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A review by tani
The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke
4.0
I'm so glad that I finally finished off this duology. I read the first book back in 2014 because I am a big fan of both pirates and assassins, and thought I couldn't go wrong with a book about both. I enjoyed that book, but I remember being a bit disappointed by it. It was good, but not great, and I remember being frustrated with the impulsiveness of Ananna's character. (As someone who's very much not impulsive, that's a trait that I find really hard to deal with.) So, I put off reading the second book. Then, I recently made a list of all of the series that I've started and would like to finish, realized that I really need to pare that list down significantly, and ended up picking this one up as an easy series to finish.
At the end of the day, I gave both books 4 stars, but my rating mentality has shifted considerably since 2014, so I'm guessing that the first book probably would have only rated 3 stars from me if I read it these days. I thought that this second book was much more enjoyable, although with such a long gap between the two, it's hard for me to say if it's because the second book is actually better, or if it's because I approached it differently as a reader. Probably a bit of both.
I think a particularly strong influence might be just that I'm more accustomed to reading young adult books these days, which is something that I've struggled with for quite a while. Young adult books often feel overly simplified to me (perhaps because young adult wasn't really a thing while I was actually a young adult, so I'd been reading adult fiction for quite some time before dipping my toes into the young adult world), and this series is no exception to that. So, that may explain part of why I was a bit underwhelmed by it at first.
Anyway, there was a lot that I liked in this book. I felt like we get a lot more magic and magical creatures in this book, which was a very pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed Ongraygeeomryn, in particular, and the interactions between her and Ananna. The relationship between them ended up really sweet, and was definitely one of the highlights of the book for me.
I also appreciated that the story took us back to Marjani's home and let us learn about her past. I thought that added some depth to the story that was sorely needed. Without that, I think that the story would have just been too simplistic. Adding in that story line allowed Clarke the opportunity to weave in another answer to one of the overarching themes of this story: What sacrifices should you make for love? I liked that Marjani's answer to that is different from Ananna's, but that neither answer is simple.
I think that I liked both Ananna and Naji better in this book too. I did still find myself frustrated by Ananna's impulsiveness, but she did grow enough to at least make some efforts at restraining herself, which I appreciated. In general, I just felt like I understood her better this time around, and I'm not sure if that was due to a growth in empathy from me, or an increase in writing skill from Clarke. Either way, it made the experience much for enjoyable for me.
My biggest complaint is that the ending felt too easy to me. I liked the imagination behind the ending, but it still felt kind of anticlimactic. I think it probably would have worked better if I'd read the two books closer together, as events from the first book had a huge influence, and I have to admit, I have no memory of those events. I did really appreciate the way that things shook out between Naji and Ananna, though, and give Clarke kudos for her choice to send a message that is more complex than what you tend to see normally in books with romances, especially young adult books. I'd definitely like to read more by Clarke in the future.
At the end of the day, I gave both books 4 stars, but my rating mentality has shifted considerably since 2014, so I'm guessing that the first book probably would have only rated 3 stars from me if I read it these days. I thought that this second book was much more enjoyable, although with such a long gap between the two, it's hard for me to say if it's because the second book is actually better, or if it's because I approached it differently as a reader. Probably a bit of both.
I think a particularly strong influence might be just that I'm more accustomed to reading young adult books these days, which is something that I've struggled with for quite a while. Young adult books often feel overly simplified to me (perhaps because young adult wasn't really a thing while I was actually a young adult, so I'd been reading adult fiction for quite some time before dipping my toes into the young adult world), and this series is no exception to that. So, that may explain part of why I was a bit underwhelmed by it at first.
Anyway, there was a lot that I liked in this book. I felt like we get a lot more magic and magical creatures in this book, which was a very pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed Ongraygeeomryn, in particular, and the interactions between her and Ananna. The relationship between them ended up really sweet, and was definitely one of the highlights of the book for me.
I also appreciated that the story took us back to Marjani's home and let us learn about her past. I thought that added some depth to the story that was sorely needed. Without that, I think that the story would have just been too simplistic. Adding in that story line allowed Clarke the opportunity to weave in another answer to one of the overarching themes of this story: What sacrifices should you make for love? I liked that Marjani's answer to that is different from Ananna's, but that neither answer is simple.
I think that I liked both Ananna and Naji better in this book too. I did still find myself frustrated by Ananna's impulsiveness, but she did grow enough to at least make some efforts at restraining herself, which I appreciated. In general, I just felt like I understood her better this time around, and I'm not sure if that was due to a growth in empathy from me, or an increase in writing skill from Clarke. Either way, it made the experience much for enjoyable for me.
My biggest complaint is that the ending felt too easy to me. I liked the imagination behind the ending, but it still felt kind of anticlimactic. I think it probably would have worked better if I'd read the two books closer together, as events from the first book had a huge influence, and I have to admit, I have no memory of those events. I did really appreciate the way that things shook out between Naji and Ananna, though, and give Clarke kudos for her choice to send a message that is more complex than what you tend to see normally in books with romances, especially young adult books. I'd definitely like to read more by Clarke in the future.