I don’t exaggerate when I assert that I HATE pirate books.  Loathe them.  Mostly, it’s the setting.  If I’m on a boat and the water isn’t glass slick, I’m seasick.  Plus, a book setting confined to a ship for a whole novel is a total snooze fest.  HOWEVER.  I loved Capitana.  It was an action-packed thrill ride around the sea with fantastical world building and magical storms.  If you like seafaring adventure stories akin to One Piece and Voyage of the Dawn Treader, you’ll probably love this one.  As a bonus, it is one of very few—very few—YA books from the general B5 market (though it’s indie in the UK) that DOES NOT have adult content in it.  No explicit language.  No sexual content—implied, explicit, suggestive, or otherwise.  If you’re on the fence about this one, just pick it up and give it a try.  If you don’t like it, fine.  If you don’t pick it up and start it to find out for yourself, you’ll never be able to say for sure.

Ximena Reale is a prickly character; she’s no Mary Sue, that’s for sure.  She can open a can and swashbuckle like nobody’s business when she needs to.  Yet, she has spent her whole life stiff, uptight, and desperately trying to appease the predominant power in the Luzan Empire through her stellar performance at La Academia, which is essentially the Empire’s naval academy equivalent.  The poor girl either doesn’t realize or just hasn’t convinced herself yet that no matter what she does or how well she performs, her pandering and performance will not be good enough.  To the powerful of Luzan, she’s a useful idiot and will ultimately only be good enough as long as she remains useful.

To add to that pressure, which I feel the subtext definitely gives the impression Ximena knows is there, she must also look after and take care of her sister, who needs so much oversight that the burden feels heavy even to the reader.  It’s heartbreaking just reading the words of it.  Readers will slowly see over the course of the narrative glimpses of the past building the foundation for their relationship, how they ended up a the academy, and how the two will be able to navigate the hostile, enemy world whose lines they reside behind.  The backstory here ranks among some of my favorites for hero narratives.

Not only does Ximena have to deal with all of the aforementioned stress, she has a hotshot nuisance of a boy to worry about as well.  Enter Dante de León.  The Romeo to Ximena’s Juliet.  Kinda.  The golden boy who can do no wrong.  Sure, he’s handsome, but wouldn’t you know, this is not only a YA-appropriate YA book, but also a book with a romance that doesn’t drive the plot or feature predominantly over the story.  While Ximena strives desperately to not step even the nail of a toe out of line, Dante walks around as though oblivious there are any rules and still comes out in the top running for the Cazador cloak, a guaranteed achievement that, for Ximena, will redeem her family honor and (supposedly) keep the empire’s suspicion off of her and her sister, giving them a bit of space to relax and breathe and not be harassed.

But the same pirate her parents were condemned for turning traitor to has resurfaced and taken the queen of Luzan.  The fast-paced adventure starts, and of course, La Academia throws Dante and Ximena together on a crew to go find and rescue the queen.  Oh, and capture Gasparilla.   Which Ximena will do at all costs.  

I found Ximena and her struggles incredibly relatable.  She has a need to appease in order to achieve a level of peace for her family.  She’s nurtured on ideals that don’t offer opportunities for critical thought and don’t offer every aspect of the truth.  I can see that playing out in more circumstances than hers.  Her journey across Luzan slowly picks at the lies she’s been fed.  She begins to question things.  She drops her guard a bit and lets others show her that she can trust some folks.  I loved watching the nuance of this play out under the main quest to find Gasparilla and rescue the queen.  Oh, and then James drops a fantastic twist.  And a bombshell ending that primes for the next book.  

Overall, I loved the book.  5 stars out of 5.  It’s YA and appropriately written for the audience.  It’s a seafaring adventure story without boring me to tears.  Both aspects are incredibly rare in books today, and they both feature conveniently in this one book.  I can’t wait for the next one, and I’m definitely going to be spending my hard-earned money on several copies of this.

My profuse thanks to the author, Quill Tree Books, and HarperCollins publishers via NetGalley for the DRC, for which I willingly gave my honest review.

For one thing, I'm not sure why this would me marketed as historical fiction when it's more "fantasy that is loosely based on history, maybe." That's a marketing issue rather than a book issue, though, and as someone who reads fantasy, I was willing to keep going. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the writing. Or the characters. Or the fact that there's almost no description of the setting. Given the quality of the writing, I was also starting to wonder if this was a middle grade novel since it was so repetitive and clunky, so I came back to look at the listings to see if I had gotten confused when I requested it. Apparently not. The fact that the romance partners our MC with the obnoxious, alcoholic, handsy nepo baby we learn to hate from page 1... yikes. I hate that trope. I just fought my way through a different YA "romantasy" with poor world-building and poor characterization, and I got far enough through this that there was no salvaging it.

