After learning about the author's Zionist views, I will not be reading this book. Please, publishers, I'm begging you to not stay silent about current events, especially the imperial capitalist supported genocides in countries across the globe. That sort of behavior only enables the kind of government we now have in power in the united states. Do better.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I do feel like I’m not the intended audience for this one though. It was all around just too slow burn for me and I just couldn’t get into it.

I would also like to say that I find it sad that people are giving this one bad reviews because of the authors political views. That is not the reason for my rating.

I hope this one finds the right audience!

DNF two chapters into the book. I could not, for the life of me, find it in me to like the protagonist. Or any of the characters, to be completely honest. From what I read in other reviews, it sounds like stopping the pain in chapter two was a good choice because this book does not live up to anything the synopsis says, including and especially the romance. Not to mention that I also do not want to support this author in any way.

(Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Okay but Capitana by Cassandra James? She nailed it. This is the kind of romantasy that grabs you by the collar and whispers, “We're not sleeping tonight.” Ximena is such a fierce, morally tangled disaster of a heroine, and watching her unravel everything she thought she knew while lowkey flirting (and sword-fighting) with Dante?? Chef’s kiss. The tension! The betrayal! The slow-burn chaos of realizing you might be the villain in someone else’s story! It gave me Daughter of the Pirate King vibes but with more emotional teeth, and the sea-swept world-building? So immersive I could practically taste the salt. Absolutely obsessed. If book two isn’t in my hands soon, I’m gonna mutiny.

There are a lot of issues with this book, so I’m going to start with the most actively problematic parts, and then move on to the weaknesses of the writing itself. To begin with, the disability rep in this book was handled horribly, basically just trotted out to make characters seem edgy or something, with no concern for how it actually impacts them in their day-to-day lives, and rife with ableist comments.

Ximena has only one eye, and we learn that her classmates cut it out a year or two ago to “humble” her. The love interest, Dante, flat-out calls her hideous for it. She makes weird little comments in the narration about “not having enough eyes” for everyone out to get her, or how she “may have only one good eye, but she was fully aware that [blah blah blah],” and Dante makes a cynical comment about how she should use the eye she has left. And yet, we see no impact on her life whatsoever–aside from occasional mentions of itchy scar tissue under her eye patch, she has no adverse effects from it. No comments about headaches, impacts to her field of vision, changes to her sword-fighting or academic work to accommodate the difference, and she somehow remains at the top of her class in all of her subjects. In fact, there isn’t even anything about the teachers at her academy punishing the students who did this to her. And while it’s true that people who lose an eye can often eventually regain most of their full visual field as their brain and remaining eye adjust, this adjustment takes time; she wouldn’t just improve overnight. (Also, it drove me crazy how many times she referred to her “good eye” in the text. This makes no sense, because it’s not like she has one eye that works and another “bad eye” that doesn’t work–she literally does not have another eye.)

Dante is a similarly problematic type of disability rep. He is very fond of alcohol and refers to himself as having a “drinking problem.” But…this isn’t really framed as a problem? We see a few instances of him losing inhibitions while inebriated, and making some people mad with his gambling and partying habits, but nothing that really makes it look concerning. If anything, it’s played up as part of his party-hard-tormented-bad-boy persona, which of course is meant to make him appealing to readers. And, during a time where the captain punishes him by denying him food for a few days (I would assume this also includes alcohol), he shows no adverse effects, withdrawal, cravings, or other signs of actually having an addiction. It’s another case of slapping on a superficial disability without consideration of how it affects the person, or in this case, without even really painting it as a problem???

And then there’s Pia, the archivist. To me, Pia reads very strongly as autistic-coded. She is shown to be rigid and sometimes awkward in her speech and her movements, has a fixation on (and uncanny memory for) numbers, is bad at reading social cues, and often gets so carried away on topics of interest that people have to tell her to stop talking. She doesn’t have many friends besides Ximena, who constantly just comments on how “strange” Pia is, with no sense of sympathy. It sometimes felt like the biggest reason to include Pia as a character was so she could be mocked for her personality (and her appearance, as she is the only canonically fat character and a joke is made about her eating tons of empanadas and drinking tons of hot chocolate). Even when Ximena has a sort-of change of heart, she still describes Pia as strange.

