Series: Daughter of the Pirate King #3
Release date: November 1st 2023
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Pages: 352
Find it: Goodreads Waterstones
Source: I bought a copy of this from my local Waterstones
Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis

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.

Review

I really enjoyed Tricia Levenseller’s Daughter of the Pirate King and Daughter of the Siren Queen so I was really intrigued to return to this world and these characters. The story follows Sorinda, the Queen’s assassin, who is sent on a rescue mission to find a missing ship. Queen Alosa has handpicked the crew that will accompany Sorinda, including sailing master Kearan. Sorinda finds him insufferable, but she will have to put up with him nonetheless. When the crew travel into uncharted waters they find something much darker than they expected and their rescue mission becomes a fight for survival, but will they all make it out alive?

This was such a fun and engaging read! It had all the elements I loved from the first two books. It was fast paced and full of action and adventure. If you love pirate stories this series is definitely one to pick up. It was really nice to be back with characters we met in the previous books and we do get a few glimpses of Alosa and Riden. This is very much Sorinda and Kearan’s story though and I really enjoyed seeing them grow as the story progressed.  Sorinda is a really fascinating protagonist, someone who has been so affected by the trauma of her past. I thought her and Kearan worked really well together and I loved seeing their relationship bloom. We also get to see some other favourites from the previous books, like Roslyn and Enwen which was a nice addition.

The story is well plotted, with lots of swashbuckling and fighting. I ended up racing through this one because it was so easy to lose myself in the story. Overall it comes to a really satisfying conclusion and I would love to see Levenseller write more books in this world. If you’ve read the first two books this one is absolutely worth picking up and if you’re looking for a series to binge read, this one will keep you hooked right till the very last page.