Yes, pirates. Sailing the shelves of the YA department in bookstores across the world is a resurgence of pirates in all their swashbuckling glory—and then some. Since the days of Robinson Crusoe, the literature world has been awash in pirates, enamored in their free, independent lifestyle, rife with danger, adventure, and of course, treasure. From Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, children’s literature has entertained a certain fascination with pirates, and young adult is no different—thank goodness. But, for a long time, pirates have stayed out of the spotlight in YA literature. I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with the world constantly ending in various explosive, radioactive, zombie-fied, and Oh-My-Gosh-The-Sky-Is-Actually-Falling-Down ways. Either way, the tide of pirates in literature receded (how many pirates pun can I possibly make I wonder), until just recently, when the wave of teenage pirates hit the bookstores—with a few modern-day twists.
In the past couple months alone, I have read nearly half a dozen YA novels featuring pirates, in some shape or form. Some were traditional, sailing the seas, looting for treasure, and jam-packed with high-stakes sea adventures and plenty of sword fighting goodness, like Tricia Levenseller’s novels Daughter of a Pirate King (2017) and its sequel Daughter of a Siren Queen (2018). And yes, that is right, the titles say “Daughter.” Alosa, the leading lady of this series, is a refreshingly independent, capable, take-nothing-from-nobody kind of gal, who captains her own crew of equally awesome female pirates-in-arms.
Another type of pirate novel I read involved yet another kick-butt female lead, who not only could navigate the seas, but the space time continuum as well. Yes, that is right: these are time-travelling pirate novels. Heidi Heilig’s novels, The Girl From Everywhere (2016) and The Ship Beyond Time (2017) feature Nix, a girl whose father, the captain of their ship, can navigate through time, across the sea, and take them on not only adventures across time, but into different worlds as well: as long as they have a map, be it a map from the past of Hawaii to a map of a Nordic fantasy land, they can go there. Time-world or whatever kind of travel you want to call it, and pirates, bring adventure to a whole other dimension.
The last one I will mention, but certainly not the least, involves pirating of another kind: not searching for treasure, but history, amongst the rubble of the stars. That’s right, the stars, as in space, as in space piracy—but with an archeological twist. And an apocalypse. And alien-esque lifeforms. Courtney Alameda’s Pitch Dark (2018), is a YA horror/thriller which accompanied by all of the aforementioned wonderfulness along with a new kind of a pirate, Laura Cruz. Laura and her family captain a space ship across the galaxy, searching for fragments of Earth’s cultural past, while attempting to save the human race from an extremist anti-human group who seek to end their own race.
I have immensely enjoyed all of these novels and the twists upon the traditional pirate novel that they place, the diversity they represent, and especially the strong and independent young adults they depict, making me love a good pirate story even more.
Stay tuned for our reviews of Daughter of a Pirate King, The Girl From Everywhere, and Pitch Dark.