While we are on the subject of poor representation, there are some VERY sketchy, racist-feeling vibes in the text as well. Though it’s true that most of the cast is Latine, there are hints of anti-Black sentiment throughout the book. The only two Black characters in the whole book are (a) the right-hand man of the evil pirate/main antagonist, who is described as follows: “his skin was as dark as gunpowder, and his hair, dyed a brilliant red, hung in thick locs down his back”, and (b) a scavenger boy who leads a crew of similar scavenging teens referred to as “rats” by others, described as such: “His clothes were rags, his hair was dreadlocked, and his skin was brown as leather from the sun, but he gazed at them with an air of command, as if he were a prince over his small tribe of sea rats.” In other words, both Black characters are antagonists, or antagonist-adjacent, and portrayed in a very negative light (one a murderer, the other a poor scavenger, and both with stereotypical locs, one of which is referred to the now-disfavored-due-to-racist-origins term “dreadlocks”). Even to the extent that the former might be construed as positive (given how the narrative changes allegiances later changes in the book), he is still a man who has openly admitted to killing lots of people, and is also described in weirdly racist terms. “Dark as gunpowder”? Really?

Even the use of Spanish language and culture throughout the text was done in a way that did not feel organic and felt more like playing cultural dress-up (yes, the author is Latina, and I’m not questioning the authenticity, but rather the way in which it is written stylistically). Characters sometimes repeat themselves in Spanish and English in dialogue–for instance, a character says, “Ah, claro que sí, of course.” Claro que sí literally means “of course.” It doesn’t make sense for a character to be switching languages this way when presumably everyone around them speaks the same languages (since the whole world is clearly influenced by Latin American culture and language).

But let’s say you don’t care about problematic representation. Is the story at least entertaining and well-written? Alas, no.

To begin with, these characters low-key suck and also make no sense. There are so many places in this book where characters talk about how smart Ximena is, how she’s the brightest cadet at the academy, and how she has a “perfect memory.” Yet, despite this, she is so. painfully. STUPID. You really mean to tell me that the smartest girl in school just somehow had never heard, in all her reading and obsessive studying, that the empire she idolizes has been accused of war crimes? Or that she doesn’t recognize her own sister’s voice at a pivotal moment? Or that she fails to recognize that something is very obviously wrong when a suspicious magical woman starts going on a long monologue that sounds suspiciously similar to a story she just heard a few hours earlier? I’m not against characters being less-than-brilliant, but if you’re telling me this character is so much smarter than everyone around her, you need to make her actions reflect that intelligence, too. Similarly, though we are told multiple times that she has a “perfect memory”–which seems to extend to both visual and auditory recall, and includes remembering “every detail” of events from years ago–we also see her forget a symbol someone drew immediately because it’s wiped away “before she could commit the details to memory.” Is it too much to ask for a crumb of consistency with a character’s unique abilities? Beyond that, Ximena is often critical of the appearance of other women, whether she’s commenting on how other characters should learn to use whale oil to slick back their hair, describing Pia as “squat and round-cheeked” and comparing her to a goldfish, or criticizing her sister for wearing makeup. Hello, 2010? You can have your “not like other girls” character back. And to top it all off, her character is painfully static for about 90% of the book, never showing even the slightest hint of remorse, and then does a super abrupt 180-degree turn right before the end. It didn’t feel like an organic shift or a gradual evolution; it felt like the author just got to the end and realized she needed to make those changes and hadn’t laid the proper groundwork for them, so she just gave up and added a heavy-handed twist.

