Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King, #1)

by Tricia Levenseller

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Daughter of the Pirate King is a rollicking adventures that brings readers across the high seas with headstrong protagonist Alosa—the pirate princess herself. Alosa is clever, strong, and highly trained, the perfect pirate to take on the task of searching an enemy ship for a piece of a treasure map that will make her father wealthier and more renowned than anyone ever before.

I went into Daughter of the Pirate King expecting danger, mayhem, and a bit of banter, and I was not disappointed. I don’t know that I would call Alosa a “lady Jack Sparrow,” as Anna Banks does in a blurb featured on the cover, but she is great fun to watch. She has a plan for everything and a backup plan for her plans, combining smarts with admirable physical skills.

However, there is a much stronger focus on the romance than I was anticipating when I first picked dup the book. That there is a love interest is no surprise (This is YA, and it’s hard to find a novel without a love interest.) However, the romance takes up a very significant percentage of the book, and readers should be prepared for that. I wasn’t 100% invested in the relationship myself, but I think it works, and author Tricia Levenseller makes it clear why these two characters are right for each other.

The plot, otherwise, is fairly tight knit. The stated goal is for Alosa to find a hidden bit of treasure map, and the plot mostly stays in that sphere. That means a lot of the action takes place on just one ship, with Alosa poking about to find its secrets, but she does venture off board just enough to keep readers from feeling claustrophobic.

This book is fun, a bit different from what I normally read, and it hits more of the right “pirate” notes than Blackhearts did for me.