Name: Daughter of the Pirate King
ISBN: 9781250095961

Tricia Levenseller

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I've gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map―the key to a legendary treasure trove―seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

In Daughter of the Pirate King, debut author Tricia Levenseller blends action, adventure, romance, and a little bit of magic into a thrilling YA pirate tale.

Daughter of the Pirate King

Milo🍁

Rose

Eslie

“No, you idiot. Getting yourself shot! Twice!”

Manon Clarijs

Everyone has something dark in their past. I suppose it’s our job to overcome it. And if we can’t overcome it, then all we can do is make the most of it. 

Riden sighs and looks heavenward. "Stop doing that." "Doing what?" You're a woman. Act like it. You shouldn't be saying such foul "Il say whatever I please. I'm not a lady, I'm a pirate!" "Well, you shouldn't be!"

Sophia

Riden sighs and looks heavenward. "Stop doing that."

"You're a woman. Act like it. You shouldn't be saying such foul-"

"I'll say whatever I please. I'm not a lady, I'm a pirate!"

"Because pirates aren't supposed to look like you look and talk like you talk and do what you do. You're confusing, and it's messing with my head."

"How is that my fault? I'm sure your head was plenty messed up before I came along."

I can feel Riden's breath in my face. He's so close and so angry, I almost want to laugh.

Katherine

If she didn't care about your pain, she would've killed him. Slowly and agonizingly. The fact thar he lives proves there is at least one thing she cares more about than her own justice. You.

Makayla Milburn

The world continues on. I continue on. Because if nothing else, l’m a survivor.

This book disappointed me. The writing was weird sometimes and I just didn’t feel anything about the characters 

Sílvia

Linara K.S

It was fun, fast-paced and it took me out of my reading slump. I really enjoyed it.

I really liked it! The first few chapters were kinda boring because it wasn’t really talking about the couple and getting them into action (but i felt that way because i had to study a lot for my exams and i really wanted something to happen when i was reading it). If i had read it in the summer i would like the first chapters because they are great for starting the book because tbh i don’t like when the couple kiss in the first few chapters. Overall it’s a great book and i’m excited to read the next one! 🩷

irina

Krys C.

This had such interesting and promising premise but the plot felt all over the place with the last third of the book attempting to salvage it. The romance was cute tho but Alosa was more whiny overly cocky pick me than badass. The hype did not live up, unfortunately.

Hibba Ahmed

** spoiler alert **
           This book left me extremely dissapointed, and the worse part was that this had so much potential!
The literal daughter of the pirate king who is also a half siren thanks to her mother with insanely cool abilities could have been so much more than this book!

I was expecting a fantastical fantasy world with amazing world building showing us her journey across the seas with cool, audacious, swashbuckling adventures. But I was given a cringe, unnecessary romance (which in my opinion wasn't even that good) with plot-holes in the storyline for days. 

I decided to ignore the lack of world-building (a world which could have been AMAZING) in hopes that the characters were strong enough to drive this book but I was again wrong. Alosa (the fmc) was insufferable. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for an insanely powerful and secure fmc but when you continuously TELL me she is powerful and amazing and beautiful and smart instead of SHOWING me, I can't do it. It doesn't feel the same and it makes her annoying to listen to.

The mmc is not any better with his personality being solely associated with his brother and Alosa. I feel as though his transition(?)/betrayal to his brother for Alosa could have been executed better.

Overall, the lack of world building, the static plot, and the insufferable characters made this fall flat for me which is extremely dissapointing as the potential for a pirate fantasy world was there!! I think I would have preferred this book if it wasn't so romance heavy (since for most of it I just found cringe). I think a found family with the new crew would have been better than a romance for sure!

I would say though, looking at other reviews, I do fall in the minority (people who did not like the book). So, this book is clearly enjoyable for those who want a quick romance heavy story with a dash of pirates. 

