Review: The Pirate's Wish (The Assassin's Curse #2) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Published: June 18, 2013
Pages: 330
Source: For Review from Strange Chemistry/NetGalley
Rating: 3.5 Stars

After setting out to break the curse that binds them together, the pirate Ananna and the assassin Naji find themselves stranded on an enchanted island in the north with nothing but a sword and their wits. But Naji has unseen enemies, and Ananna must face the wrath of the Pirate Confederation.
Together, they must travel afar, defeat their foes and break the mother of all curses. With all this going on, falling in love would be such a bad idea... All of this and much, much more await, in the swashbuckling sequel to The Assassin's Curse.

In short: While The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke wasn't quite as engaging as The Assassin's Curse, it's still a worthwhile story with charming characters.

I am a total mood reader and sometimes I wonder if the reason I loved The Assassin's Curse so much is because I was just in the absolute perfect mood for it when I read it. I completely devoured that book and I just loved the characters and the engaging romance. It was absolutely engrossing. The Pirate's Wish, however? Not so much engrossing. But then, at the moment I am incredibly stressed with a lot going on in my life, so I have to imagine I would have like it better if I had read it at another time. However, I did definitely have some issues with The Pirate's Wish that I think I would have had regardless of my mood.

In The Assassin's Curse, I was OBSESSED with Ananna and Naji's burgeoning romance. It was just oh-so-swoony, but also entirely frustrating in a good, addicting way. But I found that the spark had faded in The Pirate's Wish and that their frustrating-but-fun romantic tension had become more frustrating and annoying. There was just a ridiculous amount of tired romantic drama that seemed so silly and unnecessary to me. The romantic tension and drama in The Assassin's Curse was delicious; the romantic drama in The Pirate's Wish was overwrought.

The conclusion to the story was definitely anti-climactic, as well. Things seemed to have been set up so well at the end of The Assassin's Curse to make way for a truly exciting and epic sequel. But what we got in The Pirate's Wish was a meandering plot and way too easy answers. My expectations of finales is that they should go out with a bang, but the conclusion of The Pirate's Wish was resolved way too easily. And not only was it too easy, but the final resolution was just plain absurd to me, and completely illogical to my left-brained mind.

Okay, okay, I should talk about all the good stuff now, lest anyone think I disliked The Pirate's Wish. I did enjoy it on the whole, after all. It's hard not to enjoy Cassandra Rose Clarke's incredibly easy-to-read writing style and lovable characters. I still love head-strong and sometimes vulnerable Ananna. And of course I loved the manticore - who really ought to get her own story, I think. There were also some pretty noteworthy pirate ship battle scenes that were amazingly well done and exciting. Overall, The Pirate's Wish wasn't as good as its predecessor due to the overwrought romantic drama and the anti-climactic conclusion, but it was still a fairly worthwhile story helped along by Cassandra Rose Clarke's charming characters.

Previously, my review of The Assassin's Curse.

Other Reviews:
The Daily Prophecy
My Precious
Small Review

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