My review is based exclusively on the book, but having learned more about the author's views, I'm only posting it here on NetGalley.

I enjoyed the story and the characters. I do believe that there should have been some type of bullet or glossary at the end of every page explaining the Spanish terms that were used. It seemed as though the author believes everyone should speak two languages and be fluent in both. I however am not, so some of the conversations were lost to me.

I feel like the relationship between the fmc and mmc should have been elaborated on a little more. Especially with how mean the mmc seemed to be to the fmc. They went from being enemies to "I love you" fairly quickly with no real explanation of his motives.

Overall i thought it was a decent book that I finished in 2 days because I love pirates and the plot was well paced and kept me hooked

Capitana blends academia and seafaring with themes of morality and revolution. I was intrigued by the comparisons to Daughter of the Pirate King and Fable, which prompted me to initially request this book.

While the world is built on the stark contrast of its perceived right versus wrong, it’s Ximena’s character development to see shades of gray upon which the plot rests. In the beginning she is cold, harsh, and rigid - just like the law and la academia. She’s extremely unlikable and views people only as a means to an end. Away from those confines, she starts to see the ways in which the empire is harmed by the current system, however she has so few redeemable qualities throughout most of the novel that I honestly felt more kinship with Pia. I enjoyed the scenes where Dante poked and prodded at Ximena’s beliefs, aggravating her to think beyond her regimented viewpoints, but I can’t say I’m a fan of the “he bullies her because he likes/loves her trope.” That ruined my ability to root for their budding romance.

While the story is well-written in that the prose flows and adequately depicts the scenes, it’s also stilted at the same time. Everything was told to me and little was left to the imagination. I’m honestly not quite sure how to describe it other than to say it lacked life and didn’t evoke any strong feelings. That’s why, although I had no problem reading from start to finish, I’m not invested or engaged enough to pick up the sequel. I think the concept for this story has a lot of promise, but it ultimately fell flat for me in its execution.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Quill Tree Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This swashbuckling tale is about Ximena, a girl who is willing to do anything to reach her goal of becoming a Cazadore-the elite guard of her country. Ximena has to work extra hard because her parents were hung as pirates when Ximena was a little girl. Since then, she and her sister Marquesa have been in training and trying to live down their name. Marquesa is less interested in becoming a Cazadore and struggles with her school word, but Ximena, under the tutelage of the admiral has become a well known and brave student, determined to rid the kingdom of pirates. She is occasionally distracted by one of her annoying classmates-Dante, who is the son of the high minister, who is bailed out by his mom at every turn. Ximena's luck turns when the noted pirate, Gaspirilla attacks their town, kidnaps the queen and is asking for all the silver in the kingdom for her ransom. Ximena is tapped to go and save the queen and capture Gaspirilla, except Dante is going along too. There are big themes of loyalty and adherence to the rules and when to question the rules, there are family connections and found family. There is mystery, and action, and romance. There's also a surprising and cliff hanger ending that hints that there will be a sequel. It's a fun, compelling read and kids are going to like the one a lot.

Great writing! The pacing was a little slow in parts, but overall I enjoyed it. Dante was the great comedic relief it needed.

ARC Review:
⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Capitana by Cassandra James

Ximena is a student at a pirate hunting school, fighting her way to become a Cazadora. Ximena and her sister are left orphaned by their cazadore turned pirate parents. The admiral responsible for catching their parents takes them on as wards to train as loyal pirate hunters. Ximena goes on a journey to catch the infamous Gasparilla and earn her title.

Capitana was an ok book. The pirate/pirate hunter journey part of this book was great fun. I was fully captivated by the story. The many trials Ximena and the crew faced kept up a nice pace and I never felt the story was dragging on. The main character Ximena, was not a likeable one. I would have loved to see her have any redeeming qualities, and her redemption came so late in the book that it seemed too little too late. I can see this one seems to be the first in a series but I am not invested enough to pick up the next one.

Thank you netgalley and Harpercollins for the opportunity to read this book.

Despite her parents once being pirate hunters and betraying everyone by supporting pirates five years ago, Ximena has been determined to be the best pirate hunter. Ximena has been training for four long years and now has finally been promoted to cuatreda.

And now there are rumors that the famed pirate Gasparilla has returned and whoever may bring him in would become the greatest pirate hunter in history. And Ximena is determined to be that pirate hunter no matter what.

