Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King, #1) by Tricia Levenseller

Series: The Daughter of the Pirate King

Release Date: February 28th, 2017

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

My favourite literary female characters are the badass ones that don’t need a man to save them. They’re smart, witty, sometimes brutal and sometimes beautiful.

In the Daugther of the Pirate King, the reader is immediately introduced to Princess Alosa as she sets the stage to be kidnapped by pirates. Unknown to them, Alosa purposely gets herself kidnapped so she can rob the ship of their piece of the map to the land of Sirens (which, of course, holds an unimaginable amount of treasure–it is a book about pirates). But, even though Alosa is supposed to get kidnapped, she can’t go quietly. Alosa’s a girl and a princess, but she’s still as mercenary as any other pirate.

Many reviewers talked a lot about the romance between Alosa and a certain boy (it’s really not hard to guess who) and mentioned the word “insta-love.” I personally feel that although the romance took enough of a back seat in the story, the romance didn’t suffer for it. But, I have to admit I hate it when the romance turns into a power struggle between the couple, especially when they start out as “enemies.” Why can’t a strong and capable woman have a relationship built on friendship and trust… or for it to at least turn into that? I also felt that instead of this story being very Alora and Riden focused, their relationship was actually used as a plot device by the author to reveal to the readers more about each character’s past. It was also used as a conflict for each character: while they do harbour romantic feelings for one other, they both have orders/plans to carry out for their loved ones (Alosa’s father and Riden’s brother), which means betraying each other. It gave Daugther of the Pirate King an edge that isn’t commonly found in YA literature: meeting a boy doesn’t mean all is well, life isn’t always that easy.

I also loved the reverse gender roles: most of the time, it was Alosa who knew who and what she was, whereas Riden always seemed confused, at odds with his morality and his loyalty to his (homicidal) brother.

Something that was also interesting was how the author used perception to further the story. Alosa is loyal to her father because he loves her (albeit conditionally), and the same goes for Riden. But Riden brings up a good point when Alosa confronts him and his crew about stealing from her father, the Pirate King: her father’s not a nice man, and there shouldn’t be a king of the seas. Up until this point, you saw Alosa as “good” and Kiden as “bad” but being the Pirate King means that he didn’t get to where he was by being kind–although I still believe that her father’s the best choice because it means Alosa will eventually be Queen of Pirates. Obviously, I’m biased.

Two things annoyed me about Daugther of the Pirate King. My first complaint is just a matter of personal opinion: book boyfriends, who have the character trait of acting like they’re the smartest guy in the room ( and are always smirking) annoy me. But it pisses me off when an intelligent girl like Alosa doesn’t see the wolf in sheep’s clothing that is Riden (her first interrogation being just the first example). My second complaint is that for a girl who was trained by the Pirate King himself and is as smart as she is (and, spoiler, has the abilities she has), should not have given up so quickly when she and Riden are captured. I detest it when the arrogant “hero” saves the completely badass girl because they spontaneously lose all their badassery the moment it’s actually needed… facepalm.

Besides these two complaints I really liked Daugther of the Pirate King, although I have to agree with some other reviewers: I’m not sure that I want Alosa and Riden together.

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