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

This pirate adventure tries to use an unreliable narrator, but it doesn't work on several levels. I like unreliable narrators because it means a fun plot twist; however, if the reader guesses the twist the fun feels like a dampened conversation. Readers will recognize familiar pirate characters in this tale: cruel, brutish pirates, humorous pirates, or rogue ones that follow a code of honor. "Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer has a woman pirate who uses her wits against men because she knows she can't compete in the area of strength. This story has a woman pirate, Alosa, who seduces and uses her inhumane strength against men. Yep, this petite kickass woman can subdue three men twice her size. Alosa's super speed, flexibility, and physical power in several plot situations let me guess her true nature pretty quickly.

Seventeen-year-old Alosa is on a secret mission to find a blimey treasure map for her father, the universally feared King Pirate, who other pirates pay tributes to for safe sea passage. Alosa lets herself get captured aboard a ship whose cruel Captain, Draxen, represents the brute pirate archetype while his brother and second-in-command, Riden, has a sense of honor that keeps bro in check. Riden is the brains of the twosome and becomes attracted to Alosa when she is held captive aboard their ship. Alosa's regular cell guards represent stupid pirates that add comic relief. Alosa seems overly-confident that she can control the men in authority and have a successful mission. Failure is never an option when it comes to her father. When things fall apart, she must align herself with her enemy.

The character development can be contradictory. Alosa, is an assassin who can kill without hesitation. She also has a code of honor where she lets people live if she respects them or they've shown her kindness. Sometimes she's noble, other times base. The background story reveals that her father has tortured and trained her to be a ruthless pirate. She has more strength than several men combined and she fears her father. The complexity of this trait is not really captured in an authentic way making her lacking depth and superficial. She'd be tough, manipulative, seductive, and hard-core sometimes and soft, sentimental, naive, and educated other times. I would have liked more internal struggles and less romance.  The unreliable narrator works against the plot because her actions are implausible and her edginess came and went like the tide. Plus, if she was so superior to others, why wait to break out from under her tyrannical father? The motivation given is money related, but she has her own ship and crew. Seems like she's already come into her own; hence, the premise seems weak.

The romantic subplot dominates the pirate plot and works against it with quite a bit of sexual banter between Alosa and Riden with characters mainly being motivated by love. Romantic novels are often interpreted as either showing women challenging societal norms or upholding them in a patriarchal society (Linda J. Lee, "Guilty Pleasures: Reading Romance Novels as Reworked Fairy Tales"). Common tropes are sexual desires, danger, violence, gender dominance, to name a few. Romance stories in the 70s and 80s by authors such as Kathleen Woodiwiss used captivity and rape motifs in a historical setting. I thought perhaps the author was trying to mock these motifs because the protagonist, is never afraid in captivity of being raped even though the threat is there. She lets herself become a captive and she knows that a man can't rape her. She is so sure of her power over men and claims to always be in control of them (which gives away the unreliable narrator) that the danger is not imminent. Later, when she is dominated by men, it is her love interest that frees her. While the protagonist seems strong and independent she is ultimately saved by men supporting the romance that Lee describes; the plot that upholds societal norms rather than challenges them.

Lee points out that the 90s romance novel shifted where women enjoyed their sexuality and were more equal with men versus the traditionally timid women conquered by a domineering man. Alosa represents the modern heroine who knows how to manipulate mens' desires but can't manipulate her father and is afraid of him. Alosa has her own ship, she's more powerful than the men around her, but she is always seeking her father's approval. She plans to be the pirate queen and the current mission of finding the treasure will help her do this; however, she seems to lose that focus near the end. I thought she needed more internal dialogue on her goal of being free from her father which gets lost in the romantic subplot. The end made it seem like she'd forgotten that goal and instead, she is dominated by fear of what her father will do to her if she doesn't accomplish the task at hand and saving her love interest.

The romance subverts the message of Alosa looking for power over a social system that denies women to be female pirates. She has her own female ship and crew; yet, is under her father's rule. The romance seems to confine the ability to hash out this theme and the overarching message blurs. I would have liked more backstory. Sometimes first person point of view makes the readers view too narrow and mucks up the protagonist's motives.  The story shows a woman who appears to be fighting the status quo to be her own person, but succumbing to her father. She wants to challenge the existing social structure but doesn't succeed. Her plan of what to do with the treasure of money is not worked enough into the plot to show where the story her ambition. Instead, she has fallen in love and seems more interested in Riden than freedom.

Many romance novels hearken not only to Victorian authors, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, but to the more ancient fairy tale genre. I wondered if the author was going to go that route with her plot and she does not work in those motifs in any depth. The abrupt ending left me wanting more and there is definitely a sequel for readers. Maybe the next book will show more character and plot development. This story just came up short for me.

