I’m bitter about Our Flag Means Death being canceled, and I will continue to be bitter about that for the rest of time. Not sorry. Anyway, speaking of pirates…

I received a digital advance reader’s copy (ARC) of The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Calella. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray tells the story of half-sisters Ophelia and Betsy, who are very close but also very different. Betsy hates socializing, hates leaving the comfort of her own home. But Ophelia, the illegitimate daughter of the famous, egotistical (and recently hanged) pirate Ophelia Cray, wants to rid herself of the piratical stigma that has followed her for years. To prove herself different from her mother, she wants to join the navy but finds the bureaucracy finds her background almost as distasteful as the townsfolk. So she enlists under Betsy’s name in secret and disappears across the sea. However, when their father falls ill, Betsy has to make a choice—let Ophelia go on with her life alone, or bring her home to their family. The choice is easy, but the results are not: Betsy boards a ship in the midst of hurricane season to bring her sister back. And a sea filled with storms, mutiny, and pirates is far from her safe life. And Ophelia’s not faring any better on her side of things. Perhaps the sea isn’t a chance for redemption after all, but instead destruction.

I quite liked this overall! I have a few critiques, but in terms of a young adult pirate adventure, this isn’t bad at all!

First and foremost, the bond between Ophelia and Betsy is the beating heart of this story. They have a complex relationship, but it’s one founded in unconditional love, and that’s great to see. I wish that they’d interacted more throughout the novel, but I still enjoyed watching their separate journeys, with each other as their guiding light throughout.

As for the other characters, most of them didn’t make a huge impact on me. The antagonist was more annoying than sinister, and the Cray sisters felt like a random addition (more on that later, though). On the other hand, I really liked Betsy’s burgeoning romance with Ravi. They were so sweet together!

As for the seafaring action, a lot of that was quite well done. The hurricane, the mutiny, the pirate attack—all heart-pounding. I do think occasionally the narrative suffers a little, though, because the emotions seem a little less raw than they could be. For example, Betsy goes through a major trauma at one point, witnessing several people die, and I never got a solid sense that she was devastated, even though I was told she was. Same goes for Ophelia in a different part. Granted, this is a debut novel, and so I’m willing to give Calella a pass. She does an excellent job capturing the perils of being at sea mostly, after all.

On another note, though, the dialogue sometimes sounded a bit too modern for an otherwise purely historical-inspired setting. If there had been a few more playful anachronisms, I think this would have been less glaring, but oh well. My main issue is the section of the book that focuses on Ophelia’s bond with Cordelia and Phe. It didn’t feel entirely necessary for her character development, as I feel she would have come to the conclusion that Betsy is her true family no matter what. Or maybe I just wanted these characters and their home to be more fleshed out, because I wasn’t as invested as I think I was supposed to be. But oh well.

In the end, though, The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray is a decent debut novel. It’s full of swashbuckling adventure, danger, and sibling love. The two main characters are great, and if it’s not perfect, at least it’s earnest in its themes. I’d definitely be willing to see what this author writes next!

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray will be published on April 9th, 2024!