Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: September 27, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 1380445
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Artemesia—also known as Art—spent her childhood on a pirate ship, and she’s sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. Escaping, she sets out to find her mother’s crew and breezily commands them out to sea. Fiery Art soon shapes her men into the cleverest pirate band afloat. And then they meet the dread ship Enemy and her beautiful, treacherous captain, Goldie Girl. The Seven Seas aren’t large enough for two pirate queens. Art will have to wage the battle of her life to win her mother’s title—and the race for the greatest treasure in pirate lore!
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Rated by buyers -
Artemesia Fitz-Willoughby Weatherhouse was practicing grace and deportment, as befits a fine young lady of early 19th-century British society, when a clumsy tumble down the stairs restored lost recollections of her youth. Now 16, she suddenly remembers the accident six years earlier when an exploding cannon on her mother's pirate ship robbed her of both her memories and her mom. No longer content to be a "lady" -- and thoroughly despising the father whose only wish for her was to suppress her natural instincts and personality -- Artemesia escapes her rigid school and seeks some means to resume her former life.
After an unexpected encounter with a notorious English highwayman, Artemesia makes her way to a seedy dockside tavern, where she finds a large portion of her mother's former crew making a bare living as coffee salesmen. But they, though pleased to see this younger model of their beloved former leader, have more memories of hers to restore -- particularly those proving that Art's version of events were never true. They weren't pirates, the crewmen insist, but actors portraying pirates on stage. Their popular productions -- with Art's mother always starring in the lead role of the good-spirited and merciful pirate queen Piratica -- were so realistic that they had impressed on young Art's mind memories more vivid than the truth.
Or did they? Tanith Lee's young-adult novel "Piratica" has a good many twists and turns in the plot before readers discover the real story of this young girl's past. But, until they surface, Art isn't content to pass her time in that seedy pub; instead, she -- now using the name Art Blastside -- leads her acting troupe to sea, where they commandeer a ship and make their fiction into reality under her mother's trademark black-on-pink Jolly Roger.
Compared to some of Lee's other, more mature fiction, "Piratica" is a trifle awkward and oddly paced, and its heroine is just a little bit too good at everything she tries to do. Acting solely on memories from, in some cases, her infancy, she demonstrates unparalleled skill at seamanship and knowledge of the sea. Her crew, meanwhile, is presented as a tight collection of actors who, once prodded by their 16-year-old captain, excel at all things nautical. It stretches even the most pliable limits of belief.
Not that "Piratica" isn't an enjoyable read. It is, and I was never tempted to cast it aside; Lee's mastery of character and plot are too deft not to hold my interest. Still, a far better example of young-girl-as-pirate fiction can be found in the pages of L.A. Meyers' excellent "Bloody Jack" series, which I heartily recommend. Even so, I am sure I'll want to read "Piratica II" if the opportunity presents itself.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor
Rated by buyers 
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Okay, very first I just need to say, this book is not just for middle-to-high school readers. I would recommend it to anyone! I seriously LOVE this book. I didn't find any of it hard to read, or confusing at all, I thought it was unique and I liked the writing style. I read this book in two days and immediately got the sequel. I like that it's not one of those books where you know what's going to happen at the end; it's not the kind where you know there's going to be a happy ending. It kept me guessing until the last two or three pages. It's witty, full of romance (and that alone is enough to pull me in!), and engaging. You can tell it was really well thought out, and everything comes together in the end in a way that surprised me. The characters are wonderful, because they're not perfect. They have little quirks and real personalities. I loved it the very first time I read it and now, two times later, I still do. Even if you don't buy this book, you should at least get it from the library. It's completely worth it!
Rated by buyers -
Piratica was just the kind of book I was looking for; something about adventure on the seas. And all the unexpected twists and turns throughout really captures you! I've read many books, and this by far is my favorite. It satisfys every reader looking for adventure, romance, a good sword fight or two, and of course pirates!
Rated by buyers -
As a fourteen-year-old using (with permission) her mother's account, I really enjoyed this book.
The very first time I saw it, I wasn't very interested by the description or cover, and only decided to get it because it was free (long story--I wasn't in a bookstore). But I was hooked within the very first ten pages. Though the author uses a style which is hard to get into at first, it was a nice change of pace from the usual, standard way books are written, and overall I think it would not have been as good if it hadn't been written this way. The alternate universe thing is a tad confusing, but it makes sense that she should need to use it, for the plot would be different if England were a monarchy in the book.
As a hopeless romantic when it comes to books (that is, to a certain extent) I really liked the romance in this book. I actually thought she could have gone a bit more into that part, but I think she makes up for it in the sequel, which is also good to read after the first.
In this book the main character was not my favorite character, however. She seemed to me very much the stereotypical individual!independant!sexrole!strong!female, and while I'm all for that stuff, it gets old when it's always pointed out how she "wears man's clothes" and is a "fierce female pirate" who, for instance, gives her crew breaks at rowing the boats, but never stops for a rest herself. It's a little unrealistic that after 6 years at a girl's school she'd know everything about ships and sailing and is as strong as any man.
That rant over with, Felix is ceretainly an interesting enough character to make up for Art.
Overall, I really liked this book (despite complaints--there were more things good about it that I just didn't list) and it's sequel, as well. It's a good book for middle schoolers, probably, so anyone older or younger might not like it as much. I'm really looking forward to Tanith Lee releasing a third one, and hope it's as good as the very first two.
Rated by buyers 
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I didn't enjoy this book at all, and didn't even endeavor to force myself to finish it. I might have enjoyed it if I had been brainwashed and forgot a couple of other amazingly well-written historical fiction about pirates, the navy, and the 18th century; but alas, I fully understood what a flop this book is.
What could be an enjoyable past time for some, is torture for me. Where is the suspense, the action, the gritty reality? I need something concrete, yet singular!
If you too were disapointed, check out the real deal, and some of the absolute BEST books on the market: The Bloody Jack Series by L.A. Meyers. Compared to his works of masterpiece, this stuff is complete trash.
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