Publishers Weekly
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Anxious Betsy Young hardly has the courage to leave her house; her half sister Ophelia, by comparison, is bold and assertive, and dreams of escaping the teens’ island hometown, where she’s regarded with suspicion because of her late mother’s reputation as notorious pirate Ophelia Cray. Shortly after Cray is executed, Ophelia steals Betsy’s identity and joins the navy. When she learns of Ophelia’s ruse, Betsy too takes to the sea to bring her sister home before she’s arrested. While Ophelia conceals her identity from a mutinous crew she’s not sure she can trust, Betsy is forced to confront vicious pirates, and both sisters grapple with their own identities and sense of self-worth. Ophelia and Betsy spend most of Calella’s debut apart, but their alternating POVs deftly render their complex relationship and parallel arcs. Some of its many plot and worldbuilding elements—such as the lore surrounding Cray’s secret island and information about her other daughters—are underdeveloped, but swashbuckling action and hints of magic make this a rousing jaunt for fans of fantasy adventure. Most characters read as white; Betsy’s love interest, Ravi, has brown skin. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laurel Symonds, KT Literary. (Apr.)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Ophelia Young, 16-year-old daughter of the late, infamous pirate queen Ophelia Cray, is done with being judged for her mother’s sins. She’s determined to enlist in the Imperial Navy and prove herself a hero of the high seas, but few on her island home of Peu Jolie will give her a chance. They all call her cursed, just like her mother. What’s a girl to do but steal her half-sister Betsy’s identity and enlist under her name? When timid, anxious Betsy learns what Ophelia’s done, she accidentally reveals the truth to the authorities and books passage on a ship to find Ophelia before she’s arrested. Calella’s action-packed historical fantasy alternates between the sisters, as fearless Ophelia tries to hide her pirate roots on a Navy ship close to mutiny, while fearful Betsy, traveling with merchants, must survive barbarous pirates who take her captive. Though the story is packed with side plots that crowd the main narrative, the sisters’ loving but spiky relationship is the heart of this swashbuckling tale, as both grow from their experiences, making their reunion particularly rewarding.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Two sisters find themselves and each other on the high seas. Sixteen-year-old Ophelia Young has never felt at home on the island of Peu Jolie, where she lives with her father, stepmother, and anxious half sister, Betsy. She’s ostracized because of her resemblance to her absent birth mother, the “cursed” pirate queen Ophelia Cray. After witnessing Cray’s hanging, Ophelia steals her sister’s identity and joins the Imperial Navy, hoping to make a new life for herself. When their father dies while Ophelia is away, Betsy vows to find her and bring her home. The chapters, told in the third person, alternate between following Betsy and Ophelia as they chart their own courses of self-discovery, and the story is filled with sadistic pirates, mutinous crews, and newfound friendships. The clunky, unpolished prose is frequently cringeworthy, however, filled with awkward similes, self-conscious dialogue, and excessive telling rather than showing. Ophelia, who has “wild curls” and “light olive” skin, is coded as aromantic and asexual; Betsy, who has “blond hair,” “rosy cheeks,” and “an appealing roundness,” is agoraphobic. Betsy’s male love interest is this fictional world’s equivalent of South Asian. While it’s exciting to see characters with these underrepresented identities having high-seas adventures, the weak prose undermines this strength. Readers looking for diverse stories of swashbuckling ladies should pick up Mackenzi Lee’s The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy or C.B. Lee’s A Clash of Steel instead. Skip this one for more seaworthy tales. (note to readers) (Adventure. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.