Vengeance of the Pirate Queen (Daughter of the Pirate King #3) by Tricia Levenseller

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen by Tricia Levenseller
Narrator: Krissi Bohn
Series: Daughter of the Pirate King #3
Published by MacMillan Audio
Published on 1 November 2023
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: Audiobook
Source: my local library
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RRP: $39.99

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.

I really enjoyed this tale, a revisit to Levenseller’s popular Pirate Queen series starring said queen’s misanthropic pirate assassin Sorinda accidentally unleashing a threat to the world while on a rescue mission.

Sorinda’s characterisation was top tier. She was deadly without being one of those stuck up entitled fake assassins we see so often in YA fantasy. The opening chapter had her murdering an entire house full of men to get to her target. She didn’t peacock or make any mistakes. She just got in, did her job, and got out, like a proper assassin. I also really liked that Levenseller obviously thought ‘what’s the worst possible thing I can do to Sorinda’ and then made her captain of a ship on a rescue mission which was really quite brilliant. Sorinda hated it, taking forever to overcome her insecurities in a really believable way.

Levenseller also threw a really lovely guy at Sorinda for a love interest, one who adored her but was happy to keep his distance and be friends, and I found that really lovely and respectful. Maybe I’ve been reading too many adult romances lately where the women are always submissive to the all mighty and worldly men, because I adored Kearen’s constant deference to and support for his superior officer, his respect for her, and his seeking consent. I loved it. Kearen was also a fantastic foil for the other ‘love interest’ (I use the term lightly) who was also the bad guy, who did not respect Sorinda and did not even love her, just needed to use her to meet his owns selfish wants. The other thing about Kearen was that we met him in the Pirate Queen books when he was just a mess both physically and emotionally, but he shaped up into a really nice guy thanks to Sorinda’s intervention. Due to Sorinda’s feelings (or lack thereof), I did wonder for most of the book if she was aromantic, because she didn’t seem to be developing any romantic feelings or have much romantic chemistry with Kearen even as they bonded as friends and opened up to each other. Her character arc took her from this closed off, guilt-ridden, uncaring assassin to someone who cared deeply for her crew.

I listened to this via audiobook and the narrator was also very good, though she didn’t change her voice at all for other characters except putting on accents for some of them. I like it when narrators change their voices for different characters.

This book works well as a stand-alone, but to get the full effect of Alosa and her history, it probably would be better to read the first two books before this. You get the first hints of something between Kearan and Sorinda that way as well, so bonus for everyone.

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