So, I enjoyed that this is about pirates, and set out on sea. It is high sea adventures. I enjoyed the characters, mainly Dante and Pia, and there was some fun banter between the FMC and MMC(although he wasn’t really until like the end).

I think I enjoyed this more than I thought I would or should. The reason I’m questioning my sanity about enjoying this book is because I DID NOT LIKE THE FEMALE CHARACTER. She was so awful and so set on her ways to the point she was brain-washing herself about following the “law”. The entire book was really her and her inner monologues chanting and convincing herself she was doing the right thing, following the “law”. It was exhausting. And yet, it made for a different story that I for some reason enjoyed because she did not change the entire book, until…slight spoilers below…






Until the end, and it was so sudden, and I get why she changed, but it was to the point that I was hoping she would just stay on the “dark side”, it made more sense with how set she was being a pirate hunter. It would have made the story more interesting. I was disappointed she didn’t just stick with it and have someone else become the new female MC that has to stop Ximena. It was anti-climactic.

There’s also supposed to be a romance, but I felt and saw nothing until the male MC declared he loved Ximena and I yelled “WHY!?”, she has no redeeming qualities! Why do male characters always love the girl who’s insufferable?! There was no connection, no chemistry. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Dante, but he had poor choices in women.

I really enjoyed the pirates, and pirate adventures, and I wished the story stayed the course with the FMC just remaining unlikable and becoming the villain essentially, but that didn’t happen, but maybe she’ll be more bearable now??? But will I continue? I’m not sure. I thought this was a standalone, and I don’t like the way it ended, and it’s going a way that I don’t think makes any sense. So, probably not? 3.5 ⭐️.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Poor writing, unoriginal plot. Not for me. Sorry.

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books/Quill Tree Books for letting me read this book early! All my thoughts are my own.

Pirates, the ones who hunt them, a ferocious FMC, and a touch of magic, all in a Spanish setting; what’s not to love? This was a great read, with a powerful female lead who grows as the story progresses. I’m excited already to read the next one. 4⭐️

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this one. The main character is really unlikable, which could be fine, except that there's supposed to be a romance element thrown in. It's just annoying to me when the hot guy in the story is inexplicably in love with the very meh main character. Why would he want to be with someone that's so annoying when I'm sure he has much better options? She literally goes around repeating the rulebook to people to assert her righteousness, meanwhile is also totally OK misleading nice people and just using them for her personal gain while planning all along to toss them aside when they're no longer needed. I just also didn't believe that she had real character growth. And, it felt like there was minimal fantasy.

I love a high seas adventure and the comps for this new young adult pirate story had me so excited.

I started reading with such high hopes, but was quickly frustrated by the very clunky writing and overly wordy explanations. Too many words were used to convey or describe certain ranks and layouts of the academy, and within the first chapter alone, the same phrases are used multiple times. It was quite difficult to connect to and become immersed in the story when the author was writing in a way that assumed the reader knew about the academy’s history and the pirate lore. The author has to bring the reader into the story by sharing this history.

Unfortunately, what could have been an epic, sweeping tale was ultimately hurt by the heavy writing.

One of my favorite types of books is pirate themed. This was so well done. I am excited to my copy on release day.

2.5 stars. I had high hopes for this book based on the premise, but it just didn't meet the bar I set for it. A pirate style adventure based on a pirate hunter university, the story set up some good conflict and really blurred the lines of good and evil, but the nature of the characters made a full immersion into the story difficult.

Ximena, the protagonist, is more or less the villain of the story. And I did not like her at all. She is narcissistic, an isolationist, and limits her focus to one goal. And that goal is nothing noble, it is to kill. I just didn't like the way it was approached. I felt like the story could have been told from this angle while still making the protagonist have a redemption arc. In this story, the redemption arc felt lazy and didn't give me the satisfaction I need from that approach.

The secondary characters were okay. They existed. But there was a lot of character building missing and they felt quite flat. Again, there was a lot of plot exploration that could have taken place and there were a lot of opportunities to make the story exciting and adventurous, but the author just left them there. It felt a lot like an outline of a story instead of a full exploration of the characters and the world.

The writing was okay, but maybe not my style and I just wanted more from the pages. There was a lot of promise to the tale and the bones are there, it just needed more exploration, more heart, more humanity.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nope. Just...nope. At first, I was shocked to see the ratings before I started the ARC. Seeing anything where the average rating is sitting around 3.0 stars is a shock for me considering most of the books I read and rate end up around the 3.5 average at least overall. After finishing Capitana, I can see why the ratings were so low.

