*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Capitana is a fun and easy read, making it a great choice for those looking for a light, engaging story. The pacing is quick, and the plot moves along without dragging, keeping readers entertained from start to finish. Spme charcters are likable more than others and the author does a good job of developing their personalities and motivations, even though some parts of the narrative feel predictable. While it doesn't break new ground in terms of originality, the book is enjoyable for what it is—a breezy and uncomplicated story that doesn't require too much thought. Overall, Capitana is a solid read for those looking for something easy and fun to dive into.

This was a struggle to read. The plot was generic and I was so bored. Ximena was unlikable and the romance with Dante was weak. This was definitely not my favorite pirate fantasy romance.

This was a good take on a pirate story. I enjoyed the plot of the book. Ximena was a likeable, if occasionally frustrating character and I enjoyed her arc.

I really enjoyed this YA pirate adventure fantasy at first. The school angst, the pirate mystery, the pirate attack all kept me glued to the book. The MC starts off rather unlikable and is very pro-empire, blindly following authority like a good imperial soldier, but she slowly starts waking up to the injustice. The book reminded me a little of Some Desperate Glory and A Language of Dragons for its criticism of imperialism and cyclical violence. However, the pirates aren't all altruistic freedom fighters/Robin Hoods. It seemed like most of them weren't even good people (they give silver to the common folk but are totally down to torture and kill teenagers), so yeah. Both sides sucked, and I didn't really buy into Ximena's about-face to the side of good/piracy when there WAS no clear side of good. The real happy ending would be sailing away to another country and not looking back.

I really, REALLY disliked the romantic interest. It's definitely enemies-to-lovers, but I hated Dante so much at first that I thought HE was the villain (or one of them at least) and the real MMC had to be showing up later on. But no, it's Dante, he's the one, and he's only awful because he's so jaded by their government and society and his mom. Cool, he should be jaded, this place sucks and so does his mom, but he was basically a bully. A lazy, irresponsible one, which is much more insulting than a bully with a good work ethic. For me to like him as the romantic lead, he shouldn't have been so unpleasant at first, or maybe there should've been more hints of him pining. I think Pia had the potential to be a better love interest ("Don't worry...I won't let you fail alone"), but I read a lot of sapphic romance so that's the gay in me coming through.

The hook for the sequel was good. This was well-written and entertaining novel, but Ximena's self-awakening arc, her love interest, and the pirate villainy needed more development for me.

So, according to various people online, James is a zi0n!st, pro next-electorally-elected-president/convicted felon, and has opinions regarding autonomy rights that aren't pro-women's rights. Forgive me for the censors, but if Goodreads is taking down reviews with certain words, I want to be careful, but I don't want to skirt around this, either. I tried to look into these claims myself, but the her direct opinion articles and the pics she took in a certain country have been scrubbed off the base web. I wish I knew about these things before I grabbed the ARC. No wonder it was free without request.

Regardless, I only continued because I was curious. If James is who people say she is, then what is she doing writing a book about the evils of imperialism and colonialism? How can an author write a story about a protagonist learning the errors of the mindset instilled by an empire while believing in what she does? These types of questions run through my head every time I see/hear about American conservatives loving/supporting a piece of media whose themes and messages directly contradict their own values down to the core? It's like seeing the aforementioned convicted felon unironically attend a Green Day concert. In the wise words of Billy Joe Armstrong, "What the f**k are you doing here, dude?"

So, I did not read this to support the author. If anything, I'm read this to spite her, if what was said about her is true. I read this in an attempt to sedate the curiosity I had over this walking contradiction. In the end, I just got a painfully generic fantasy read.

The entire story reads like an Ivy League grad's first draft, which I suspect it is, given that James got the book deal before she graduated Princeton. The book is based on the premise that not everything is as black and white as it seems, but the worldbuilding fails to reflect that. It's obvious from the get-go that the empire is bad, with their divine worship of the laws created by their first ruler 200 years before the story, handing out punishments/killings to criminals and citizens like candy, and the rigid rankings in the school that enforce obedience without question to the top from the bottom. But the pirates, the supposed good guys, aren't much better. Sure, we're told they're heroes and saviors to a lot of people in this world, but on Gasparilla's little pirate island, the one that claims to be a democracy to oppose the empire, the legendary captain literally ordered an imprisonment and no one could object to it because he was clearly in charge. Both sides suck in this book. The cazadores are authoritarian, fanatic hypocrites, and the pirates are anarchist, stereotypical depictions of pirates who are barbarian hypocrites. There is no one to root for in this book.

