Review: Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince

EMILY WINDSNAP AND THE PIRATE PRINCE

Emily Windsnap, #8

by Liz Kessler

Candlewick Press

March 12, 2019

Middle Grade Fantasy

288 pages

Emily Windsnap ends up surrounded by pirates — and on a life-changing adventure — in the eighth installment of the New York Times best-selling series.

Traveling home by cruise ship should be a relaxing break after Emily’s latest adventure, but things take a turn when the ship is overtaken by a pirate king and his crew. After the pirates collect everyone’s riches, they steal something even more valuable: Aaron. The pirate king’s eldest son takes Aaron captive, forcing him to help guide the pirates to the mythical Trident’s Treasure. So Emily dives into action and joins the younger son’s crew in hopes of saving Aaron. But while experiencing life on the waves, Emily is surprised to find herself not only enjoying the pirate life, but actually bonding with the crew — especially Sam, the pirate king’s son. Between helping Sam unravel riddles to beat his brother to the treasure and making sure that her friends are safe, Emily realizes that she needs to be true to herself. Will she cast aside her mermaid life to join her new friends, or will she find a way to follow her own path?

MY TIDBITS

I read this book without reading the first seven in the series and had no problem sinking into the characters and plot. So, it can be read as a stand alone.

Emily's family is finally taking a vacation together on a luxurious cruise ship...with her boyfriend, of course. It's everything she hoped it could be and more until pirates take over the ship. When the kidnap her boyfriend, she's determined to rescue him and makes a deal with the pirate's son. But what starts out as a rescue trip, quickly has Emily questioning her own life and what she really wants to do.

This is an easy to read story, which middle grade readers are sure to enjoy. The action, humor and tension are perfect to keep the pages turning without growing too over-powering or allowing the tale to become boring. It's a great mix. The dialogue and characters come across very naturally, and make it easy to see the characters as people you'd love to know yourself. Even the pirates aren't over the top, but still hold enough saltiness to make them a danger on the open seas.

There's a little bit of a mystery as Emily and her friends try to figure out a riddle, and a few unexpected twists and turns. I especially enjoyed the fact that while Emily is a mermaid, it slides in smoothly with the rest of the plot and does outshine the problem she faces. She's in a good place, accepts herself and has a heart of gold when it comes to others.



And here she is...
Liz Kessler is one of the best-selling Emily Windsnap series, the Philippa Fisher series, and the middle-grade novels Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins?, North of Nowhere, and A Year Without Autumn, as well as several YA novels and a series of early readers. Liz Kessler lives in Cornwall, England, with her partner and their dog, Poppy.