Book Review: The Pirate Captain's Daughter
Remember I told you how much fun it is to write bad reviews? Well, exhibit A!
Catherine deVault's father is always off on the high seas, while she stays home and takes care of her sickly mother and learns how to be a proper lady from her governesses. Everyone thinks that Captain deVault's ship, the Reprisal, is simply another British merchant. But Catherine has surmised the truth--her father is a pirate captain! When her mother dies, and her father plans to send Catherine to relatives in New England, she tells her father that she knows the truth, and she wants to go with him. But pirate superstitions about women, and the gorgeous cabin boy, William, prove to make things more complicated.
The premise for this book was so extremely intriguing--high seas adventure, strong female characters, historical fiction, pirates, noble pirates vs. scoundrels, coming of age, and secret forbidden love. I was quite excited to read it, and was disappointed when it was full of ill-thought plots, sub-par research, flat characters, deus ex machina resolutions, and bad writing. As a side note, a plot that could create such a strong female character (especially the second where they introduce a second pirate captain who is a woman), resulted in two female stereotypes: one female stereotype who floats through life and lets other people solve her problems (Catherine), and one female stereotype who is unstable, and unable to control her emotions and libido (Captain Moriarty).
Reviews of the second said that it was better. If possible, it was worse. It was poke-me-in-the-eye-with-a-stick bad. I'm not even really sure what the author was trying to accomplish other than appease some plot bunny that bit her--and badly appease it.
One star for this series--and it had so much potential!
Catherine deVault's father is always off on the high seas, while she stays home and takes care of her sickly mother and learns how to be a proper lady from her governesses. Everyone thinks that Captain deVault's ship, the Reprisal, is simply another British merchant. But Catherine has surmised the truth--her father is a pirate captain! When her mother dies, and her father plans to send Catherine to relatives in New England, she tells her father that she knows the truth, and she wants to go with him. But pirate superstitions about women, and the gorgeous cabin boy, William, prove to make things more complicated.
The premise for this book was so extremely intriguing--high seas adventure, strong female characters, historical fiction, pirates, noble pirates vs. scoundrels, coming of age, and secret forbidden love. I was quite excited to read it, and was disappointed when it was full of ill-thought plots, sub-par research, flat characters, deus ex machina resolutions, and bad writing. As a side note, a plot that could create such a strong female character (especially the second where they introduce a second pirate captain who is a woman), resulted in two female stereotypes: one female stereotype who floats through life and lets other people solve her problems (Catherine), and one female stereotype who is unstable, and unable to control her emotions and libido (Captain Moriarty).
Reviews of the second said that it was better. If possible, it was worse. It was poke-me-in-the-eye-with-a-stick bad. I'm not even really sure what the author was trying to accomplish other than appease some plot bunny that bit her--and badly appease it.
One star for this series--and it had so much potential!
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