Xx

Selin Igten

Annalissa Powner 

How are there not more stories about pirates?! I never realized how few there are until reading this and falling so in love with the idea of pirates and sea creatures. A wonderful change but still everything you look for in a light read. Fun, light and witty with a side of action. Fast phased and funny, thought there were a few moment when it felt a bit over rushed. The ending was the only big annoyance to me, it felt like it stopped short, not really a cliff hanger but not really and ending either. All in all a great book!

Daughter of the pirate king is a short read! It was wonderfully written with lots of attention to detail. I was able to visualize everyone and everything perfectly. I hope to read the second book soon!!!

Lexi 

I don’t have a real opinion about this book. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it LOL. but I’m not opposed to reading the next one so that’s something 

Kassidy May Gaudet

A good, easy read. I enjoyed Alosa’s wit and her back-and-forth with Riden. 

Kierce

it was fine. It gave what expected but nothing more. Fun short read however I didn’t like it much to finish the 2nd book. Over all it was pretty okay and predicable. 

amna

it was fine. It gave what expected but nothing more. Fun short read however I didn’t like it much to finish the 2nd book. Over all it was pretty okay and predicable. 



Cindy McKee

This was a treat to read! The narrator was perfect for this story! Alosa, daughter of the Pirate King and a captain in her own right, lets herself get captured by rival pirates in order to search their ship for their third of a treasure map her father wants. She’s not expecting to have to match wits with the clever and handsome first mate Riden. I really enjoyed Alosa’s skills, her thoughts, and her mission. It ended with obviously much more story to tell, so I am thankful that the library had book two readily available!

Scarlet lilley

I enjoyed this book a lot, it’s a very easy and quick read. Also the characters are pretty cool🙃 would deffo recommend this to someone’s who has just gotten into reading!

fiona

** spoiler alert **
           Some bullet points about how much I disliked this book / why I rated it a 1 star:
- Main character is always bragging about herself but doesn’t ever SHOW how “amazing” and “strong” she is
- Barely any world-building at all, making the book feel flat and grey
- The love interest (Riden) annoys me. His personality just makes no sense to me
- There is not chemistry between the main character who i can’t even remember the name of and Riden. 
- The plot was boring and not much happened at all
- The only diverse character (a gay man) was killed off very quickly and shown as a villain
- There is a lot of telling but not showing throughout the book
- The MC uses seduction to get her way which I just find sort of weird 
- Riden continues to love and defend his brother even though that guy tried to rape the MC like what’s up with that 
- In general the book just felt like it was a Wattpad fanfiction and i’m so glad it was short so I didn’t suffer for TOO long.
Don’t recommend.

Marisa Calin

Library Edition

This was a treat to read! The narrator was perfect for this story! Alosa, daughter of the Pirate King and a captain in her own right, lets herself get captured by rival pirates in order to search their ship for their third of a treasure map her father wants. She’s not expecting to have to match wits with the clever and handsome first mate Riden. I really enjoyed Alosa’s skills, her thoughts, and her mission. It ended with obviously much more story to tell, so I am thankful that the library had book two readily available! 

I feel like I have owned this book for so long and am so happy to have actually read it. This was a decent read. It wasn’t fantastic but wasn’t horrible either. The characters were really good and the FMC and MMC were a nice highlight of the book, especially their banter. I love Alosa especially because she wasn’t a damsel in distress at all. She broke through barriers and when everyone thought that was all she found more to break. There was a drawback in the storytelling where it would add explanations of things after the fact that you wonder how she was able to do it. Instead of thoroughly building and explaining everything it was added after the fact. It felt kind of lazy to do that instead of really building the scene giving it that fantastical setting and really showing how intelligent Alosa is. I am intrigued by the second book and where the hunt will go nevertheless. 

Priscilla Stanfield

A 17-year-old pirate captain intentionally allows herself to get captured by enemy pirates.

It lacked a bit of world building but still i love Alosa and her crew, as well as the pirate setting. It also had some nice and unexpected plottwists.

