Captive of the Pirate King by Rebecca F. Kenney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I adore a pirate mythology book where the adventure on the seas and societal norms are just different on a ship.
This book was insanely fun to read and great characters. Literally only the rushed ending kept me from calling this a solid 5 star
“His voice is low by my ear. “You haven’t ever handled anything that long and thick, have you?”“What?” I gasp, blinking through the rain. “I—I don’t—oh, you mean the rope.”“What else would I mean?”I shrug, my face burning. I’m glad for the cooling effect of the rain.“You can learn to handle it,” he says. “With practice. You have to be willing to stretch yourself, to expand. To try new things.”
I LOVE a pirate mythology book.
Give me a ship. Give me adventure. Give me a crew of characters I slowly become emotionally attached to. There is something about pirate books that just scratches a very specific itch for me, and this one absolutely understood the assignment:
“On land, you know your destination precisely, and the route you’ll take to get there. But a journey at sea is ever-changing, unpredictable. You can chart your course, but as I know from painful experience, anything can happen along the way.”
꧁The Characters꧂
Mordan.
Nick.
Locke.
Dez.
Cook.
Veronica.
Gorm.
Tir.
Jinks.
I want the ship to feel populated by actual people rather than twelve interchangeable pirates standing around waiting for the plot to happen.
And these characters gave me that feeling of oh shit, I am starting to care about these idiots.
Especially when we get moments like:
“A young thief with spirit!”
THIS.
THIS IS WHY I LOVE PIRATES.
The boots.
The audacity.
The tiny thief behavior.
And then the captain just LAUGHS.
STEAL FROM THE RICH AND GIVE TO THE POOR—WHICH IS OURSELVES.
Honestly? Fucking valid.
꧁The Romance꧂
It’s the secrets.
The knowing.
I know he knows but she doesn’t know. Does she?
“I know that voice like I know my own soul.”
SIR.
That is the shit.
꧁My Critiques ꧂
Okay.
I have ONE complaint.
The ending felt rushed. I’m talking 120 down the highway for the last 2 chapters to wrap it all up.
And this is literally the only thing that kept me from calling this a completely solid 5-star read.
Because I was having SUCH a good time. I was invested in the characters. I loved the pirate setting. I was enjoying the adventure and the weird little societal ecosystem of the ship.
And then suddenly I was like—
WAIT. WE’RE DOING THIS NOW?
I needed just a little more room for everything to land.
More breathing space.
More payoff.
More time to sit in what had just happened.
Because I was READY to keep reading.
And that’s why it annoyed me so much: I wanted more book.
Not because I was bored.
Because I was having too much fucking fun.
Overall,
GET ON THE DAMN SHIP. 🏴☠️
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