“I live on the cusp of two worlds, trying desperately to fit into one.”

Alosa is the captain of her own ship. And for the sake of finding this ancient map that leads to a legendary treasure trove, she voluntarily lets herself get imprisoned by another pirate ship. Playing the role of a hostage, she takes the time she has to search the entire ship. Keeping up her act might not be as easy as Alosa had in mind. For she is not the only one that’s keeping a secret behind a mask. While being held captive, interrogated and tortured, Alosa keeps up her performance. Nobody can break nor yield the daughter of the pirate king. The only possible complication that could ruin the entire mission is one of her captors. The unfairly attractive and smart pirate Riden.

Alosa

I love how Alosa still takes charge even when she is held captive. She still holds power over the men on the ship.
Also, she has been through so much crap, literally abuse that’s being interpreted as conditioning and training. Compared to her past, no one can do anything to her that she cannot handle. But she’s still being tested to prove herself.
The reveal of Alosa’s second secret was really cool and creative. It would have been predictable if I knew more about the story and the second book beforehand, but I didn’t. So, it was a really nice surprise to me!

Riden

Riden comes off as the nicest out of everyone. But even though he is rather kind to her, I wondered if it was genuine or just a way of keeping himself busy while making Alosa comfortable enough to tell him secrets. Or confess where her father was hiding.
I love how dutiful and determined he is. He knows that his brother is horrible, but they are still brothers so he keeps him safe. As for their hostage Alosa, he constantly tries to keep her captive but save from the other pirates at the same time. And I kept wondering if it was because he needs her alive or if he cares about her.


Riden and Alosa

You can tell they like each other but they don’t want to admit it because they know that the both of them can’t be trusted. It’s so funny to see Riden keep trying to hold Alosa locked up and keep her from escaping and or getting in trouble. And it never works. But when he does keep her locked up, she tries to keep him on edge. Trashing his room, being annoying and teasing him. I loved when she started testing his patience.

Draxen

Draxen just wants to prove how bad of a pirate he is. And well, he is the captain so I guess to remain captain, he has to remind people that he cannot be defeated and that he will not yield. But Alosa is a captain of her own. It’s quite frustrating to see him downgrade her just because she is a woman. But that’s his foolishness and it bites back at him. It was surprising to me though, how easily he could be fooled. I found him to be pathetic.

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I thought I was going to like this book but I turned out to love it! I never really read anything about pirates so this was a nice start. I love the characters and I can’t wait to read Daughter of the Siren Queen. I’m really curious if Alosa will be able to keep her powers from the sea in control or if it will consume her at some point. The plot change in the end made my need to read the second book even bigger. The thought that an even bigger threat was constantly under her nose was really unexpected and a really cool twist.