DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING BY TRICIA LEVENSELLER || BUDDY READ DISCUSSION

Hello friends.

Are you ready for my pirate-y content?

Honestly, you don’t have much of a choice.

As you may know, Jenna and I buddy-read both Daughter of the Pirate King and its sequel Daughter of the Siren Queen.

Truth be told, I found out Jenna was planning to read the first book and asked, “HEY, CAN I READ WITH YOU?”

Because Jenna is awesome, she said yes and we embarked on this PIRATEY JOURNEY TOGETHER!

Here is our discussion of the first book in the duology.

Buddy Read Partner

“Welcome to Bookmark Your Thoughts, my little corner of the Internet for blogging about books and sharing my knowledge of literature to the world! Coming to life in 2017, Bookmark Your Thoughts was created with the intent to post frequent book reviews on a variety of genres and age categories. With a passion for reading and love of learning, the goal of this blog is to foster book discussions and provide a safe place for any bookworm to share their thoughts.

With the desire to splurge on books rather than toys as a child, it’s no surprise I became the perfect definition of a bookworm. Firstly, my name is Jenna. I’m a tea and coffee drinking bibliophile living it up in Ottawa, ON – the capital of Canada.

As noted, the major focus for this blog is book reviews and bullet journal ideas, with an assortment of other fun and interesting posts – within and beyond the realm of literature. You can discover more about Bookmark Your Thoughts on Tumblr,  the companion blog full of exquisite book photography and delightful miscellaneous photos. I also created a website for school on Weebly that I’m fairly proud of, if you’re interested: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Types of literature I cherish are coming of age/realistic fiction, paranormal/supernatural, urban fantasy, children’s literature, Shakespearean literature, and Victorian literature – though I read an abundance of other genres. Authors close to my heart are Philip Pullman, Kelley Armstrong, Edgar Allan Poe, and A.A. Milne…no, I won’t choose only one.

A little about my mundane life…

I live in a cozy little condo in the most hipster place in Ottawa…seriously, I’m walking distance of so many yoga and fitness studios, and my favourite local spot is a smoothie bowl place. In 2016, I completed a master’s degree in Library and Information Science at The University of Western Ontario. Now, I’m a Metadata Specialist and Author Liaison at Statistics Canada. The dream is to become an Academic Librarian or work for Library and Archives Canada, though I do really enjoy my current profession…I might just stay here.

Beyond the realm of reading, my hobbies include trying new teas (yes…this is a hobby), nature walking, yoga, rollerblading, strength training, re-watching Friends and music. All in all, I live a rather mundane life and live vicariously through the novels I read.

Please feel free to contact me regarding book review suggestions, blog challenges you’d like to see, bookish posts you’re interested in reading, or if you simply wish to connect! I love talking about books and greatly appreciate receiving feedback in order to improve Bookmark Your Thoughts!

You can also follow my book adventures through Instagram!

Happy Reading and thank you for visiting!”

 

Jenna is one of my favorite bloggers out there. She’s so kind and extremely passionate – her book reviews are completely contagious and make you excited for whatever she’s reading. I reached out to her to buddy-read because I knew she’d make it fun.

You can read her buddy read discussion post here.

Q1. Would you rather know how to sword-fight or have seduction powers?

Lauren: “I feel like I already have seduction powers in that I’m charming and have no shame. As an example, I once asked a stranger for his belt and he gave it to me. Though I can talk my way out of most situations like Jack Sparrow, I’ve long harbored a dream of sword-fighting like Will Turner. That dream includes making my own swords and practicing with them three hours a day so that when I meet a pirate…I CAN KILL IT.”

Jenna: “To be honest — sword-fighting skills! Though I think the latter is a neat concept to this novel, I personally don’t see the appeal ha-ha! I’d rather just have these epic fighting skills to be able to fend off enemies! Also … seduction powers seem to have a number of setbacks.”

 

Q2. Which character would you rather have as a first mate?

Lauren: “If I remember correctly, Mandsy was a healer on Alosa’s crew. She kept track of things easily, which is a good quality in a first mate. She also seemed loyal and trusted Alosa to make the right choices. Was she wearing a suede vest? I feel like she was. MAXIMUM COOL.”

Jenna: “Ummm … is choosing Alosa cheating? Seriously though, she’s a baller! Intelligent, witty and sarcastic, full of energy, loyal, amazing sword-fighting skills among other great talents … what’s NOT to love about Alosa? I feel as though I could trust her to make sure my crew and ship are safe, in addition to having my back when needed.”

 

Q3. What elements do you think Daughter of the Pirate King excels at in depicting a “traditional” pirate/adventure themed novel? What parts do you feel the author could’ve worked on more?

Lauren: “The book maintained a pretty decent balance of swashbuckling derring-do and actual stakes. I found myself fascinated by pirate culture and hierarchy, particularly when lesser pirate captains start cutting in on the action. Though this was the first book in a series with more action to come, I expected more treasure. Per Jack Sparrow, pirates are ‘completely obsessed with treasure.’ And YES, I KNOW not all treasure is silver and gold, but a stray trunk of jewels wouldn’t have hurt.”

“This next aspect is less traditional, though I still think it needs explanation in the sequel: WHERE ARE ALL THE QUEER WOMEN AT AND WHO DO I BLAME FOR THIS OVERSIGHT? WHAT ABOUT ALL THE WOMEN WEARING SUEDE VESTS? (It’s possible I invented the suede vests.) You can’t tell me seduction magic ONLY works on straight men. That’s not a thing.”

Jenna: “Daughter of the Pirate King highlights a number of concepts well that are in a “traditional” pirate/adventure story: an epic quest, treasures to be had, primarily based on a pirate ship, moral ambiguity among the cast of characters, a large portion of the setting out at sea, and much more.”

“Unfortunately, I feel as though one element in PARTICULAR that Levenseller didn’t highlight upon well was the lack of adventure. Yes … the story takes place travelling out at sea … but there’s VERY little world exploration. There are references to different parts of the world, but they’re rather quick and non-descriptive. When I’m reading an adventure story, I expect more regarding information about the world and a number of different settings that the characters explore.”

Stay tuned for another discussion post involving this book’s sequel, Daughter of the Siren Queen.

I am here to tell you that buddy-reading is VERY FUN and I highly recommend it.

If you magically discover a queer epistolary fantasy novel (with, like, witches or magical steeds), I am SUPER DOWN to read it with you.

See y’all in the next post.