Ximena...ugh. She ruined my entire reading experience. I don't even know where to start with her. She's so stubborn and set in her ways that it was infuriating to read the story. She was stubborn to the point where she had this superiority complex about her and a "holier than thou" attitude. Sure, her classmates think less of her because her parents were convicted criminals who betrayed everything that the cazadors stood for (law and order), so I get that she sort of has an "I have to prove them wrong" attitude. But I also believe there's a fine line between wanting to prove people wrong and proving people wrong but then you're an asshole and have a god complex because of it. Ximena fell in the latter part for me.

For a VAST majority of the story, and when I mean vast I mean probably about 80-90% of the story--and I am serious about this, this is not an exaggeration whatsoever--she is defending everything about the cazadors to her last dying breath. They can literally do no wrong, even after she's presented with PROOF that they're horrible people. (I'm not going to go into what exactly those things are, but you can probably take some semi-educated guesses based on the context we're given about the job of a cazador so far.) She's a major stickler for the rules and follows them blindly. She doesn't allow herself to have fun or indulge in fancy parties or meals, she doesn't make friends (because she's better than everyone else, why else?), and every other line that comes out of her mouth is either her quoting the law, following the demands of her superiors, or her singing the praises of the cazadors and how they can do no wrong and how it's her dream to become one. She's what people in my college classes would call a "gunner," or someone who will do anything and sabotage anyone to get to the top and get what they want in an academic setting. Her character was so one-dimensional and she had no character growth or development whatsoever. I swear, if I took a shot for every time anyone mentioned how important it is to follow the rules in this story because iF yOu FoLlOw ThE lAw, tHe LaW wIlL pRoTeCt YoU, I'd be dead from alcohol poisoning now.

As for Dante, while he was mostly a rich, drunk, nepo baby frat boy for the majority of the story, he was quite literally the only reasonable person with more than 2 brain cells in his intoxicated, drunken brain aside from Pía, but she practically has a photographic memory and is pretty intelligent on her own already. I honestly enjoyed reading about Dante and Pía more than Ximena. I feel like Cassandra James made all of her characters one-dimensional generally speaking, but I would've loved to read more about Dante considering his rocky relationship with his mom and how he feels about the cazadors.

I also don't know why this was marketed as a "riveting romantasy" because Dante and Ximena's chemistry is like the limit in that calculus problem in Mean Girls- nonexistent. The chemistry was not in the room with us. They spend the majority of the book either avoiding each other, not having any sort of defining on-page interactions where I can see and feel the sparks fly between them, or it's Ximena wanting to kill him and I don't mean that in a joking way. I think they tried to say this was a romantasy to pull more readers in since that's what's trendy these days, but it's honestly so misleading to market it as one when the romance is barely in the story and wouldn't have changed the plot if any trace of it was removed entirely.

I will admit that the plot twist at the end was pretty interesting and the book ended on a cliffhanger. This is set to be a duology, but I won't be picking up the next book for 2 reasons:

1. Author controversy: I encourage other readers to look through the other reviews on Goodreads that have links posted to some articles the author wrote before this book for Princeton, her alma mater. I do believe to an extent that art imitates life, and at least to me, you can tell that a lot of the author's sentiments and opinions on recent real-world-specific topics were reflected in this story.

2. The writing style and story overall: While I tend to give debut authors grace when writing a review for their first-ever book, I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and understand that an author isn't going to get their ideal writing style down pat in their first book. Any author can only improve from there. However, for an author who graduated from an Ivy League university with an English degree that concentrated in creative writing no less, this felt like a high schooler could've written it if they tried enough. All the characters felt one dimensional, the dialogue was the same quotes and phrases and ideas over and over again, and I felt like the book did not need to be 400 pages for what it was.</blockquote>

TL;DR? Simply put, save your time and your energy by not reading this. At least the cover looks nice.

I was so excited to read a Latine fantasy adventure and hope more writers are given the opportunity. This was marketed as a fun pirate adventure and there were many parts that were. I loved much of the settings once we went out to sea, full of mysterious exploits amidst the tropical surroundings. I also loved Pia, the archivist with a strong belief in Ximena the main character even when it was undeserved.

However I found the book a mix of ideas that didn't fully mesh for me and the overall tone felt more dark than I expected, I understand the author probably wanted to draw attention to more serious themes of oppression... which I appreciated but I also wanted more fun interactions between the characters. Most of the characters felt one dimensional to me or just too mysterious. I also did not love the romance which was a big reason I thought I would enjoy this. Along with a rushed ending this wound up being a 3 star and not memorable enough for me to continue.

Thanks to the publisher Harper Collins Childrens books and Netgalley for the eArc access.

Loved it! I think teens who are looking for non-typical fantasy will find it especially engaging. It's got some great crossover potential and has a searing ending that will make readers beg for the sequel.

