I wanted to love this book so badly. Here’s the thing. I love the concept, however, I found the prose uninspiring, the FMC insufferable, and the romance unconvincing. The best way I can describe it is the whole book felt really forced, and long story short, I felt no connection or attachment to the story. The lore and worldbuilding were decent, though.

I read this book before I found out about the controversy with this author. I would recommend anyone considering this book to research the author themselves to make an informed decision on if this is an author they wish to support. I agreed to review this book before I was aware of the controversy.

I love pirates. I love academic stories. This book should have been all of my wildest dreams coming true. And while I did enjoy it while I was reading it, the second I finished it and started thinking deeper about it, it fell apart.

The world-building is weak. There are mentions of religions and pirates and even a historical figure, but it’s not clear how all of those things fit together. Is there magic that can reincarnate someone? That never seems to be clear, even though the main character seems to think it’s possible. I was never certain why things worked the way they did.
The pirates are theoretically the good guys, but their systems seem just as rigid and cruel in some ways as the empire is. It’s supposed to be a democracy where people are equal and free, and yet they don’t seem any safer or free from inappropriate use of power. I also don’t know why the cazadores are the way they are or what life looks like for most people in this world. I couldn’t figure out how the government is run, which seems like a pretty important detail if we’re supposed to discover how bad this regime really is.

Ximena is an intensely frustrating main character. She’s supposed to change her mind throughout the book, but it is so mind-numbingly slow. She sees example after example of the cazadores being awful and wrong and she flat-out refuses to change her mind. Her character arc of why she wants so badly to become a cazadore also falls flat when her backstory is revealed. It just doesn’t make sense. She’s so hopelessly stubborn until she has to change her mind for plot reasons. She also has a terrible attitude and is awful to people. She also doesn’t really have character growth.

Similarly, the romance is weak. He’s a nepo baby bully who cares about nothing but somehow decides he’s wildly in love with her, in spite of her aforementioned stubbornness. I have no idea why these two change their mind about each other. I have no idea why Ximena doesn’t stick to her morals and turn him in over and over again. At least Dante shows slightly more of a nuanced character than Ximena even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I also didn’t like some of the writing itself. The random Spanish felt like it was more for color than anything else. The timeline doesn’t completely make sense (how is she being bullied by Dante the whole time in the same classes if she’s skipping years constantly?) There were descriptions of things that didn’t entirely make sense. There were some issues with how disabilities were portrayed, and I was troubled by the only people who were not white being described as being uncivilized.

Generally, the characters were annoying and irredeemable. The world systems don’t make sense. The writing had some issues. Overall, this book could have used another few drafts before it was fully developed. I wish it had been as fun as the cover had made it look.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review of the book.

Apparently this author is a Z!onist and I will not be leaving a review for this book but refuse to let my ratio get messed up!

Thank you for sending me a copy but i will pass.

Capitana by Cassandra James was full of adventures.
A pirates, rivals-to-lovers deliverers an adventurous journey.
This YA pirate fantasy has engaging characters and merit me intrigued till the end.

a pirate revenge story, i initially requested this book thinking it would be a fun adventure story. unfortunately i ended up regretting that decision. i tried reading this book, but could not get into it, despite initially looking forward to reading it. it also turns out that the author is apparently a z!onist and has very questionable political views, which made me want to read it even less. overall, not an enjoyable story and not something i would recommend.

i received a copy of this book to review from netgalley and the publisher.

genres: fantasy, adventure, young adult, historical fiction

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this swashbuckling tale. Of course, it truly gets good right at the end. The book has several strong females on both the side of the law and the side of piracy. If you love Pirates of the Carribean, you might find some similarities. I especially loved stretching my Spanish vocabulary with words and phrases that were sprinkled in. Don’t worry if you don’t know Spanish! The author added translations in for most and others are similar enough to English that you should be able to understand most.

Ximena Reale is determined to become a Cazadora, devoting her life to hunting pirates and upholding law in the Luzan Empire. She knows it won’t be easy—haunted by the betrayal and execution of her parents, famed cazadors-turned-pirate, it will take a miracle to overcome the traitorous Reale name. When legendary pirate Gasparilla attacks the Empire and captures its queen, Ximena finally gets the chance to prove herself and earn her place as a Cazadora—but can Ximena’s belief in her cause survive the journey, or is piracy truly in her blood?

I love a good pirate story and was excited by Capitana’s premise, but simply couldn’t look past its unlikeable main character. Ximena is mean, lacks empathy, and consistently fails to acknowledge the Empire’s obvious cruelty. Though I often enjoy imperfect protagonists, Ximena has no “save the cat” moment to humanize her, and between her unkindness and love interest Dante’s near-constant inebriation, it’s difficult to find anyone to genuinely root for.

Plot-wise, Capitana is fairly predictable. Ximena’s journey from black-and-white morality to a more complex worldview functions as a story but isn’t revolutionary, and though certain twists were surprising (if not wholly believable), they aren’t enough to save an otherwise formulaic narrative. The romance is similarly lackluster, and while the pirate vs. pirate hunter dynamic James sets up for the sequel will perhaps be more compelling, I personally won’t be continuing the series to find out.

NOTE: While I am immensely grateful to the publisher for the chance to read and review Capitana, the author holds views that I personally do not feel comfortable supporting. As such, I have made the decision to refrain from posting my review on social media.

Ximena is trained to fight pirates after discovering that her parents were once respected pirate hunters that turned to pirating. She goes on a mission for queen and country and discovers that everything she was taught is a lie.

Overall, the book was fine. I found myself not caring through most of the book. The writing was reminiscent of college papers I've written. Not exactly what I want when reading fiction, but not painfully bad. The training didn't really make sense financially or when it came to building trust between candidates. The relationships were not well done. Ximena pretty much does a 180 on all of her relationships after a nightmare. The plot twist didn't make sense. The "fantasy" aspect of this book could have easily been removed and nothing would be changed. Maybe the sequel will take more advantage of the forbidden magic, but I'm not interested in reading it.

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.