{4.25/5}

CW: violence, references to rape, references to suicidal thoughts, trauma

Read as an ARC via NetGalley. Book publishes November 7, 2023.

Apparently, it’s entirely possible to enjoy a spin-off even more than the original content.

It’s been a year since Pirate Queen Alosa established her rule, and assassin Sorinda has spent a good deal of it doling out death on the Queen’s behalf. But when a group of the Queen’s pirates go missing, she sends Sorinda to bring them home. Uncomfortable with being the captain, and even more unhappy about Kearan’s presence as her helmsman, Sorinda sets off to uncharted frozen waters to bring the girls home.

Listen, I know authors are always striving to outdo their last work, to grow and improve as they tell their stories, but this is just ridiculous. How can a spin-off standalone end up so much better than book 1? And can I have more?? Let’s break it down.

The characters: We already know Sorinda and Kearan from books 1 and 2, and honestly I couldn’t be more pleased that Sorinda got her own book. It’s hard to argue with ‘lethal pirate assassin’ being the MC. The fact that we get to see why she is the way she is, and that we get to see her motivations and her driving forces really helps build out her character. Plus, the character growth throughout the book? Delightful. The rest of the crew and the other characters we see along the way add to the rich, colorful life that you would expect a pirate to have, and it’s just a lot of fun.

The setting: One of the biggest complaints I had about book 1 was how limited and kind of flat the environment felt at times. It was extremely limited, and it felt like we didn’t get to see as much as one might have hoped. Book 2 made great strides in remedying this issue, giving us multiple locations and a better grounding point in the main ship. Book 3? Book 3 said ‘hold my sword’ and absolutely *demolished* those issues. The improvement is glorious, and it made the story all the better for it.

Finally, the plot: Is it a pirate adventure? A romance? A paranormal mystery? Yes to all of the above. While you still won’t see me arguing for the series to win ‘most involved/higher level plot of the year’ any time soon, the story itself felt well rounded and thoroughly developed. Where book 1 felt a bit surface level, and book 2’s ending felt rushed, this one finally felt like it hit every marker every time. It’s fast paced, but it didn’t feel like anything got left out. I was engaged the whole time, and the resolution was satisfactory. It’s roughly the same length as the other two books, but it feels like the space was utilized much more effectively.

I still can’t definitively place the series reading level, but I feel comfortable saying this one should stay the NA/Adult realms. There’s a lot of violent death (literally a pirate assassin as the MC; it’s a reasonable thing to expect), but Sorinda’s backstory is also fairly graphic and brutal. The girl’s got some major issues (again, not a surprise), and while I think YA audiences would have no trouble with the reading level, the maturity level is just a bit higher than I would say most should be exposed to. Overall, it’s an excellent book, just not one to go into expecting kittens and rainbows.

All things considered, I’m incredibly pleased to have gotten a chance to read this story early. You could probably read it without having read the other two books, but I would recommend reading them all in order to get the most out of this one. “Vengeance of the Pirate Queen” is out November 7!

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen - Likewise Book Reviews

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