Review: Pirate Bound by Carysa Locke

Posted July 18, 2016 by Lola in Coyer, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 14 Comments

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Pirate BoundPirate Bound: A Prequel (Telepathic Space Pirates #0.5)
by Carysa Locke

Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:
A desperate gamble…

Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she has been led to believe. When Sanah’s empathic gift shows her the truth behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her world.

A race on the verge of extinction…

Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived, and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his people have been looking for.

A dangerous secret that could destroy everything…

But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.

Pirate Bound is a short prequel novel to the Telepathic Space Pirates series. It is a standalone story within the series.

My Review:
Wow am I glad I picked up this book, this prequel was so good! I am already looking forward to read the first book! This book was one of my rare impulse buys. I saw the cover in a newsletter from another author and that red hair and her sidewards facing position somehow sold me on the book before I even read the blurb. Then I read the blurb and I gladly paid some of my won gift card money to get my hands on this book.

Pirate Bound is a science fiction romance book centered around telepathic space pirates and that combination is as much fun to read about as it sounds. I’ve been wanting to read more sci-fi romances and this book perfectly hit the mark for that. Compelling story, interesting characters and well thought out world building were all present. Then there was a great romance that nicely fit into the story without taking over the plot. I enjoyed both the sci-fi and the romance aspect and enjoyed every second of this fun book.

The story is told from Sanah and Dem their point of view. Sanah is on the run with her sister after finding out her brother has plans to use her sister her powers for his own gain and using her powers to hurt people instead of heal. Starving, tired and desperate they are on the run in a spaceship when they encounter a group of pirates. They are hesitant at first, but the pirates seem honest and they eventually take refuge on their ship. Dem is a pirate and one of the high ranking people on the pirate ship they encounter. He has some rare telepathic talents and doesn’t feel emotions, until he meets Sanah.

The set-up was interesting and I liked the way it got all worked out. the story flowed nicely and I felt the progression of elements felt very natural and realistic. Even while the story is shorter it in no way feels rushed and I was kinda glad a certain plot line didn’t got dragged out like might have happened with a longer book. Although at the same time I also would like to see more of Sanah and Dem.

The characters were are all interesting, we get a feel for the main characters and quite some of the side characters. Enough to form a picture for the characters and I appreciated how in a few short encounters the authors could still paint a vivid picture of them and their personality. Sanah was protective of her little sister and I admired what she did for her and liked seeing them interact with each other. And while she is protective she also gives her sister space. She is a scientist and likes getting answers and the scientist part gave an fun twist to her personality. She has the gift of empathy and I liked how well we got a feel for her gift and how naturally it was woven into the story.

Then there is Dem, the security chief on board this space ship. He doesn’t feel many emotions and when he meets Sanah and he feel an instant connection he isn’t quite sure what to do with it. I thought his behavior and actions made sense and he was an interesting character with his strong commitment to the ship and how focused he is to protect the two sisters.

The side characters are also fun to read about. From Phantom, who we see only shortly, to the Doc who plays a nice side role. Then there are Cannon, the pirate king, Treon, Dem’s brother and Sanah her sister who all play bigger roles into the story. And I wish we would get all of their stories as well, as they were interesting and I wanted to know more about them. They nicely fill up the story and I liked seeing them interact with Sanah and Dem and the other crew members.

I liked how the romance played out, no unnecessary drama and the conflict and obstacles that were in their path felt realistic and even got solved pretty quickly. I liked these two together and how they figured out how to handle these feelings growing between them. Yes the romance moves kinda quickly as this is a novella length book, but it didn’t feel rushed. And I did got a feel for them as a characters and how they got to know each other and I felt their connection.

The world building was one of my favorite elements. I have to admit I haven’t read a lot of books with telepathic abilities, so I wasn’t quite sure how the authors would work with that. I was really impressed with how they handled the telepathic part. It was intermingled in the plot and the world building, we saw how these telepathic gift got used for things like communication, but also for so many other things like healing, fighting and more. It was everywhere and I liked how much we got to see of the telepathic gifts. Not everyone has telepathic gifts, but most of the main characters do so we get a good feel for their gifts. The only thing I would’ve liked was to learn more about the world and galaxy as a whole. We get a bit of a feel for the struggle between the Commonwealth and the pirates, but the pirates didn’t really feel like pirates. They don’t do a lot of bad stuff or pirate stuff in this book, although there are some hints about it and they could be ruthless in some instances, but not without reason. Also this story mostly takes place on one ship, so while I got a good feel for the ship and some of it’s crew, the rest of the world and space stays a bit more vague. I hope we see more of that in the first book.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this book about telepathic space pirates. The story was compelling and developed naturally and kept my interest. The characters are interesting too and I liked getting to know them and hope we see more of them in later books. Sanah is a scientist and she cares a lot about her sister. She also has the gift of empathy which was interesting to read about. Then there is Dem who has some unique gifts and might seem emotionless, but Sanah breaks through his shields. There is also a great cast of side characters with their own personalities and I would love to know more about them. The romance developed quickly, but it didn’t feel rushed. I liked these two together and felt their connection. Then there is the world building, which was well done. I especially liked how the telepathic aspect was handled and how we learn a lot about the different gifts and how they are used. There isn’t a lot of pirate stuff though and the focus is mostly on this ship so we learn less about the rets of the world. All in all this was a great prequel and I can’t wait to read the first book!

