‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ by Tricia Levenseller is a young adult fantasy novel, published by Feiwel & Friends in 2017, and the first of a two-book series. With its rather self-explanatory title, a synopsis wasn’t necessary before I decided to dive in. There’s only one reason why I, or anyone else, would.
I have a nostalgic fondness for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise, despite its decline in quality. They have character and charm to them, usually with an engaging, adventurous plot. When I’m going into a book with “pirate” in the title, I’m expecting it to either be very brutal, or a low-key knock-off of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. Since ‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ is a YA novel, I knew which one this would be.
This book was sold to me as kickass female pirates and angsty romance. Sounded just like the fun, easy read I was in the mood for.
‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ is fun and easy, but without the character and charm. It’s pretty flavourless. We follow Alosa, (said daughter), staging a kidnapping so she can search the enemy’s ship for a treasure map that her father (said king) desires.
With her wild red hair and fiery personality, Alosa is a champion of girl power. But she’s not like other girls. She’s a pirate, and captain of her own ship. She’s been trained since birth to fight and has no qualms about slitting throats. But she’s not like other pirates. She has the rare magical power of a siren that allows her to manipulate the minds of men. But she’s not like other sirens. Because Alosa, despite her frequent casual murder, doesn’t like killing people.
Alosa spends most of the book as a prisoner on the enemy ship, searching for the map. And by “searching” I mean making sassy remarks to the pirates guarding her, sneaking out of her cell at night (she just steals a key and wanders around the ship, and this strategy works…?!), and a whole lot of pining after the first mate.
‘“I’m a pirate,” I remind him. “Yes. I just can’t figure out if you’re a good pirate or a really good pirate.”’
First mate Riden is not like the other enemy pirates. Riden is a hottie. There’s some tragic backstory and what-not thrown into his character, but it’s not fleshed out particularly well, and is so dull anyway that it isn’t worth remembering. The romance itself is not the angst I had been promised, but a drawn out and predictable will-they, won’t-they, that’s exhausting to read. Alosa goes on and on about how she will stop at nothing to get the map, but every time she see’s Riden, the poor girl feels so conflicted! How can she go behind his back when he has such nice abs?
Maybe a thirteen-year-old would enjoy this book. It’s not all predictable and boring. Once you get through the exposition, the siren aspect make an interesting mystical addition. There are some fun scenes of Alosa using her powers.
The plot flows along at a steady pace, and though it’s easy to guess what happens next, the story is sweet – if you don’t gag on the romance.
As much as I wanted to enjoy it, I wasn’t expecting this book to be good. The young adult fantasy genre rarely delivers. They always fall into the same issues, with a lack of depth across the board. Shallow world building, stale characters, and a paint-by-numbers plot. Even the better ones, such as Leigh Bardugo’s ‘Six of Crows’, doesn’t escape these tropes.
‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ is shallow and predictable, sure, but this seems to be the curse of all YA fantasy. Is it fair to judge a single book because of the genre’s failings?
My final rating for ‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ is a watered-down glass of lemonade out of 10.
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