Speaking of not rooting for anyone, Ximena also sucks. I understand the point of the story is for her to go from aforementioned authoritarian fanatic to a pirate through learning not everything isn't what it seems, but she's too damn one-dimensional for that. For most of the book, her thoughts primarily revolve around following the rules, refusing to engage in social behaviors because she hates friendships, and obsessing over Gasparilla, which is initially looked down on by her admiral until she's inevitably proven right. She's not badass, nor terribly sympathetic, even though she was manipulated as a kid to betray her parents, and her character arc, despite its obvious trajectory, was so clunky and unnatural. Her motivation was purely because [she couldn't live with the fact she sent her sister, who was Gasparilla, to death all so she could become a full-time cop. You should have grown a conscious before you winningly sent her to her death, Xi! (hide spoiler)], and all the sudden she changed for the better. She patched things up with her only friend, kissed the boy, and rode off into the sunset to become a pirate in the span of two chapters. God, this girl was just so frustratingly boring

The hate-to-love romance with Dante was so awful. God, I genuinely hate Dante, because he's another troubled, alcoholic rich boy who bullies Ximena but somehow falls in love with her?? I do not understand what flipped in his brain between the beginning and the end, because he spent so much of this book messing with her so they could spend time together?? They have no chemistry! Ximena spends so much time thinking how much she hates him and how she should turn him in for the treasonous things he constantly says to her, but she doesn't! Again, the hate to love switches in the last couple chapters, and I just hated this relationship so much.

Politics aside, I will implore you: Don't read this book. I did this whole review just to save anyone slightly interested in this book from it. Put that support into other debut authors who need it more. And remember: Always be informed of the person/group behind the media you consume.

Not very exciting and is very predictable. Did not connected emotionally with the characters and felt like it was trying to be Pirates of the Caribbean.

I first want to say this review isn’t based off the author’s viewpoints (I tried to do a search and couldn’t find exactly what they were anyway). With that being said, sadly this was a DNF for me. I just couldn’t get into this one and I usually like pirate books. Maybe I’m out growing YA? I’m not sure. To me it felt like the writing was kind of choppy and I wasn’t a big fan of the dialogue. It was very slow going and I just couldn’t push myself through this one. All thoughts and opinions are solely my own. Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

I was browsing NetGalley when I found that this book had been made available for a limited time, so I grabbed it. I am so glad I did. This book was amazing! I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't read much about it before reading it, but I devoured it. It was very propulsive and had a great beginning. There was so much adventure and swashbuckling! I felt as though I was on the ride Pirates of the Caribbean but with a better plotline. The characters are also so well written and easily loveable. I loved Ximena and her tenacity to follow her dreams and what she believes in. I do wonder if some of her fault other readers would find annoying, but to me I appreciated her growth as a character.
One of two notes notes I would let readers know is that there is a lot of Spanish in this book. I thought it was great since it added to the authenticity, but I definitely had to use my translator a few times.
Note number two is that this was very mild on the romance scale. It was a slow burn, glacial even and there were no spicy scenes. I appreciated it because of how the story unfolded.
All in all, this was a great read. I plan on buying a paper copy when it comes out and highly anticipate the sequel.

This is your next pirate book obsession. This story had me hooked from the very early pages. I like how we got a very different perspective in this book coming from the Pirate hunters instead of the pirates. And the slow slow burn I feel will be well worth it in the next book! I think this is hands down one of my favorite reads of the year!! Do yourself a favor and order this one now. It has all the piratey goodness we love but with some much more bang.

Dark academia at a pirate academy? Sign me up.