I have to be honest I could not get in to the story the writing was all over the place the political view where just not my style I DNF the book. I attempted to get into it over 4 weeks.

“From preparation comes perfection.” This principle guides everything that Ximena Reale does, including executing Captain Salvador Domínguez. He is a pirate guilty of murder and treason, just like her parents, and the only way to wash away the stain on her family is to be the best and to achieve the rank of cazadora. Everything on this day goes without a hitch, except that her sister fails to appear for the execution and for the pirate’s dying words, “¡Viva Gasparilla! ¡Viva la Libertad!”

For every step forward that Ximena achieves toward her goal, her sister demonstrates weakness that threatens it. Like failing to attend the hanging with all the other archivists. Each disobeyance endangers Marquessa, and makes Ximena fear that she will not be able to keep her safe as she promised the day their parents died.

Ximena does not understand why the executed pirate dared to speak such treasonous words, especially since Gasparilla died two centuries ago. He is not and cannot be alive, and yet rumors, roses, and tattoos suggest the impossible. If she can discover where his long-lost stolen treasure and the pirates’ hideout are, she will have all she needs to surmount her parents’ transgressions and attain her dream. With the help of one of the archivists, this is possible, but convincing the admiral without proof positive is highly unlikely . . . until pirates attack the city and kidnap the queen. Then the admiral re-evaluates Ximena’s treasure map, and selects her, as well as the archivist and her nemesis, to pursue the pirates. Going on this mission is her dream, but it also means that she must leave behind her sister who now languishes in prison under a sentence of death. Her only chance to save Marquessa is to return triumphant, but will Ximena do so in time?

Knowing fellow classmate Dante de Léon, he will do his best to prevent her from succeeding. He is her nemesis and gets away with every disgrace possible, but he is also untouchable. She must work for every iota she achieves, whereas he merely needs to smile because his mother is the high minister of Luza. As the most powerful member of the realm aside from the queen, she is the one person who can and will prevent Ximena from attaining her dream.

Capitana is written for ages 14 and up, but even adults will be captivated by this fantasy romance that expertly weaves piratical details, including a mock pirate trial, into a story that asks one essential question: Are you brave enough to fight for the things that are worth fighting for? Ximena Reale has foibles and strengths that enrich her as a character and make us readily identify with her. James intricately intertwines elements of realism with fantasy that ebb and flow as each successive wave crests higher and higher. At the same time, death-defying twists leave you guessing and your heart pounding as Ximena faces difficult dilemmas and truths and must decide whether the true path to follow is the same as when she begins her journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

All I want to say is I need a second book stat!!

This was a quick read for me. Maybe a 3.5 stars rounded up at times. I enjoyed my time reading this, though it was frustrating at times.

I would have enjoyed it a lot more if she was a pirate the whole time like I thought. My bad for not paying close enough attention to the fact that she wasn’t. But I also get trapped by that. I tend to read books that are about “pirates” but make them the bad guys and the main character is against them. Obviously pirates in real life are the bad guys, but I love them in fiction and don’t want them to be made out as such!

Lots of action and sea adventure which I appreciated. The beginning was a little slow, but I was engaged throughout.

I loved the mix of Spanish in there. I had to use translate quite a bit because my Spanish is pretty rusty, but that aspect of the book I quite enjoyed.

Ximena was not a good person. She was insufferable most of the time. It took her forever to switch sides and it was so annoying. I get it was a slow burn of her learning that what she knew wasn’t the right away, but still. I wish it happened faster.

She wasn’t a super likeable main character. She was flawed, but that was the point in a way.

I loved Dante. He was so funny, I was laughing so much at what he said. I loved his sarcastic nature. He is exactly my type of love interest.

I was a sucker for their relationship! So many of their lines made me insane! The things that were said I was screaming. I enjoyed the slow burn of it. It maybe happened a little quick once they finally got together, but I didn’t even care.

Pía was cute. Wish I could have saw a little more of her, but what I did see it was great. Pía would have done anything for Ximena, which you love to see in a friendship. Ximena used her for most of it, which that really sucked, and Pía was maybe a little too forgiving, but I still am looking forward to seeing more of their friendship.

There were lots of unexpected things that happened. I still wish we knew how exactly some of it was possible, but I can suspend my disbelief.

If this is the only book I hate the ending (because it hurt me haha); if there’s another one I’m hyped to read it. It ended where there could be another one but it also could be a stand alone, which I do appreciate honestly. As much as I’d love to read more and that cliffhanger would kill me, I’m satisfied enough I can come to my own conclusions if there is not a second book.