2 Smileys

Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey (The Chronicles of Egg)

As a kid, I used to fantasize about running away and becoming a trapeze artist in the circus. I practiced my act in the tops of trees, on the roof of the house, on swing-sets  banisters... basically anything high. Mom, wanting me to survive adolescence,  put my hyperactive limbs in gymnastics. I made my best friend spot me as I learned to do flips. I stood on the edge of the chair and instructed her to grasp the waistband of my shorts and make sure I didn't land on my head. I should have worried about her head. When my legs rocketed through the rotation she leaned forward too much and I caught her under the chin. I landed on my feet and found her on the floor knocked out cold. Yes, she is still my best friend, but she never helped me with another acrobatic move. Today I just dream (literally) of flipping as a flexible 13-year-old. Egbert Masterson is 13, and he too, likes to fantasize. He fantasizes about traveling to exotic places found in the books he's read, or eating delicious jelly bread, or rescuing Millicent (the girl he has a crush on) from pirates. Not only do his fantasies come true they careen out-of-control in this non-stop action adventure involving murder, cutthroat pirates, assassins, and treasure.

Egbert lives on Deadweather on a fruit farm with his father, Hok, brother, Adonis, and sister, Venus. His mother died giving birth to him and he is hated, beat, and verbally abused by the trio. Hok hires tutors for the children because his wife wanted them educated and while the first tutor did teach Egbert how to read, the second tutor didn't teach him anything. But that was okay because he brought books and Egbert continued his education by teaching himself. When Hok discovers something on the farm, the group heads to Sunrise Island, except Daddo doesn't tell his kiddos exactly why they are going there. When Egbert loses his family, is almost tossed off a cliff, and then captured by pirates, you would think things couldn't get worse, but they do. Egg is forced to try and figure out what his dad found that was so important that people are trying to kill him to get it.

The funny pirate talk makes for some good ole fun - it might be 'ard fer sum young-ins ta understand, but ye will have ta decide fer yerself.  The part where the pirate goes after Millicent with intentions that aren't honorable might be confusing also, but I can see young readers not understanding how the whole situation transpired. The characters are so extreme they are funny - almost cartoonish - and while there is violence it is on the slapstick side for the most part. The deaths occur willy-nilly and there is no remorse or much thinking about them. Egg doesn't feel sorry for himself and his decency and humor balance out the other kooky characters, as well as, lighten the violent parts. Egg explains why he likes Millicent's cocky, confident attitude which adds a nice touch to the character development. She's a strong female character with a mind of her own and take-charge attitude. The plot has many unpredictable twists because of her and her actions at the end make sense in light of her personality traits.

The loose ends are not tied up and it seems obvious that there will be a sequel. We do not learn the details of what happened to Egg's family. We also don't know why the most fearsome pirate of the seas went out of his way to help Egg. Maybe they are related? Maybe he's Egg's uncle? Other unresolved issues at the end of the story are the two men hell-bent on killing Egg walk away with no intention of not going after him another time and the treasure has not been found. The end screams, to be continued... The only resolution happens for Millicent. I also wanted to know Guts history and how he ended up with the pirates. The world-building is excellent and characters engaging. I look forward to book 2. Let the treasure hunt begin.  Oy!

Reading Level 5.2

4 out of 5 Smileys

Steel

I checked this book out from my public library in Minnesota as an eBook and read it on my computer. It's a fun pirate adventure that would be better in the Middle School Library versus the Lower School Library because of the content.

Jill is a fencer who is trying to win a tournament that would place her in the Junior World Championships. She loses and is so disappointed she can't even have fun on her family's vacation in the Bahamas. She finds the tip of a magical sword on the beach and puts it in her pocket. Later that day she falls off a tourist boat and finds herself 300 years back in time on a pirate ship. The pirate Captain, Marjory Cooper, makes Jill a crew member and takes the magical sword piece from Jill. The sword belongs to the pirate Edmund Blane who has poured dark magic into it and who is deeply hated by Captain Cooper.  Blane wants the sword tip back and feels its magic calling him. When Jills path crosses Blanes on the high seas, she has to learn to use her fencing skills not just for sport but for life and death.

There is a gruesome twist in the plot regarding the sword, Cooper, and Blane. The pacing picks up after Jill ends up with the pirates. Jill has to learn to believe in herself and goes through internal conflicts as she lives the pirates life. I kept waiting for Jill to surprise people with some modern knowledge about herself but she doesn't say much. I also kept expecting her to protest more about where she was when she first ended up with the pirates - at least ask what year it was.Later, I expected her to share more with Henry since they were friends and had kissed, but she doesn't. I thought the doctor's character, Emory, could have been developed more as well. I kept waiting for Jill to talk about modern medicine but she only thought about it in her head. The character of Blane is one-sided and not that of a complex villian. We don't learn why he chose dark magic and acted evil. I wanted to know more about him.

The book is violent with battles, implied rape, and murders. In the beginning of the story, Jill gets drunk on rum and Henry is supposed to keep an eye on her. Later on Jill is quite sick of rum and would give anything for a Coke. There is the threat of Jill being raped when she is first captured by the pirates. The book is similar to Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer and Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

:-) :-) :-) 3 Smileys