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March 2024, UCLan Publishing, 240 pages, Paperback, Review copy
Summary from UCLan Publishing
The year is 2507. The oceans have risen.
A new dawn of piracy has begun.
Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock are students at the elite Pirate Academy.
This is no ordinary school!
Lessons range from Knots Class and Sailing to Combat Workshop… The teachers are all pirate legends… The pressure is always on…. Friendship is everything.
When a new kid, the mysterious Neo Splice, arrives, everything changes FAST. Suddenly the dangers are no longer simply out on the oceans but right here, amongst them. In the face of real peril, the students of Barracuda class must put everything they have learned to the test against a ruthless and seemingly unstoppable new enemy.
Welcome to Pirate Academy – once you step through the door you won’t ever want to leave!
Nayu's thoughts
Apologies this a week later than intended (stupid insomina). Please note I was heavily biased when I read this book as I've read Justin's previous series, Vampirates - review below, so subsequently was already a Massive Fan.
Let's take a moment to admire the awesome cover by Teo Skaffa. The academy monogram is extremely clever and well placed. I'd have liked an optional skirt part, but that could have got caught on ship parts so maybe that's why its just the adults who wear them. Otherwise I'd happily wear the uniform.
Pirate Academy is set in the same universes as Vampirates, just a few years earlier. The whole concept of a pirate academy a) makes total sense, as it makes sense for famous pirates to get an education somewhere. What I love about Justin's books he makes female characters as important as male ones. Trust me I would not really read it if there weren't female pirates! Needless to say my favourite character was Jasmine, who has a reckless streak but when that happens I can't blame her. She has a lot at stake and sticking to the rules won't help her get answers.
I think because I've read next to no books about ship schools I found learning about what goes on in the academy fascinating. I shouldn't have been surprised how elite Pirate Academy is, a factor that did alienate the new boy Neo ever so slightly, although his mysterious arrival caused it's own problems too. I felt sorry for him as for quite a bit of the book I thought he was a murderer due to a description in chapter 2 but that was unfounded and simply me misinterpreting a sentence. Whoopsie!
Being new means lots of questions, which Neo does not necessarily like. Just what is his secret? It wasn't exactly what I thought but was a great plot development and caused lots of chaos later on. The danger elements made the academy itself feel unsafe, which given that it should have been a safe area of learning had me metaphorically looking over the characters' shoulders, wondering when a sword may slice into them. Weapons are but one aspect of pirate life, and they do come into play from the start in a way that was very cool. I feel I'd be rubbish at knot tying as I only know the knot to tie shoe laces, but apparently most knots can be escaped from.
The way the different school years are portrayed was clever, especially when the older years were involved in more advanced scenarios later in the book. Back to being the new kid, the range of suspicion and closed ranks for Neo kept the plot interesting: pranks were played, some were not participated in as they felt too mean. I really liked that part - bullying is not cool, even if hazing used to be the norm. The resulting apology was heartfelt and really spoke to me, made me a bit tearful at how sweet they all could be.
The only reason I didn't carry on with book 2 is that I didn't want to muddle up the stories and my reaction to them (living with permanent brain fog makes that happen too easily). Rest assured I will be reading it this weekend, as it's why I reviewed book 1! The only issue I have is that I have to wait for book 3...
Suggested read
Make sure you check out my review for Vampirates 1 (the renewed cover version) Blog tour: Review & Exclusive Guest Video for Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper (Children's, 9 years +, 10/10E)
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