Yuffie's Book Reviews

The Pirate's Wish - by Cassandra Rose Clarke

--Published Book--

(sequel to The Assassin's Curse)

OH. My god. I rarely fangirl over books, but in this case, I'm making an exception. THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. NAJI. AND THE PIRATES. AND BLOOD MAGIC. AND ANANNA. AH.

Okay, now that that's out of my system, I'll be a little more professional.

Plot
Ananna and Naji are on a quest to complete three impossible tasks in order to break their impossible curse. (As a refresher of book one, Ananna saved Naji's life and cursed him so that he must always protect her. If she's in danger or gets hurt, it gives him anything from an annoying headache to completely incapacitating him, depending on the severity of her danger/wounds.) What was a pleasant surprise was how they knocked off one of the tasks right from the get go (I think a couple chapters in). And you were expecting this to be the cliched final task at the very end. No. And the consequences of it were huge and trailed on through the entire story! It was WONDERFUL. Such a fresh breath of air and unpredictable. I can't go into specifics without spoiling it, but I seriously commend Clarke for such a bold move.

There was so much action and adventure and pure awesomeness during this story. Battles with pirates and Mist evil magic people, and a manticore. So well done. There wasn't a dull moment through the first 2/3s of the book. After that, the romance kicked into full gear and became a huge focus, so I started losing interest. But any romance lover would like it, I believe.

There was another plot issue, a repeat from book one: no real climax. This one actually did have a climax where they fought one of the Mist evil dudes who's after Naji. However, it wasn't the most heart-pounding action in the book. I think the action preceeding it with the battle to take over the Empire ship was far more exciting and epic.

And regarding the Mists--they weren't very well developed. They were after Naji, so they kept appearing to Ananna and friends, trying to seduce them into handing over Naji. The whole idea was awesome and added another layer to the whole magic system and worldbuilding, but it wasn't explored too deeply. It seems like it was just thrown in as another hindrance, not a legitimate plot arc. And since it was hinted at so often throughout both books, I expected something more climactic with it.

But despite that last 100 or so pages of the book, I was GLUED to it. I finished it in 2 days, which never happens to me. I usually take weeks to get through a book. But I honestly couldn't step away from this. It was THAT gripping.

Characters
OHhhhhh I can't rave about them enough. Ananna is hilariously blunt and grumpy and gruff and crude. She's extremely independent and doesn't care about formalities. This sounds like some cardboard cutout of a anti-sue, but you have to trust me on this--she's awesome. Her narration is just so funny. Every so often, I'd have to pause to giggle, get weird looks from my family, and then continue reading. She has such a unique way of looking at the world, and she just oozes personality.

Naji is still the adorkable badass who might just be a damsel in distress in disguise, but I don't care. He's a total introvert, extremely self-conscious about the disfiguring burn scars on his face, well-educated so he talks properly and politically correct, and yet he can still conjure winds that can blow an entire pirate ship off course. He's mysterious, able to teleport between shadows and other cool assassin-y things. He's covered in glowing tattoos, which is just awesome.

And putting him next to Ananna is side-splitting hilarious becuase they're polar opposites. Near the beginning of the story, Ananna got humiliated in front of Naji, so she ended up yelling at him and making rude/grumpy comments at him for no reason for days, and poor Naji was just like "okay.. *sadface quietly looks away and gives her space*" It was so dang funny the way Clarke handled the whole situation. I was grinning ear-to-ear.

Ananna is basically always on some hot-headed impulsive tirade, and Naji has no idea how to handle her and it's so adorable and endearing watching him look so helpless.

The side characters were phenomenal as well. The manticore was one of the best characters I've ever read about, and she was only in the story for maybe the first 1/3. Such a powerful "stage presence" in her scenes! Like Ananna and Naji, she oozed personality and you coudn't help but adore her. There are usually these talking animal sidekicks in a lot of fantasy stories, but they're just there for comic relief and half the time they're not even that funny. The manticore was not only hilarious, she was a huge driving force for the plot. I loved the whole concept of her and how she was woven into the story and Ananna and Naji's lives.

Marjani was the female pirate with a mysterious (not cliched mysterious, I promise you!) past. She's also a lesbian! YES. The way her sexual orientation was handled in the story was so natural and normal. There was no attention given to the fact that she loved another woman. It was just a fact that all the characters accepted without a second thought, and that was beautiful to see. :) Put a huge smile on my face. And Marjani wasn't simply the token LGBT character. She was hugely important to the plot and a big driving force. She was strong-willed, independent, and didn't take shit from any man. She barked out orders to the pirate crew, and everyone obeyed her because of her substantial presence. She was such a well-fleshed out character! So many layers and such a great and endearing personality. She was phenomenal.

Writing
Wow. That is all I have to say about that because I couldn't find any flaws with it. I caught a missing period somewhere and maybe a couple spots that could've been worded better, but that's extreme nitpicking. The prose flowed seamlessly, and the pacing was so fluid and just perfect. Ananna's narrative voice was fantastic--one of the best I've ever read--and it's just genius and so natural to read. No clunky wordings or choppiness. I'm usually such a nitpick on prose, and it was a huge (but really pleasant) surprise that I couldn't find anything wrong with Clarke's writing.

So overall, I think I just found a new favorite book (minus the romancy stuff at the end, but in her defense, all the awkward sexual tension leading up to it was ADDICTING. Even I, the girl who shrieks and runs away from a book at the mention of a romance, thoroughly enjoyed all that lead-up. It was actually pretty creative and unique and heartwrenching what Clarke did to poor Ananna and Naji. They got blood-bonded together and now they can hear each other's thoughts and emotions. really awkward when Ananna's secretly (well, not anymore) in love with Naji and he doesn't feel the same way and they both have to endure the awkward humiliation of the situation the entire book. I swear my heart was pounding and wrenching for Ananna. Huge round of applause for Clarke for that.

5/5 stars. I really want to give this like, 7/5 stars. It was just that awesome.