The Pirate Prince by Gaelen Foley

Narrated by Elizabeth Wiley

The Pirate Prince was originally published in 1998 which may explain why it felt so dated. I say this fondly; I liked the book, although it didn’t blow me away. I read it way back when it first came out and frankly, I think the audiobook is better. But there are a lot of stereotypes. For the kind of listener who doesn’t mind some cheesy typecasting, I’m happy to recommend the book – because you could play bingo with this one.

• A virgin ingénue heroine who also doubles as a saint? Check
• A tortured hero with a dark past and a mighty penis? Check
• A really thin reason for them not to be together? Check
• Pirates with improbable manners and hearts of gold? Check
• Purple prose that is very purple? Check
• An evil villain who is evil? Check and check. (Honestly, you could just about hear his moustache twirling).

That said, I did develop a soft spot for Lazar di Fiore and Allegra Monteverdi. It turns out I don’t mind a cheesy listen from time to time. It helped that the narration was very good.

The book is actually kind of misnamed. King Alfonse and the rest of the family were murdered when Prince Lazar was 13. When conspirators attacked Lazar’s family late one night, Lazar was told by his father to run and survive, and that’s what he did. He jumped off a cliff and was “rescued” by Moorish Janissaries who took him, now a slave, to their leader, Malik. After a couple of years, Lazar escaped from Malik and became a pirate, eventually rising to leadership among The Brethren. So, Lazar was never actually a pirate prince – by the time he joined the gang of merry marauders, he was the rightful King of Ascension.

Lazar has long dreamed of taking revenge on the people who slaughtered his parents and little brother and sister. The story begins when he leads the pirates on a raid of Ascension, a fictional island off the coast of Italy (not to be confused with the real one in the middle of the Atlantic). His plan is to kill the daughter of Governor Monteverdi, along with the rest of the Monteverdi family and sail away from Ascension forever, leaving the Governor a grieving wreck. However, when he meets said daughter, Allegra, Lazar quickly realises he cannot kill her; she is too beautiful and innocent. She is kind to peasants and full of charity for the poor and plans to sacrifice herself into marriage to Domenic Clemente (our villain) in order to try and work behind the scenes to better the lot of the native people.

Domenic, impatient with waiting for virginal Allegra to give it up, attempts rape. Lazar rescues Allegra from his evil clutches, of course, because that’s just how he rolls.

Lazar still plans to kill all of the Monteverdis and only relents when Allegra begs him to take her instead. Thus, Lazar and Allegra board his ship, The Whale, and commence their journey to the West Indies where the pirates’ secret island is located. Lazar had been believed dead for the 15 years since the slaughter of his family and it takes some time before Allegra believes he is truly the fabled lost prince. They fall in love quickly, but Lazar has things to deal with from his time as a slave to Malik, as well as getting over the guilt of being the only surviving di Fiore. Allegra is fierce however and eventually breaks through all his walls and heals him with her love. Really.

Allegra firmly believes that Lazar should return to Ascension and take up his throne – he owes it to his people. When Allegra gets an idea in her head, she’s hard to shift so, eventually, Lazar changes his plans once again.

The thing which takes him the longest to get over is his belief that he is “cursed”. Everyone he’s ever loved has died and he thinks if he marries Allegra, she will die too. It’s thin, but it is what it is.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that there’s an eventual happy ever after for Allegra and Lazar and for the people of Ascension too.

Elizabeth Wiley is a new-to-me narrator. At first I was a bit uncertain about her Italian accents but they either grew on me or they got better as the book progressed. In the end, I was impressed with all of the accents she performed – which included Italian, Moorish, English (upper and lower class) and even a little German. She portrayed Lazar with a deeper husky voice and Allegra with a lighter, more musical tone.

Nobody could be in doubt of Domenic’s place as the bad guy because his depiction was exactly what you’d expect from a Disney villain. I did think it was kind of over the top – but then again, he was a very evil villain and given the text, the voice fit.

I have to give props to Ms. Wiley for her performance of the sex scenes, which had the purplest of prose. (“She baptised him in her liquid surge.” Now, that’s just disturbing.)

I did think that the narration gave both Lazar and Allegra more depth of character and made them feel more than mere stereotypes. I found myself occasionally touched by how fierce was Allegra’s devotion to Ascension and later, to Lazar. And, Lazar’s shame about his treatment at the hands of Malik was depicted with sincerity.

This is a story about a pirate who is secretly a king and I think anyone who picks it up is going to expect a swashbuckling, over-the-top adventure. Which is exactly what it is. Yes, it felt dated but combined with the solid narration, it was also kind of fun. But, don’t forget the wine – it goes well with cheese.

Kaetrin

Narration: B

Book Content: C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Fighting (+ off page reference to sexual assault)

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Tantor Audio

The Pirate Prince was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.