Dante, believe it or not, is even worse. From the beginning, we see he doesn’t have great hygiene–he eats fried plantains out of his hands, and two different paragraphs describe both how this drips grease on his pants and how he wipes his greasy hands on his doublet. So, you know, kind of gross. He’s also like a weird amalgamation of the two most common types of YA love interests: he is a tall, dark, and traumatized Broody Boy, but because he dyes his hair silver-blond and his mother is in a position of national power, he’s also the blond-haired golden boy who everyone loves. In terms of personality, he’s also kind of a mess (but, admittedly, a smidgen more interesting than Ximena). He asks invasive, personal questions of Ximena, including about her lost eye, when she barely knows him–and, as alluded to above, he replies to her explanation of what happened to her eye as follows: “And I thought having the high minister for a mother was terrible. But I only have to be miserable. You have to be miserable and hideous at the same time.” You cannot convince me that this is a healthy dynamic to begin with. He alternates between being downright cruel to Ximena (insulting her, trying to frame her for mutiny, the usual) and then randomly dropping large amounts of affection on her (a spontaneous kiss, asking if it would be enough if he told her he loved her–and then not saying it, a love letter). Again, not a healthy dynamic. And he is also very not-subtle in his pro-pirate views, which also makes me question how much of his interest in Ximena is genuine interest in her and how much is rooted in his weird fascination with everything her parents stood for.

Moving on, the worldbuilding makes similarly little sense. Should I begin with the academy, which trains students for a navy that has only 150 ships in its fleet, and yet allows the students to train using actual munitions and cannonballs on real warships in training exercises, to the point that one ship starts taking on water during a scrimmage? Effective use of resources? Never heard of her. Or maybe I should talk about the incredibly flimsy ties between the pirates and the general public? Somehow, the people view Gasparilla and pirates as heroic, as we see multiple peasants who chant in his favor. But we also have scenes and descriptions of pirates killing innocent people while plundering the empire, or damaging people’s homes. Even if they have some sort of Robin Hood-like heroic mythos, the fact remains that they also hurt innocents, including the poor who still view them as the empire’s possible salvation. And speaking of the empire, though the story does sketch loosely the image of some sort of war going on in the Northern Archipelago and it’s implied that this is a futile war that the empire is engaged in, it took until well past the halfway mark for it to become clear whether this war was the empire trying to annex new territory or trying to put down a rebellion in existing territory–which is a huge difference. Finally (light spoiler), Gasparilla has a little enclave of his supporters who apparently have formed some sort of happy, lively democracy–but we see no indication of that democratic society having a government, or rules, or an economy. I don’t love the idea of including a utopian alternate society, and pitching your book as having commentary on imperialism, if you haven’t developed what makes this democratic world able to function better than the evil empire.

And the plot–or, perhaps more accurately, I should say “the string of random coincidences that defy plausibility.” This is perhaps best illustrated by a scene where Ximena, Dante, and Pia have been kidnapped and are just starting to try and make a break for success, when a sea creature with venomous barbs comes out of the ocean and starts attacking the ship. The venom is flying, crew members are being impaled and dying, and yet, somehow, nobody in Ximena’s group gets hit. Then, just as Ximena has been cornered by the captain that kidnapped them–surprise!–another barb comes, pierces the captain through the chest and kills her, saving Ximena’s life. Sorry, but that’s just ridiculous. There are multiple instances of Ximena going through situations that should spell game-over for her–shipwrecks, storms, attacks from more competent swordspeople, and so on–but she just keeps getting lucky. And when she supposedly comes to a “brilliant” conclusion–that a pirate who goes missing around the same time every year for a few months could only be doing so if he had children he was visiting during that time, and therefore this pirate must have kids they can blackmail him about–nobody questions other possible interpretations (seasonal health issue that gets worse in the winter? secret lover? a second boss he’s reporting to?) and instead just assumes, yes, this heteronormative happy family answer must be it. And, of course, this odd guess is actually correct.

