Review:
This was a fun book! I’ve been wanting to read more books about pirates, and I always love reading about supernatural creatures, so this was a win-win.
This was maybe not the most realistic book in its representation of pirates since most of them were so young and incompetent, but then, what do I actually know about pirates? (Nothing.) They were also pretty ruthless when it came to thieving and killing and kidnapping, and they enjoyed things like drinking and sex and gambling, so it’s not like they were completely sanitized.
I liked Alosa. She was smart and tough and crafty. She wasn’t infallible or unemotional, but she also didn’t let herself get too distracted from her mission. I also liked that she wasn’t made out to be an overly nice pirate just to make her likeable (she had no qualms about stealing and killing), and she was casual about things like sex and drinking (although there was nothing explicit on-page, mostly just passing mentions in her thoughts). She was a good character.
I thought the romance was done well too. Romance between a captive and their captor can be tricky, but it worked here. Alosa wasn’t immediately all over Riden just because he was hot. She had a mission, and that didn’t include swooning over attractive men. But he was her interrogator, and there was a lot of fun banter between them, and she found she liked messing with him, and then they kind of spent more time together and got to know each other a little better, and the tension and feelings stemmed from that. It was believable.
There was also a non-romance plot that I enjoyed. Alosa’s whole point in being purposely kidnapped was to search the ship she was on and find a piece of map her father wanted.
And of course I loved the siren stuff. I guess this could be considered a minor spoiler, but main character is half-siren, so she has some cool abilities that revolve around singing and seducing men.
I liked the audio narration by Marisa Calin too. I have no complaints about her performance as Alosa, and the male voices weren’t bad.
Overall, this was a fun and enjoyable book about pirates and sirens and thievery and romance, and I plan to continue the series.
Recommended For:
Anyone who likes YA, pirates, sirens, and a bit of banter-y romance.
I’ve seen lots of good reviews for this book, and I’m pretty sure it’s still on my TBR. I love pirate stories as well!
You should try it, it’s a lot of fun!
I kinda had the impression, I think, that this skewed a bit younger, so it’s nice to hear that the pirate stuff isn’t all sanitized, or the MC for that matter. I’ve always thought well if you’re gonna be a pirate there IS gonna be killings and stuff, and that can be tricky I guess. The siren bit too caught my eye. Glad this turned out good. 🙂
Yeah, I was glad it wasn’t all sanitized because that would’ve made it so unrealistic with pirates. I didn’t actually realize the siren thing when I started reading, so that was a pleasant surprise!
I loved this book! I love Alosa as a main character. I wasn’t super in love with the romance. I liked it well enough, just didn’t love it. I can’t wait to read the next book!
Alosa’s great! I feel like there was less about the romance in the second book, so maybe you’ll like that one even more 🙂
I thought this was a fun read, too! I haven’t read many stories about pirates.
It was a lot of fun. I’ve only read a few books about pirates, but I want more now!
I am a fan of this series. Like you, I thought Alosa was great, and I was all about the romance between her and Riden. It was tons of fun, and I could not resist the charm of this feisty female pirate.
Yes! She’s a great character.
I’ve been thinking of reading this book for a while, because I love anything pirate related. You’ve definitely convinced me to give it a go, it sounds like a fun book!
Yay, I’m glad you’re going to give it a try!
I heard of this book a while book and was interested… and then promptly forgot all about it but this really does sound like an enjoyable read. It’s good to know it doesn’t have the most realistic representation fo pirates, but like you say, what do we know about pirates? As long as it’s a good read that’s all that matters.
It’s a fun book! And yeah, everything doesn’t have to be a perfectly realistic portrayal to be good.
I am surprisingly not so big on the whole pirates trend around. But I do love sirens a lot, so it’s nice to know that this one includes that a bit as well 😀 They do sound a little bit small for pirates but it sounds like they are just as tough and ruthless!
I didn’t know there was a pirate trend? I need to find some of these books! Lol