Daughter of the Pirate King: Volume 1

When I hit the request button on Netgalley, I remember not reading the synopsis and basing my NEED to read this book purely on the title alone. I guess that’s why it took me SO LONG to bring it to the top of my lung crushing, bookworm drowning TBR pile but now that I finished it, I AM SO SO HAPPY THAT I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE IT IS EASILY ONE OF THE BEST I’VE READ THIS YEAR! “I believe we create ourselves to be what we want.” Instead of describing this book, I’m going to rant about ALL THE GREAT THINGS that I LOVED TO THE BOTTOM OF MY FANGIRLING HEART (and I hope you will want to read it too!) 1. ALL THE GIRL POWER: What’s better than a Fearless Female Main Character who is ALSO the captain of her own ship? A SUPER SASSY Protagonist with the ability to hold her own EASILY in a ship full of enemy male pirates, FIGHT LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS and also HAS A CREW FILLED WITH THE MOST AWESOME SAUCE AND LOYAL GIRLS. (Who I am SO SO EXCITED to read more about in book two.) 2. ALL THAT BANTER: One of the things I loved the MOST about this book was THE EASY, sometimes sassy, sometimes flirty banter that Tricia Levenseller managed to create that made a book about pirates, mythical sea creatures, hostages and treasure SO MUCH MORE FUN. (If that is even possible) SERIOUSLY. Some AMAZING DIALOGUE. 3. ALL THAT FLIRTING: I LOVED LOVED Riden and Alosa together. It was such a FUN, refreshing romance with NO PINING, all honour, attraction and flirting and I LOVED IT. (Yes, I have used the word ‘love’ about 36,289 times in this review already) I loved the kissing scenes, I loved the turmoil that went through Alosa’s head during those moments, and I loved them. I cannot WAIT to see what book two does with them. 4. ALL THOSE PLOT TWISTS: Most days, I can predict where a fantasy will end up. Daughter of the Pirate King, however, had me saying ‘OH HOLY WOW. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING.’ These are such AMAZING twists too, fitting pieces in place and WOW. LOVE. (Yes, again) 5. ALL THAT ALOSA KALLIGAN: Move over Celaena Sardothien, MY NEW FAVOURITE FEARLESS FEMALE CHARACTER IS HERE. This girl takes NO NONSENSE, has ALL THE SASS AND THE BRAINS AND THE FIGHTING SKILLS and well, I LOVED LIVING IN HER HEAD FOR A FEW DAYS. There was NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THIS BOOK. In fact, IT WAS SO PERFECT I COULD CRY. A fast paced, swashbuckling tale with an amazing cast and ALL THE GIRL POWER. I’m so in love, all I want to do it read it again. 5 stars.

The biggest disappointment about this book was the fact that it could have been something completely unique and amazing, but instead ended up being exactly what you would expect of every YA book out there. First of all, the all-female pirate crew was barely present in the entire book! Why would you write a book about badass female pirates and then ignore them for 95% of the novel??? It was such a wasted opportunity. Instead, the book focused on a weird and unbelievable romance. Insert rolling eyes emoji here. Honestly, the only characters I really enjoyed were Alosa's crew, but we barely got to spend any time with them. Alosa was seriously a pain and was completely full of herself. The book was told from her point of view, and I found this to be pretty detrimental to the story. Alosa kept telling the reader how tough she was, talking about all the cool things she could do and how she could destroy an entire ship of men if she wanted to. But she never really did anything that was that amazing. She was all talk and never actually SHOWED us what she could do. Perhaps if the story wasn't actually told by Alosa, we could have seen what she was actually capable of, instead of repeatedly hearing her talk about how awesome she was. The only thing that Alosa proved to me was that she was not nearly as amazing as she claimed to be. Despite all her talk and bravado, when it came down to it, she was distracted from her mission by a boy. (OF. FREAKING. COURSE.) You would think that the daughter of the pirate king would have a bit more wherewithal and stay true to her cause. But no, as soon as he takes off his shirt and she realizes he smells like soap, she completely forgets what she is supposed to do. The romance was totally unbelievable as well. It felt very forced - like the author was trying to cross things off a typical YA checklist. Girl (redhead of course) is captured and falls hopelessly in love with her hunky, mysterious captor with a dark and troubled past. Gag. All in all, this book was predictable and a huge disappointment. The multiple "twists" were easy to guess and super trope-y. This book had so much potential, but it went so wrong so fast. Even the cover is awful. The entire thing was a giant disappointment. The only good thing about it was that it was a really fast read, so I didn't waste too much time on it. I will definitely not be picking up the next book in this series.

Amazing! I definitely recommend. Alosa's powers are very interesting and magical. Her personality is witty and sarcastic, but not loosing her feminine side. It is very fun to see the tricks she pulls on her captors, especially Rider. Alosa is a passionate and opinionated lady, but she remains loyal to her father, no matter what he does.