This gets into the last general bucket of complaints I have, which is that the author’s right-wing politics are baked pretty clearly into the DNA of this world. Aside from the ableism, racism, and weird ideas on nuclear families/children, this is an aggressively straight book, with nary a queer character to be seen, even in passing (and, let me tell you, two adult male characters are set up in a way that would have made for an excellent past-gay-romance subplot–truly a missed opportunity). In a childhood fairytale Ximena repeats, it’s presented as a normal idea that, when a woman beats a man in a duel, he must propose to her afterward. And while child-Ximena said this seemed silly to her, the adults frame this as her simply being a child who doesn’t understand that “sometimes we need people in ways we don’t expect.” Which feels like kind of a stretch, to say that a woman must marry a man she’s never spoken to because she’s going to “need” him, but whatever. (In a smaller conservative point, one of the things Ximena hears that makes her think Gasparilla’s little society is very lively and happy, in addition to the sound of a guitar, is the sound of a gunshot. Ha.)

Finally, a few small nitpicky things that drove me bonkers but don’t fit into any of these buckets:

- Ximena clearly idolizes the admiral of the Cazadores, but this idolization is written in a way that makes it almost sound like she has a crush on him?? This man is in his thirties with graying hair, and she’s a teenager, yet she describes him in one scene like this: “But the longer he held her, the more the tension in her body unraveled, until her stiffened spine relaxed, and she found herself hugging him back. The admiral was here. She didn’t have to fight off the evils of this world alone. Gabriel Perez had searched the seas to find her; he’d battled calveras and pirates to come to her rescue. Marquesa and her parents had failed her time and time again. But the admiral never had. That was the truth his arms around her promised: he would always fight for her. Always.”
- I’m convinced Cassandra James doesn’t understand how swimming works. She has characters swimming in the open ocean in full clothes and boots, somehow not being dragged under by the weight of their attire, and able to tread water, hug (while vertical), and even carry the weight of another person while swimming for hours, fully dressed. She also wrote a scene where Ximena chokes on water in a storm, loses consciousness, seemingly drowns, but then floats back up to the surface afterward. Except, if all the air left her lungs and she sank below the surface, she wouldn’t float back up–people aren’t naturally that buoyant once their air runs out.
- The whole plot of the book (per the official summary and the inciting incident–which happens around 150 pages in) is supposed to be around the attempt to rescue the queen who was kidnapped by Gasparilla, but then the plot just kind of turns into “we need to find Gasparilla” and the queen is all but forgotten.

All told, there isn’t much of anything in this book that I would willingly recommend to anyone–and, if you know anything about me, you know that I rarely go so far as to say that about a book. Consider this review a gift: I read this book so that you don’t have to.

Pirate stories? I never really knew them—until now. After reading this book, color me intrigued. It’s a YA fantasy with a strong, compelling female protagonist leading the charge. And what’s a badass FMC without a snappy, grumpy rival/MMC to keep things interesting?

The book is fast-paced, action-packed, and kicks off a duology that promises more. I’m giving it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

As for any controversy surrounding the author, I’m not familiar with it—this review is based purely on the work itself.

I enjoyed this light hearted read! It was fun and there was some action. I wish it picked up a few more times in certain moments. Sometimes the emotions plateau in some parts of the book, or it got slow. I really did enjoy the creative storytelling, though!

Ximena wants to be more than her legacy as the daughter of pirates and traitors. She’s worked hard to be perfect and with the elevated title of Cazador within her grasp. And thanks to Gasparilla’s daring, she might actually have a change at that coveted cloak. All she has to do is set out on one of the most dangerous quests that even the bravest of Cazadors avoid and not let her forever rival, Dante, get the best of her. The nonstop determination to succeed drives Ximena in such a way that it is easy to relate to and worry about will the next move be the last. An enjoyable tale of a young woman forging her path and needing more than just her wits and bravado to outwit pirates and captains alike.

