Tried to read it through but ended up skimming it. Blurb completely fooled me. ( )

This review and others posted over at my blog.

Tanith has created a semi-Victorian (Regency? I don’t know time periods, sorry!) world in the year of Seventeen-Twelvety (how awesome is that?!) which somewhat resembles the actual year of 1802. This world primarily differs from our own in how the countries are laid out and there’s a handy map in the front that I actually referenced for once. But because this is Tanith and I am a flappy-handed fangirl for everything she’s written (ugh except Greyglass -tosses if off a cliff-) I felt there was something subtle about her world that differed from an actual historic period. I can’t explain this further and likely I am crazy.

Art is fantastic. She’s bold and witty and smart and super talented at being a pirate, despite not having been one for the past six years. She could potentially suffer from special snowflake syndrome, but she doesn’t because she has to work to win over her crew and she doesn’t have the shining, sapphire eyes and porcelain doll-like features of your usual heroine. And oh, the sun doesn’t shine out of her ass. Anyway! She’s a great lead, but her crew is small enough that most of them actually (I think I’m saying this word too much in this review, but I’m too lazy to change it) feel different and developed, where they could easily have fallen to the wayside (portside?)

There’s a lot to the plot that I can’t talk about or I’ll spoil the fun, but from the moment Art rediscovers her crew and takes on her new life as a pirate, I had this underlying sense of something more. I knew something else was up and it was a nice feeling, knowing that the plot had another element that wasn’t being revealed, even though the plot was acting like everything had been revealed.

Look, I have a hard time analyzing Tanith’s work because I am super biased. But I can say, if you’re looking for a witty, semi-middle-grade-semi-teen pirate adventure with swashbuckling, a fantastically charming ragtag group of pirates, talented parrot and dog companions, a strong female lead and totally hawt boi, but no love triangles and no breaths being held unbeknownst to the holder, then Piratica may be just what you’re looking for! I can’t wait to read the other two books! ( )

La joven Artemisia Blastside está decidida a ser una verdadera pirata, como lo fue su madre, y a ser conocida por todos como la joven Pirática, la Reina de los Siete Mares. Cuando parte de Londres, se llevará con ella a su intrépida tripulación y en el corazón, encontrar un legendario tesoro que va más allá de toda ambición... Pirática II. El regreso a la Isla del Loro. Londres, año 1723. Mientras la piratomanía invade las calles de la ciudad y la República de la Libre Inglaterra entra en guerra con Francia, Art lleva una tranquila y relajada vida en su mansión junto a su marido Felix. Pero, cansada de todo esto, decide lanzarse de nuevo a la aventura en el mar; su deseo es volver a la Isla del Loro y descubrir si allí continúan los mapas del tesoro. ( )

I was really excited when this book came out. I fully expected to totally love it - Lee is one of my favorite authors, so.. Lee and pirates? How could it go wrong?
I'm not quite sure, but somehow it does.
Set in a 'slightly parallel world' in 1802 (which basically means that place names are spelled wrong: the river Thamis flows through Lundun, for example), 'Piratica' gives us a young woman named Artemisia, who, while studying deportment at her girls' school, falls and hits her head. After this blow, Artemisia experiences a rush of memory that convinces her that before her father locked her away in the school, she was a pirate, sailing the seven seas with her captain mother, Piratica. Inspired, she runs away from school and finds her mother's old compatriots - who turn out to be members of an acting company who had put on a successful play about pirates.
Undaunted, Artemisia, taking the name Art Blastside, convinces the actors to steal a ship, and embark on an adventure in search of treasure - which, unfortunately, is already being sought by some 'real' pirates.

Lee usually excels at creating a dreamlike atmosphere in her work, but in this book, the events are more absurdist than dreamlike. It's obviously not supposed to be realistic - but somehow I wanted the narrative to have more internal logic than it did. Maybe it was just my mood.
I was also just rather annoyed by the issue of "Is Artemisia crazy or not...?" It was sort of like I kept wanting the book to just settle down into being the silly adventure romp for teenagers that it's being marketed as - but these quirks and kinks kept coming up distractingly. Which sound like it might be interesting - but I didn't find it so. ( )

"All the world's a stage, and all men and women are merely players"

Detta är ett perfekt citat för att sammanfatta den här boken där verklighet och teater blandas friskt och gränserna däremellan suddas ut.

Mer specifikt handlar den om 16-åriga Artemisia Blastside som bor i en värld som ungefär liknar vårt 1700-1800 hundraltal. När hon en dag slog huvudet i en ledstångsstolpe på det fina flickinternat där hon går MINS hon plötsligen. Hon minns allt; hennes piratmamma, hennes pråliga besättning och framför allt deras äventyr på de sju haven. Beslutsamt tar hon sig ut från det fängelse som flickskolan innebär och börja leta efter de piratäventyr och skatter som hon mest av allt eftertraktar.

En riktig äventyrsbok med en härlig hjältinna, som mest av allt liknar huvudpersonen i en pjäs (men detta lär vara meningen). Äventyr, hemligheter, den hårfina skillnaden mellan teater och verklighet och inte minst vikten av att leva som man tror är bärande i den här berättelsen. En äventyrsbok som inte gör en besviken, men också så mycket mer.