4-star

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon

What was your last impulse buy and was it a good one?

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14 responses to “Review: Pirate Bound by Carysa Locke

  1. Oh, wow, this looks gorgeous (you’re definitely on the same line as me when it comes to the cover; the colours are so pretty and whilst I don’t generally like books that use cover models, this one just seems to work really well? And it definitely makes the book seem really intriguing, which is always wonderful. I love it when covers make you excited/want to read a book, even if you know nothing about it beforehand!) and sounds really unique! I’m so glad it managed to work as a really good read with all the originality and still be captivating. It doesn’t sound like the plot was overwhelming, which is such a plus!

    I don’t tend to read novellas, and never have before starting a series, but starting with this prequel and the fact you enjoyed it so much and are keen to read the first book makes me really happy! That’s definitely a prequel doing its job well! Although I wonder if the first book in the series, whilst assumedly covering some of the same characters, will follow their stories like this did, since I thought prequels tended to focus on minor characters and build them up a bit? Do let me know what happens in the first book! I’d love to hear your experience with it!

    Lovely review, Lola. xx
    Romi recently posted…Books for when you’re… (22)My Profile

    • I just got the first book for review and can’t wait to start reading it! I’ll post my review on my blog once I’ve read it. From what I understand the prequel featured characters who will be side characters in the first book.

      The cover for this book was really gorgeous, like you I am usually not a big fan of cover models, but here it’s really works. I think it’s the way she positioned and the swirly space things around her. It’s amazing when a cover can get you excited for a book.

      It was a really good novella, the pace was done well and it was long enough to tell the story and give you a feel for the characters.

  2. I do have to say that cover is gorgeous. It definitely catches your eye. I’ve never been a big Sci-Fi reader but this one looks interesting and sounds like it set up the book pretty well.

    I have a bad habit of scrolling through Amazon late at night and buying e-books based on the covers. My last impulse buy book that I’ve read would have had to been an interesting little contemporary romance from Entangled. I can’t remember the name but he was a professional poker player and she owned the B&B he was staying at. It was a really good read although there’s some that I have to question why I bought them. lol
    Angela @Simply Angela recently posted…Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obseession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert KursonMy Profile

    • I only got into sci-fi a few years ago and I suddenly got into a sci-fi mood ever since reading this one.

      It’s so much fun to just scroll through amazon and see what books pop up and I like how once you find a book they recommend other books based on it and you can keep browsing for a long time.

      Your last impulse buy sounds like a good one! And yes not all impulse buys turn out well, but it’s great when they do.

    • I didn’t realize you read this one too! It really was a great start of the series and I am looking forward to book 1. I also bought an anthology with another short story these characters 🙂

  3. Oh yes, I can see why this one grabbed your attention. It certainly grabbed mine after reading the blurb and your review. I love the idea of space pirates and that people can have psychic gifts. The characters sounds nice the way they handle things and I like that she’s doing what she can to care for her sister. The surrounding characters even if not quite in the forefront sound interesting, too.

    My last impulse buy that I read was The Glass Arrow. It was a YA Dystopian and not bad. 🙂

    • It was such a great read and I actually got book 1 for review today, I can’t wait to read that one. The concept of space pirates and the psychic gifts was so interesting and really well thought out. And I am looking forward to get to know more of these characters in book 1 :).

      Oh I read your review for that not too long ago. Glad to hear your last impulse buy was a nice one too!

  4. You found a sci-fi romance! Yay! I’m glad you liked it and that the romance and world building were both good 🙂

    I like reading about empaths. I think it’s because my favorite thing in books is emotion, and when you have a main character who’s an empath, they usually not only feel their own emotion but the emotion of people around them, so it’s like emotion x10 lol. But of course that also depends on how the author writes them and chooses to make their abilities.

    I’m cracking up at your comment that the pirates didn’t do much pirate stuff, but I totally get it. I think that if I were going to read about pirates, I too would like for them to actually, you know, be like pirates. That’s great that you still liked it though 🙂 Maybe they’ll be more pirate-y in the next book since this was novella-length which means they probably couldn’t fit too much.
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Discussion: Broad vs. Narrow Scope in BooksMy Profile

    • This book actually sparked my interest in finding more good sci-fi romances. It was really good and I am so glad both the romance and world building were done well.

      I haven’t read as many books about empaths so far, but I do really like how it was done in this book and it felt like the author really thought about the powers and how it would work. So I am definitely open to reading more books about empaths in the future.

      It was on the longer side for a novella, but I agree there is still a limit to what they can fit in. So I hope for more pirate stuff in the first book.

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