Capitana is, at its heart, a pirate story, as should be obvious by the cover. However, if one reads a little deeper, it is about discovering the rot at the center of your society and rebelling against it, of discovering that every rebel around you was right all along, despite your personal dedication to the current regime. There's nothing wrong with that as a theme, but the reversal of Ximena, the main character, was - despite the amount of foretelling - rather too abrupt and out of character to be believable, and at the same time, the reversal was presaged rather farther in advance than the author likely intended; it was not the surprise it was supposed to be. Capitana is not a bad book, but it would benefit from another round of editing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Capitana tells the story of Ximena Reale, who wants nothing more than to earn the title of cazadora. She has recently reached the rank of cuatreda in record time. Her parents betrayed the empire by becoming pirates. She is constantly reminded of her roots and she carries herself with the mindset that she always has something to prove. At the same time, Ximena is researching a pirate named Gasparilla, often thought to be a folk tale. Ximena is convinced he is very real and will plans to return soon. When the empire is attacked, Ximena vows to save it. There are themes of duty, nepotism, activism and revolution. This novel explores different perspectives of a conflict. Ultimately, Ximena must make a definitive choice about who's cause is just. This was a pretty fun YA pirate story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

OK, so I got this book after I had heard some pretty bad things about the author. However, I wanted to try to give it a shot.

I tried having an open mind, but I could not get into this book. I disliked the FMC so fiercely and could not even get into the book because I couldn’t connect with her.

I struggled through this entire thing. Maybe it just wasn’t for me. I’m sure there’s an audience for it out there, but I wasn’t it.

Thank you NetGalley for an early ebook copy.

I think the precedent and idea for the book was great. But the very strict rule binding of the main character made it very hard to get into the story. I don’t see how the sister goes from one personality to another. It was such a dramatic change with no character development. It sounds like there will be a sequel based off the epilogue. I could listen the sequel but do not think I could sit down and read it. I personally did not understand Dante’s choices in the end. I felt like the story was too detailed in the rules but not enough in the story itself.

2.5/5 stars

I struggled on the rating for this one. On one hand, the writing was fine, maybe a bit simplistic but that's OK. And the world-building was just OK as well. But on the other hand, I wasn't able to connect with really any of the characters, and the MFC was essentially not likable to me. While yes, she was a strong, driven heroine, she combined that with too much insensitivity and just plain meanness at some points throughout the story.

I think the problem for me stemmed from the disconnect from the characters. I am a character-driven reader, and if I cannot understand/sympathize with characters (especially the mains), it's unfortunately a no-go for me. Other readers who don't have my inclinations will probably enjoy this pirate adventure.

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books / Quill Tree Books for providing the free early arc of Capitana for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

*Thank you to HarperCollins/Quill Tree and NetGalley for the eARC of this book; the review is my own.*

First: Apparently there's some controversy about the author, and many reviewers chose to focus on their disagreements with her beliefs instead of the book itself (though some were more passive-aggressive implications and "go look it up for yourself" instead of direct hostility). Personally, I don't care. I've read (and enjoyed!) many books written by authors whose views and opinions I don't share. If I like or dislike a book, I review it accordingly--I'm here to write about books not the authors that write them.

With that said, on to my review . . . of the book (to be clear).

To get right to the point, I liked Capitana. If I'd had more time to sit and read in the last couple of weeks, I would have finished it more quickly. As it was, I had to sneak bits of reading in between the rest of life. But I enjoyed the time I spent reading this book, and I'm quite happy to know there will be a sequel next year (at least I hope there still will be). If this had been the end, I would have given it 3 stars because I'm not particularly happy with how things have been left. I'm still somewhat irritated with certain aspects of the ending, but that's probably because I'm more of a romantic than a realist when it comes to fiction.

