Book: Daughter of The Pirate King (Daughter of The Pirate King #1)
Author: Tricia Levenseller
I’m pretty sure that I have mentioned my love of pirates on the blog before, I love swashbuckling pirate adventures, and it feels like we definitely don’t get enough of them so I was very excited when I saw this debut from Tricia Levenseller, because it looked like I was in for a fun, piratey romp and whilst I didn’t get absolutely everything that I wanted from this book, it was definitely a fun debut and quick read, which was exactly what I needed coming up to the end of May. Here is a short synopsis of the book:
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.
I liked that we were thrown straight into the action at the start of the book, but the pace throughout was a little slower than I was expecting given that this is meant to be a pirate adventure. I was hoping for a little more pirating and a few more fight scenes than we actually got. Don’t get me wrong, the fight scenes when they happened, were great but I would have liked a few more. For the most part the plot revolved around Alosa trying to find the map and dealing with Riden which meant that it was a little lighter than I would have liked. Luckily I was captivated enough by the characters that it didn’t matter too much that I wasn’t entirely enthralled by the plot.
Alosa was very much what made this book for me. She’s sharp, witty, feisty, incredibly cunning, strong but also feminine (I love it when books show that you can still be strong and feminine), she was precisely the sort of heroine that I absolutely love and she really carried the story for me in the places were it felt like the plot was a little lagging. I loved her banter with Riden, they had such great back and forth and you could really root for their romance, although, even though Alosa wasn’t actually a real prisoner, the fact that it was kind of a captor/prisoner romance did bother me slightly. I would have appreciated if the book had focused less on their romance and more on the pirating though!
I liked Riden, he was complex and such a match for Alosa, I liked that they seemed like equals, the match for each other in every way. I did have my suspicions about his motives though, he seemed too squeaky clean right from the beginning of the book. I would actually have liked to see more of him interacting with his brother, because their relationship is talked about a lot (from Riden to Alosa) but not utilised as much as it perhaps could have been.
I did find that some of Levenseller’s writing was phrased a little strangely which did bother me a little, but she definitely had the humour down and for the most part, aside from the occasional odd phrasing, her writing was very engaging. The dialogue was definitely where she shone, which I appreciated as dialogue and character interaction is always one of my favourite parts of books.
It did feel like everything was a little too easy for Alosa, that she could just let herself out of her cell without being caught and search for the map and all of her plans just seemed to work out perfectly, it all just seemed too easy, but I did appreciate that in the end, this had a purpose.
Some of the chapters were occasionally a little overlong, perhaps it could have done with being split into more, shorter chapters, as that would definitely have helped with the pacing problems.
There were definitely some interesting twists throughout the book, a few of them predictable, but enough surprises to keep you on your toes.
The names were a little strange, but that’s par for the course in a fantasy book really!
The fantasy element took a while to be revealed, honestly I might have liked knowing it a little earlier, and I think it could have been weaved in a little less clumsily, but I really loved Alosa’s powers and I liked that she knew about them before the book, because characters in fantasy novels not knowing that they have powers is a little cliche at this point.
I would have liked more world building, but since the story takes place at sea, I suppose there’s not really much world to describe. I hope that perhaps we get to see a little more of the kingdom in the next book. It would have been nice to have a map, to get more of a visualisation of what this world was like. Still I think there’s the potential for more movement in the next book, with Alosa looking for the third part of the map.
Overall, this was a fun book, if a little simplistic, with a great main character, a healthy does of humour and a decent romance, but it definitely felt like it was setting up for a more exciting second book. Don’t be expecting anything mind blowing, but if you’re looking for a fun, short, adventure story, then this is definitely the book for you and I can see definite crossover appeal for MG readers. I look forward to seeing what misadventures Alosa gets up to next!
My rating: 3/5
My next review will be of Victoria Schwab’s The Archived.
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