A review by lux_klara
Pirate Nemesis by Carysa Locke

5.0

I found Pirate Bound, the novella prequel of this book out of sheer luck. Needless to say I loved Pirate Bound and, hungry to know more, to read more I immediately bought Pirate Nemesis. It was NOT a delusion. I loved it. Great writing style; the world created by this amazing duo of authors is captivating (I mean space and power dotated pirates? Who doesn't love that!?) .

The world building is fantastic. You know enough to understand what happens and to appreciate the universe where the story is set and at the same time you know that there is more to discover, to read and to see develop in the next books. The romance was well written. In fact, although there is an instant connection between the two main character (as is common in ALL books with romance) there is no insta-love, no cheesyness.

The female protagonist, Mercy, has her flaws, as any human being, and she is no Mary Sue. She's strong but not in the assassin/kick-ass way (which by the way I adore) but the kind of strength where she goes trough a lot and yet she keeps walking, with the head held high. I love strong characters. They don't necessary need to be warriors, kick-ass or whatever, nor I expect them to be always happy (actally that would be more irritating if anything -.-), I understand if they struggle and falls sometimes but I want to see them keep fighting, in they own way maybe, but still fighting. Mercy is one of those charachters, one that despite the difficulties, keep going on without surrendering. And last but not least, I can understand her choices, her decisions, she isn't the kind of character that makes you want to shake hoping she would find some sense. She isn't one of those stup*d heroine that ruin a book that could have been great if they didn't exist or, at least, if they weren't one of the MCs. She is a heroine that you like to read about.

The same goes for Reaper, although with a complete different personality, I enjoyed to read from his point of view. It was interesting seeing him struggling to understand his emotions and reactions.

And all the "minor" characters (Treon, Atrea, Cannon, Jaxon, Olivia) were interesting as well, so much that I would like to read a book (or more) of them, actually I really hope that.
I mean, right now there will be a trilogy for Mercy, Reaper and Mercy's future consorts but who knows what will came after that? A girl can hope. Anyway, this duo of co-authors haso done an amazing job and I really suggest to read the book to anyone that likes the genre.

(This is not a spoiler as much as a... warning?l
As I have already written the next books will have as the MCs Mercy and her consorts. Yes, you've read it right. Mercy will have, in FUTURE books, consorts. Consorts in plural, as more than one, and, while I would usually be STRONGLY against such a thing (I am all for monogamy) it is not without reason. Since the beginning it has been stated that the Pirate's culture is a matriarchal one, where women tends to have more than one consort and where marriage isn't really common. That is both because there are more men than women and becouse it has its political importance. Moreover after a virus wiped out the majority of the Talented women, this part of their culture has only accentuated. Now, I am not so sure how this will turn out (as I said, I am all for monogamy), but I am not against the idea as much as I thought I would be. As I said, Mercy having more than one consort makes sense considering Pirate's culture and the author herself has assured that "Mercy is not going to have some parade of men through her bed. She is going to have exactly three consorts, and there is a reason for this, and they will be real relationships" (her actual words, if you are interested in her statement on the matter this is the link: http://www.carysalocke.com/?p=349 ).
Besides, the characters are so interesting that I am curious to see who the next two consorts are going to be (altough reading the prologue of the second book "Pirate consort" that has yet to come, I have an idea of who the second consort may be and I can't say that the character doesn't intrigue me already) and to see how this is going to happen. After all in this book Mercy, while not completely against it, didn't seem to be very convinced by the idea of having more than one consort. If anything she seemed a bit reluctant to accept such a possibility.

But why am I saying all this? In THIS book she certainly isn't in a romantic relationship with anyone else, aside from Reaper. Well, while I am warming up to this fact, not everyone may want to start a series where the main character will have multiple consorts, I think that if someone is completely against the idea (again, I can understand why someone would be troubled by it, I was too at the beginning and I still am a bit), he/she should take this future development into consideration before starting this series. My advice, however, is to give this book and (the ones that will come) a chance. Who knows, it may surprise you ;) Hopefully, Carysa will be able to pull it off.


Ps:I am sorry for any eventual mistakes but English is not my first language and writing with the phone doesn't make things easier.