Vengeance of the Pirate Queen (Daughter of the Pirate King #3)
Tricia Levenseller
Feiwel & Friends
Published November 7, 2023

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About Vengeance of the Pirate Queen

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN meets THE MUMMY in VENGEANCE OF THE PIRATE QUEEN, a beautifully designed standalone YA fantasy romance set in the world of Tricia Levenseller’s DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING.

You can’t be afraid of the dark when you’re the monster lurking in the shadows.

As an assassin working for the pirate queen, eighteen-year-old Sorinda is surprised when Alosa’s next task for her is not to kill a new target but to captain a handpicked crew on a rescue mission. Unfortunately, her sailing master is twenty-year-old Kearan. He may be the best helmsman the pirate queen has, but Sorinda finds him a real pain in the arse. Sadly, there are few places on a ship to hide from an attentive man.

As the crew of the Vengeance faces dangerous waters and deadly sea creatures, they accidentally awaken the King of the Undersea, a being who can control the dead. Their rescue mission quickly turns into a fight to save the world, but first, Sorinda must save herself from becoming an undead queen.

My Review

I remember Sorinda from The Daughter of the Pirate King series. She was a minor character in those books but a deeply interesting one. I vaguely remembered Kearan and some other characters as well. It was fun to revisit that story world and learn more about some of the other characters.

I struggled with some elements of the story, though.

First, the portrayal of the younger characters in real time or in flashbacks. At one point, a seven-year-old character makes a speech that sounds like it would have to come from an older child. Some of the ideas were really abstract and complex, and I felt like a kid that age would have maybe had similar feelings but been more likely to say things in a simpler way.

Is this romantic?

I also struggled with the romantic arc. Sorinda is a loner, an assassin with a dark past that she hasn’t really grappled with, and I love those things about her. One of the crew members has decided that she needs a friend and nominated himself to be it.

Over and over Sorinda refuses to engage with him. He refuses to accept her wishes and continues to pursue her. At one point, he follows her belowdecks into a dark, secluded area where she’d gone to be alone. I couldn’t get my head around that as a gesture of friendship. If someone follows me, uninvited, into a dark room with only one exit, I don’t know how to read that except as a creepy move.

So that made it hard for me to invest in the romantic arc of the story. I kept wanting her to confront him about not respecting her boundaries. Instead, she decides she’s the problem and just needs to give him a chance. Eventually, her feelings change, and she realizes she enjoys the advances.

Which, you know, really isn’t how consent works? Someone who keeps asking to be your friend when you’ve continued to refuse that offer isn’t being kind. They’re not respecting your boundaries. He isn’t wrong that she’s isolated and hurting. But he is wrong that he has the authority to decide who she should be friends with.

Pirates of the Caribbean Vibes

Anyway, that relationship didn’t resonate with me at all, so I ended up really reading this for the pirate adventure and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN vibes.

I did enjoy that, and I liked the scenes in which Sorinda really got to shine. I also really enjoyed the young character whose speech didn’t ring true. She is a little fireball, and I loved her tenacity.

Conclusion

Readers who loved The Daughter of the Pirate King series will enjoy revisiting Alosa’s world and reading a story focused on some of the series’ most memorable side characters.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Sorinda is described as having dark brown skin. Other members of her crew have darker skin tones. One crew member is an alcoholic in recovery.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. A man pursues a woman despite her stating she is uninterested.

Spiritual Content
After a crew member dies at sea, pirates light lanterns on deck to help the dead find their way to the light and the afterlife.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle violence and brief gore. Battles against the undead.

Drug Content
One crew member asks if the captain will lock up the rum rations after a particularly traumatic day.

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