A nice but cliche story. Tired of reading about girls who board pirate ships dressed as boys. Yes, that's a personal problem, and I'm fixing it right now. ( )

I'm not sure who this book was meant for. The writing's lack of depth is a problem for teens and adults and the content is too mature for a younger audience. The denouement of the plot near the end of the book comes pretty much out of nowhere and feels like a betrayal of the author to her readers. The heroine was also weak and her first-person narrative quickly became tiresome. As I read I couldn't help but compare the book to one of my favorite YA books, "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle," by Avi. I got the impression that this book was trying for what that one did effortlessly and failed miserably. If you haven't read "Charlotte Doyle" yet I suggest picking that one up and reading it instead. It's an exciting, thought-provoking adventure story with a strong female protagonist. In other words it offers everything this title does not. ( )

Following her mother’s death, fifteen-year-old Catherine disguises herself as a boy to join her father’s pirate crew. After the ship, the Reprisal, sets sail, she finds life on board a pirate ship is not for the faint of heart. If her secret is uncovered, punishment will be swift and brutal for both Catherine and her father.

Almost unreadable. The language is stilted, the characters cardboard and utterly predictable, the setup ridiculous. To be meticulously honest, I did not read the whole book. I stuck it out for as long as I could, but there was no one, absolutely no one to care about here. Give it a miss. ( )

Sixteen year old Catherine DeVault lives in a small coastal town with her mother Maggie. Over the years Catherine has come to realize that her father is not a Royal Navy Officer, but a pirate. She has always longed to go sailing and would often daydream about what her father's ship would be like. After Catherine's mother dies she begs her father to allow her to join his crew, but women onboard bring bad luck. So she cuts her hair, trades her dress for boy's clothes and changes her name to Charlie. Once she arrives on her father's ship, The Reprisal, her job is to play her flute along with the other musicians. She befriends Red, a pirate who plays the violin, and he tells her about the different parts of the ship and the tasks that the crew must carry out. Catherine also takes the pirate code and if she breaks it the punishments are flogging, leg irons or keelhauling. Catherine's father warns her that he can't give her any special treatment and if his crew finds out both will be killed. Catherine notices how her father's personality changes. When he came home to vist he was both loving and kind to her and her mother, but once on the ship he is stict and cruel, using force to keep his men in line. She witnesses her first sea battle and sees how the pirates capture their prey. Two of the men, the McDonald brothers Herc and Hooper, do not like Catherine at all and they take it upon themselves to harass her. William, the cabin boy, eventually figures out that she is a girl after coming to defend her against Herc. Afterwards, they begin to show romantic feelings toward each other. Catherine later discovers that the McDonald brothers are after something her father has. She finds out from Red that it is a stone called the Burmese Sunrise. Hec finds out that Catherine is a gril and he plans on revealing her to the crew if her father doesn't tell him where the stone is.
I have read a lot of pirate books in the past and this one disappointed me somewhat due to a slow start and less action throughout the book. However, it ended on a cliff hanger so the author may write a sequel. ( )