship, she purposefully gets kidnapped by another pirate ship so she can search the decks for a lost piece of map that will lead, when placed with the other 2 parts, to the Isla de Corta.

Captained by a ruthless young man, her 'captors' treat her rough on the ship, but she's no lady in waiting. Alosa soon learns about Captain Draxen and his first mate and brother, Riden, and how best to get around them and the other pirates on the ship. Can she find the map before her mission is blown, or is she destined for a life in a cold ship cell?

My thoughts on Daughter of the Pirate King

Firstly, I loved Alosa. The front covers boasts the character as 'a female Captain Jack Sparrow' and if you love a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean like I do, then you're off to a good start. Alosa is this fierce young red-headed woman with a fantastic sense of humour and a cunningness about her which definitely rivals Captain Jack. She's a woman on a mission, and she tries hard not to let being trapped, underestimated, or her feelings towards a certain first mate get in the way of that. She succeeds in some areas, not in others.

The other characters in the book, like Riden and Draxen, are all so different that it's a joy to read each part. The pirates on the ship all have their quirks and vices, and Alosa works those into her plans. Definitely look forward to more of them in future books.

The plot, while simple in some ways, had a great amount of keep-you-on-your-toes pages, and while the fantasy element wasn't really evident until about half way through the book, as soon as it was brought up in the beginning I began to wonder. This spin on the story wasn't a surprise to me, but it was still done very well and I applaud Levenseller for that.

Pirate stories aren't really around much in YA books, but they should be. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, 5 stars from me, and can't wait for the second one due for publication in 2018.

Let us know if you've read Daughter of the Pirate King and what you thought. Or drop a comment if you have suggestions of other YA pirate books that I don't know about.