Review: The Pirate Captain's Daughter - Eve Bunting

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting
Series: Pirate Captain's Daughter #1
Genre: YA, historical fiction, romance
Published on February 14, 2011
Published by Sleeping Bear Press
Pages: 208
Read From: 3.29.12 - 3.29.12












SYNOPSIS

At age fifteen, Catherine's life is about to change. Her mother has just died and Catherine can't stand the thought of being sent to live with her aunt in Boston. She longs for a life of adventure. 

Ever since Catherine discovered her father's secret life as captain of the pirate ship Reprisal, her only thoughts are to join him on the high seas. Catherine imagines a life of sailing the blue waters of the Caribbean, the wind whipping at her back. She's heard tales of bloodshed and brutality but her father's ship would never be like that. 

Catherine convinces her father to let her join him, disguised as a boy. But once the Reprisal sets said, she finds life aboard a pirate ship is not for the faint of heart. If her secret is uncovered, punishment will be swift and brutal. 

But then there is William - William of the golden hair and eyes as blue as the sea. Catherine finds that love can come secretly and unannounced even in spite of the greatest danger.

Review

I ought to know better than to read "pirate stories." As far as "pirate stories" go, this is definitely not the worst. Catherine has a view of pirates that is definitely not historically accurate in the fact that people from an era, where pirates were a very real threat, did not imagine them as fun-loving Disney pirates; a breed of people who had special "pirate talk." (For the record, "shiver my timbers" actually means something, and was not an exclamation employed solely by pirates, and pirates did not talk in a special piratey way). But the Author does actually make it clear that the life of piracy was anything but fanciful, free, or even fun. For the most part, she portrays her pirates as bloodthirsty criminals, poor sailors, and all around filthy people.

The romance aspect of this story was annoying and very sudden. Almost as sudden as the romantic attachment in Unclaimed Heart. Catherine sees the cabin boy, goes all mooney-eyed, and when he finds out that she's a girl, he goes all mooney-eyed, and all of a sudden they want to be with each other forever, and she can't stop dreaming about his eyes, his tan muscles (though it's actually skin that tans, not muscles), his pretty hair, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't surprised when this happened, but I did hold out hopes that it wouldn't be mushy and nauseating as it turned out to be. I liked William well enough, but not when there were mushy-mushies.

Content-wise, when the rest of the crew discovers that Catherine is a girl, there is little surprise that they want to take advantage of her, and one of the crew members goes so far as to feel her up. But nothing comes of it, and it's more talk than actual occurrence.

I don't really think that the story needs a sequel - the Author could have very well fit everything into one book, but I admit that I am a little bit curious to see what happens next.

Others in This Series:

1)The Pirate Captain's Daughter

2)Voyage of the Sea Wolf