Speaking of romance, there isn't much. There's a hint of it, which I hope will develop more in the sequel. But when I step back and think about it with something more than my love of a good romance, I have to admit that anything more would have been out of place. Ximena (17) has spent the last five years with complete disdain for Dante (18), and their association had been fraught with nothing but antagonism. To be completely honest, I disliked him and couldn't see any way that things might change. You could say that Dante fell into that cliched trap of "I tease you because I like you," which is stupid, unacceptable, and simply a way to justify bullying. But, believe it or not, I did end up liking Dante before the end. Quite a bit, I might add. Although I do not condone his earlier treatment of Ximena, I think I can see where it came from: the disdain he had for himself (and some other stuff that I don't want to spoil here). Actually, I think Ximena hated herself a bit, as well, and spent so much of herself clinging to the law in an effort to distance herself from her pirate parents and qualify herself for love and acceptance from the admiral, who had become a sort of father figure for her. She had lost everything else and grasped onto the only thing she felt was left. You know how in Pride and Prejudice, you're waiting for Mr. Darcy to get over himself? I'd say Ximena has more Mr. Darcy in her than Dante does, or maybe the two of them split his personality between them.

Near the end of the book, Ximena's views shift from black and white to colors (figuratively--this isn't Pleasantville, which I think fits the book itself nicely. I started out thinking I was reading about a girl competing to join the cazadores and rid the world of pirates. And yes, that's what it was. But I quickly saw it was more than that, even if Ximena took quite a bit longer to figure it out. The characters are complex, and the story is at times a bit reminiscent of the feeling you get while watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Except there's no Jack Sparrow to lighten things up quite as much. Still, I wouldn't call this book heavy.

All this to say that I think readers should give this book a chance. Here's what you'll be getting: pirates, pirate hunters, adventure, corruption, manipulation, forgiveness, friendship, family, redemption, and a little tiny hint of romance. If that sounds like something you might like, pick up Capitana. And then you can wait with me to find out if that sequel ever gets published. I'm crossing my fingers, and I don't think an extra set or two would hurt.

Note: I can't think of anything bad.

3.5 stars, rounded down

Thank you to Cassandra James, NetGalley, and HarperCollins Publishers for the e-copy of this book!

Age rating: 12+

Perfect for fans of: Daughter of the Pirate King and To Kill A Kingdom.

In this debut novel, smart and strong-willed Ximena is determined to usurp the infamous reputation her pirate parents left behind by becoming a Cazador—a pirate hunter. But to do that, she will have to overcome a multitude of challenges, including graduating in the top percent of her class at La Academia, passing the Royal Examination, and convincing the high minister to grant her a coveted Cazador Cloak, all while facing disgust and resentment from the majority of the populace for all the crimes her parents committed. When a chance presents itself for her to prove her worth, she jumps at the chance—but will quickly find that there are certain choices that can’t be made so easily as she first expected. Will she be able to press forwards and receive the Cazador Cloak, and if so, will it be everything she’s been promised?
This book, even with a few plot holes and character inconsistencies, was quick and engaging, and great if you need something to pull you out of a reading slump. I enjoyed the action, and the fact that, although it was marketed as being a romantasy, the main storyline outshone the romantic subplot and the clever but carefully mediated banter. I wish it had had more magic and hadn’t been quite so abrupt, but overall still a good read.
Happy reading!

If you want to escape into a fun pirate fantasy and don’t mind a predictable plot, escape for a while until this read!

Main character Ximena Reale is determined to complete her training at la academia and join the Cazadores, or pirate hunters. Her path is made much harder by the fact that her parents were notorious pirates themselves. But when legendary pirate Gasparilla returns, she sees her opportunity to prove her worth.