Joelina Schlabbach

Easy read. Enjoyed the female main character. I would have enjoyed a little more character development with the male main character, he seemed a little dull. I also wish there was more information and background for the siren lore. 

Daphney Norman

altlovesbooks

Meh.

I really like pirate books, and the idea of a female pirate protagonist was appealing. And I did enjoy what I read for perhaps the first third of the book -- until the romance plot showed up. After that, I stuck with it for the bits of heroic female pirate action, but it all felt flat. Her powers that manifest seem to come out of nowhere, and then explained through some "oh by the way" exposition that seemed to not fit with the rest of the story.

I finished it, but I likely will not read further into the series.

I really enjoyed this book! Both leads are really good characters who have complexity about themselves. I feel there’s more to learn about Ridon so I can not wait to read the next book and see what happens between them! 

Jodie Reads

Francesca G

Can you hear that? Is it the sound of a stellar story being ruined by useless exposition? Ah, yes.

So, Daughter of the Pirate King. The premise was ah-mah-zing. I love me some female badass pirates who can kill two men at a time. And I also love enemies-to-lovers, somewhat stockholm syndrome ish romances. Really. I live for them. And the book delivered on both fronts. What I don't love, though, is reading a book and thinking (multiple times a page) "well, did you really need to say that?"

All in all, if presented with the opportunity to read this all over again, I would, but I am also not sure if I would recommend it to other people.

Colleen

4.5 Stars

First, a word of caution: if you have not read this book yet, do NOT look up the sequel. It has major spoilers, and the book description gives away things that happen in the first book!

When I first came across Daughter of the Pirate King on Goodreads, I said "Ooooooh, Pirates!!" and added it to my shelf. I second-guessed myself after that though and was worried that this might be too cheesy. I did circle back around to it after a few months, and I glad that I did. Daughter of the Pirate King is an entertaining tale full of swashbuckling adventure and starring a rather awesome, audacious heroine. 

The world-building in Daughter of the Pirate King is simple yet effective. It is not set in our history but still is similar to the golden age of piracy. There are three pirate lords who control basically all of the sea and everything that goes on there. They describe themselves as being uninterested in the "land king" and his activities other than doing their piratey raid-pillage-pilfer routine. Our heroine, Alosa, is the daughter of the Pirate King (if the title did not make that obvious). She may have the title of princess, but this is no prissy, spoiled bubblehead. She was raised by her father to be a brutal, sword-swinging, ass-kicking, take-no-prisoners termagant. But while Alosa is all of those things, she is also fiercely independent and perhaps not as ruthless as her father would like.

The story opens with Alosa being sent on a mission to retrieve a map to a legendary treasure trove. (because what pirate story doesn't have treasure!) I won't give away too much, but it is a grand adventure. Even if parts of the plot were more on the predictable side, the whole thing was just so much fun that I could not put it down.

The story is told in first person, present tense from Alosa's view. I am not a fan of that, but I did immensely enjoy Alosa's dry wit. So that was only a minor setback. There was a lot of amusing, witty banter as well as Alosa's droll commentary. She is badass without overdoing it. Which is rare thing. So many authors try too hard and end up making their female characters too over-the-top in one way or another. 

The love interest is obvious right away but still endearing. It did get a little cheesy. There were a few pages where I was worried the book was going to turn into a bodice-ripper, but thankfully that did not happen. I was more interested in Alosa's many skills (sailing, stratagem, fighting, lock-picking, and just general awesomeness) than I was in the mushy parts, but I still got a couple of girly giggles out of it. 

The story features typical sailor lore about things that lurk in the murky depths of the sea, but still the onset of the story's supernatural elements comes rather abruptly then takes over. It could have been blended a little more.

The ending was a little abrupt and a bit of a cliffhanger but definitely a buildup for the sequel. (Which I am excited to read!) I am usually loath to compare movies to books, but if you like Pirates of the Caribbean, you will probably enjoy Daughter of the Pirate King. They have a similar spirit and tone. It is an easy read but great for a quick adventure! And definitely extremely promising for a debut!


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars