By Josslyn Caskey
Staff writer
This week I’m taking a break from poetry and focusing on the beautiful world of fantasy. A recent favorite of mine has been Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller. Released in February 2017. The book follows Alosa, a seventeen-year-old pirate captain whos also the daughter of an infamous pirate king. Alosa is sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map. So she willingly let herself be captured by her enemies in order to retrieve the whereabouts of the lost map. The only thing standing in her way is the first mate, Ridden.
I’ll try my best not to spoil anything but this is a great book I really enjoyed it. It had been on my reading list for a while and when I saw it in the library I had to grab it. I am a sucker for fiction books and pirate stories. So this book had me hooked right away. I loved Alosa’s character and her character development. The way she holds herself in her confidence and her abilities makes her easy to relate to. Throughout the story, she is in a lot of difficult situations so the constant push and pull of her emotions helped the story a lot. The story isn’t very fast it is a bit slower story but this helped captivate me into the fictional world. Now there is a romantic story between Alosa and Ridden, its a VERY slow burn and is an enemies-to-lovers trope. Their relationship seems genuine. I’m glad it wasn’t rushed and that the author took her time stringing out their relationship of building trust and learning to better understand one another in the end.
Overall, I give this book a 4.5-star rating. I loved the fictional world Levenseller built with the pirates. The strong female character isn’t just a damsel in distress. She actually has problems and the book acknowledges them as she builds her character and her skill. The romance feels genuine and although a bit cliche at times it still moves the story forward and has a purpose. Overall, if you are a fan of movies like Pirates of the Carribien and you love strong female protagonists, then id definitely give this book a read.