It was really fun to journey with Ximena through her courses and into the open seas. I found the characters likable and the adventure really fun. Although I wouldn’t call it a romantasy, I prefer the slow-burn, gently sizzling nature of the romance. However, something about the story development left me wanting. It was hard to believe Ximena’s transformation toward the end of the story, and I didn’t get a sense of chemistry in her romantic relationship. However, the story was good overall and the writing was lovely. I really enjoyed the Spanish influence and the details in the sailing. I look forward to reading the sequel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Writing style
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Characters
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Plot
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Premise
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pacing
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Impact

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There’s something so special about this book. With CAPITANA, Cassandra James weaves the perfect story — a coming of age tale of adventure, resilience, and the lines that blur between hate and love. I was riveted from the first page through the last. Gorgeous, gripping, and absolutely divine.

"De la preparación surge la perfección. From preparation comes perfection. It was the compass that guided her life."

Ximena is absolutely the Jack Sparrow femme we needed. She is such an amazing character: brave and vulnerable and strong. I love watching her mind work through things, and I love her ability to read and study and make her own decisions. How can you choose between what you've always believed vs what your eyes see? Ximena's growth throughout the story is worth the journey. What an adventure!

"La ley es eterna. The law is eternal. She would have treasured that phrase like a prayer. So why did it feel like a threat now?"

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this ARC. This review is NOT a reflection of the author’s political opinions, and is solely a review of the book.

2 and a half stars.

Capitana follows Ximena Reale, a daughter of pirates, who is working hard to try to restore her name under the Empire, and becomes a Cazador, a pirate hunter. Ximena is cold and unforgiving, believing above everything comes the law.
After 4 years of dealing with cruel students and constant scorn from higherups, Ximena finds herself on the quest that can change her future and finally present her with the coveted Cazador position: hunting the legendary pirate Gasparilla. Alongside the admiral and a couple of classmates, Ximena takes to the sea to bring justice upon the pirate. Once on the open seas, she finds there is more to life than the law.

------------------

I initially picked up this book knowing full well I do not agree with James’ personal political views (putting it as nicely as I can), but also enjoy pirates and fantasy, hoping this book would be a surprise little gem. Unfortunately, this book fell flat and was very predictable.
To start, Ximena is not a likeable character. She is cruel, unkind, and unforgiving. Growing up believing the Empire and the law are most important, this should be setting up for her character arc to blossom, but all it falls short as she continues being cold and cruel to everyone around her, while repeating “Of the law. By the law. For the law.” At 92% Ximena FINALLY decides to start being a better person, and even then, she is only changing because she realizes the empire will never give her what she truly wants. So instead of being a better person for herself and those around her, she resorts to treason and follows a different organization that is also no better than the empire.

Dante and Pia were the only two decent characters, but their backstory was only revealed to continue the story – i.e., lazy writing.
The world building and character development are little too non-existent, and the book relies heavily on the reader to fill in gaps. You know little of what the empire does besides empire bad and hoard money for war and not citizens, and little structure in the writing to make you understand the power dynamics (Queen is just a figurehead, but important; ministry rules over land will very little respect of the law). The pirates also talked about freedom, but also have an oppressive ruler??

I am all for a slow burn romance; however, I would not even call this a slow burn. The love interest makes no sense, and was thrown in for the sake of having another plot point to drive the sequel. There was no chemistry and was more forced proximity, without any romance.

I was confused on some timelines. Dante bullies Ximena in every class, but supposedly Ximena is a prodigy and been promoted to higher classes quicker than everyone else, and Dante skips class regularly. Marquesa is a student, but on her off days has time to raid and pillage. Gasparilla is captured, tried the next day, and to be executed the day after, but mentions the gauntness of their face after weeks being held captive. Or it is noon, and Ximena goes to their room for hours, and then joins the rest of the cazadors for lunch.

The ending confirmed I will not be reading the sequel. If there was more care to the consistency of writing and world building, I would consider it, but I cannot imagine any of the issues I have with the novel being addressed and expanded.

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book. So, this is the story of that villain whom you cheer to see killed. Except that she does not get killed and thinks that her last-minute regrets make up for the horrific things she has done. It doesn't. Disappointing. Not sure I would recommend.