Ximena is out to restore her family’s honor through the academy, hunting pirates and top marks with equal zeal. Similarly, I tore through this book excitedly and finished it in just a few days. A nearly perfect YA pirate story, I found myself shocked and confused by twists in the plot (below), but found myself cheering on the main character the entire way.

This is the first in a duology, and I’m so excited to read the next!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books/ Quill Tree Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

After doing some research and readers bringing things to my attention I've done my due diligence and I can no longer support this book and author's debut.

I am a sucker for YA pirate stories ever since Daughter of the Pirate King and as soon as I saw this debut was coming out next year, I knew I had to pick it up. I was so excited to read it early!

This book follows Ximena, the daughter of pirates, who is trying to get past the scandal and stigma of having pirates for parents by becoming a legendary pirate hunter.

I really enjoyed Ximena as a character. She has a lot stacked against her with her past and really is not treated well by those around her. Still, she doesn’t wallow or feel sorry for herself. She just does what needs to be done without complaint. I couldn’t help but feel for her and root for her.

The story had a lot of twists and turns and I basically flew through it. The book also had an easy writing style which I appreciated. I also liked the Spanish phrases throughout which enabled me to practice my Spanish and that is something I’m always excited to come across in the books I read. (I know that’s a minor thing but I wanted to mention it.)

As far as the romance goes, it wasn’t my favorite, but I did enjoy their banter together. He was an interesting character and I liked getting to know and understand him.

I will say that I suspected the plot twist, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. I liked seeing it come together.

It ended on a very interesting note and I will definitely be picking up the sequel as this is the first book in a duology. Overall I was very impressed with this debut. I really enjoyed this one.

This was such a great romantic fantasy element, it had that pirate feel that I wanted and enjoyed the overall story going on. I was hooked with this world and how the characters worked with the plot of the novel. Cassandra James has a strong writing style and had that element that I wanted to read more in this series and from Cassandra James. It was a great start to this world and does everything that I was looking for in a opening chapter of this.

Disappointing that a pirate book wasn't great. Weak plot, weak characters, just overall disappointing.

I will not be promoting this book on any platform in the foreseeable due to the recent revelations of the author's political views.

I was super excited for this book, but street there authors very public views online, I can’t support this book.

First, I'd like to send a thanks to the author, Cassandra James, the publisher, Harper Collins, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Capitana. I will share my review to Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble as well. This pirate fantasy aimed at ages 14-18 stars a main character named Ximena Reale, the 17-year-old daughter of pirate legends who were executed and left a storied legacy behind. She attends La Academia to join the Cazadores, a group of swashbucklers who hunt down pirates for the Luzan Empire.

When the legendary pirate Gasparilla returns to kidnap the Queen, Ximena and her competition, Dante de Leon, head out on an adventure to return the queen to her throne and win a magic cloak. Ximena's legacy follows her, and she soon learns that there's a lot she doesn't know about pirates and the Cazadores. She's only heard one side of the story, and that side has been the side of empire. Her friend Pia the archivist is very cute and sweet, and I always love a loveable best friend side character. I found the pacing and plot had some moments of drift and I found myself drifting as well, but I very much appreciate the author's dedication to the research and accuracy of the vocabulary and events within. There's a lot of Spanish vocab which makes it feel more realistic. This one is slower in the romance, and I suspect it will take off more in the second installment. I would recommend for anyone who enjoys a strong female heroine and clever, handsome MMC and a YA story with a little magic and mystery.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC!

𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘢 is an enthralling, fast-paced YA fantasy with a strong female heroine, intriguing male rival, and intelligent archivist friend! I was hooked from the first line, and while I had an idea where the story was going the entire time, I still enjoyed the ride. I'm already anxiously waiting for the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley, Quill Tree Books, and HarperCollins Children's Books for this advanced copy. You can pick up Capitana on February 4, 2025.

While a YA pirate fantasy sounds up my alley, unfortunately, I will not be reading this book due to the political views this author has displayed publicly online. I wish I had known about this behavior before downloading the book, but for now, I think it's best if I DNF and move on to other ARCs.

The author is Zionist, a Trump supporter and against abortion, and being that set against basic human rights for so many people is unacceptable.