Review: Levenseller’s pirate tale is so much fun! 

 

“Daughter of the Pirate King” follows Alosa Kalligan as she carries out her mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map from an enemy ship. The only ting standing in her way: her captor, the attractive first mate, Riden Allemos. 

 

This is a pirate romance like no other and I couldn’t put it down. I love the “I came to manipulate you, but fell in love” trope and that in combination with there only being one bed due to cramped quarters made it feel like this book was written with me mind. 

 

While Alosa singles out Riden immediately and acknowledges that he is attractive, she does not act on her feelings right away. I enjoyed their slow development from enemies to lovers and how evenly matched they are in wit and strength. 

 

The pacing of the story itself is very fast and I was easily lured in by Alosa’s high stakes mission, the promise of a hunt for buried treasure, and life aboard the Nightfarer. I was most intrigued, however, by the fantastical elements pertaining to the existence of sirens. The siren lore that Levenseller creates adds depth to her world and shed light on the extent of Alosa’s abilities. 

 

What I love the most about this book is that Alosa is just as fierce without her powers as she is when she is using them. To avoid alerting the suspicion of her captors while she searched their ship for the hidden map, Alosa only drew upon her powers when absolutely necessary. During that time, she proved to be a skilled swordswoman, resourceful when in a bind, capable of disarming her opponent no matter their size, and extremely courageous, which I greatly admired.