Shelly's Book Blog

Tide of Terror is the second in Justin Somper's Vampirates trilogy. With this one I had a more difficult time suspending disbelief in regard to the whole "piracy is a legitimate career" thing. This story finds Grace and Connor spending a week at the Pirate Academy, an elite private school where children train from a very young age in pirate skills such as sword fighting, navigation, and EMS (Extreme Maritime Survival). The characters take the Academy very seriously, though, and the students are taught to respect and emulate the small group of former pirate captains who teach them. Once I accepted this strange premise, I was hooked. I guess it helped that the Academy reminded me of Starfleet Academy (from Star Trek). Attending such an elite school, so steeped in tradition, discipline, and honor, seems much more exciting than going to a regular old high school!

There are some mature themes here, so I'd say this is a series best left for the young adult crowd. For example, the 14-year-old twins spend time at a tavern, drink rum, and witness (and in Connor's case, participate in) violent battles at sea. Sidorio, the vampire who was banished from the Vampirate ship in the last book, joins with other Vampirate rebels to add to the body count, blood flow, and general mayhem in the story. It's a pretty bizarre story, really, but I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing how the twins fare in the third book.