Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller

3/8/2018

SYNOPSIS

Alosa's mission is finally complete. Not only has she recovered all three pieces of the map to a legendary hidden treasure, but the pirates who originally took her captive are now prisoners on her ship. Still unfairly attractive and unexpectedly loyal, first mate Riden is a constant distraction, but now he's under her orders.

And she takes great comfort in knowing that the villainous Vordan will soon be facing her father's justice.

When Vordan exposes a secret her father has kept for years, Alosa and her crew find themselves in a deadly race with the feared Pirate King. Despite the danger, Alosa knows they will recover the treasure first . . . after all, she is the daughter of the Siren Queen.

Synopsis: Chapters.Indigo.ca

PERSONAL REVIEW

What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day then with a review of a book about a badass female pirate captain and her mainly female crew? The sequel to Daughter of the Pirate King, we are once again following Alosa across the sea as she races against the Pirate King to find the ultimate treasure. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but overall I was pleasantly surprised by how everything turned out.

General Thoughts:

Development of Relationships: And because there are so many different relationships, I’m going to break this down further by people…

Alosa and Riden: I really liked the dynamic shift in this book between these guys. In Pirate King, I liked Riden but felt that he was more of a tag-a-long boy-toy, so it was great to see him develop into a stronger partner for Alosa. I liked that he was demanding an equal relationship with her, while also completely following her as his captain. They found a great balance in their relationship and I was really impressed.
Alosa and the Pirate King: he is literally THE WORST FATHER and I was really concerned that this wasn’t really acknowledged in the first book. It never made sense to me that Alosa was so accepting of the brutal way her father essentially tortured her growing up, so I’m glad that we finally see her acknowledge just how messed up he is and that their relationship is toxic. He honestly just sucks and I’m glad the hero-worship has ended.
Alosa and the Siren Queen: there were so many questions about her from the first book that I was afraid we wouldn’t get answer too, so I’m really glad we had the chance to see this relationship develop. I thought Ava-lee was lovely and really liked that Alosa at least had one parent who wasn’t completely psychotic.

Slightly Choppy Storytelling:
While the story moves along pretty well, there are moments that I found my mind drifting because of a lack of information given to us. When the Pirate King is trying to capture the Siren Queen, we get maybe three vague sentences telling us about the struggle and that numerous people died. Umm…ok? It was weird gaps like this that would throw me out of the story and I would have to force myself back into it to keep track of what was happening. Other than those moments, I thought the story was a fun read.

Powerful Female Characters:
The best thing about this book is how powerful all of the female characters are. The entire storyline revolves around the fact that Alosa is female, a pirate, and the captain of an almost all-female crew. And this crew fights as hard as any male ship and proves themselves to be better because they don't have to worry about pesky things like falling until a sirens spell. Again and again we get to read about Alosa's strength, and I love it. Levenseller never shies away from empowering her female characters to be equals to any of the male pirates (often smarter then the men as well) and I love every second of it.

Overall, this was a fun story. It's an easy read and I thought it was better in general then the first book in the duology. The characters and conflict felt more real then the first book and I loved seeing the character and relationship development in Siren Queen. This book was a great way to end the series.

FINAL RATING: 4/5