Let the pirates in with Capitana

Capitana by Cassandra James is a new pirate fantasy, the beginning of a series, that I truly enjoyed. Read by 4-star review.

Out: February 4th 2025

Ximena is on her way to becoming a black-cloaked Cazadoro, a pirate hunter. Even though she is a top student she always has to deal with the unfortunate legacy of her parents, hunters who betrayed the empire and turned to piracy, therefore they were executed. Gasparilla, the most notorious pirate in Luzan history is back and she is offered the chance to become Cazadoro if she catches him. But she must compete against Dante, the aggravating son of the High Minister. On her quest, Ximena begins to realize that she may not be in the right after all.

Opening with an execution and the mention of a notorious pirate who might be back from the dead is the way to hook pirate lovers and it worked on me. Let us not forget the protagonist has an eyepatch! And the promise of a pirate revolution. The narrative is colored with a Spanish flair and has a companionable, matter-of-fact tone giving us a great sense of the places, characters and what is going on. There is a lonely but still hopeful quality to this 3rd person POV.

A stickler for the law, Ximena is strict with herself and others, constantly preoccupied with success to the point of being unnecessarily cruel. She is abrupt, a bit calculating and overly confident. You could easily dislike her but you don't. You do get cross with her whereas there are moments you want to strangle her, but you're always on her side. She is disdained or feared, made an outcast through no fault of her own. She genuinely has faith in the mission of the Cazadores and longs to prove herself.

Dante acts like a spoiled rich brat, always in trouble and so much fun. I think he serves as her wake-up call for unseen truths even though he seems to go out of his way to irritate her. One star of this book's rating belongs solely to him. Their antagonism is quite amusing. They share a kinship that is perfectly perceived in the following line of dialogue from Dante: "People judge you for what you are, and they judge me for what I'm not."

Pia is a treasure.

As the story exchanges pirate hunter training drama with thrilling pirate chasing our leads start to shine and so does the action. Action that gave me all the comprehensive and engaging details I needed to feel like I was in the midst of it. The 'just when it is needed' figurative speech hosted creative wordplay resulting in vivid and original imagery. The protagonists' character evolution is slow, oftentimes painfully slow, but it is there.

The book was too busy in some parts. I really appreciate the author's imagination and enthusiasm, but too many things happening at once often take from each individual event and then they aren't presented as fully as they could be. There is nothing wrong with rich action, I just think it needed a little more work. Occasionally things happened that seemed to come out of nowhere, without proper explanation as to how they were feasible. But you cannot deny the entertaining storytelling with a great premise as its foundation. Moreover that marvelous reveal that changes everything we know, a chain reaction that leads to many surprises. I do love surprises.

Presenting the reality of colonialism, showing its injustices, this story champions fighting against social inequality and for freedom. So much happens in this attention-grabbing, cheer-inducing adventure, a present wrapped with legend-like and charm-filled exploits, relentlessly exciting. This is a deeply satisfying, pirate origin story if you will.