THE SHIP, THE KEEP, AND THE KINGDOM

Crilly’s YA fantasy novel teems with politics and pirates.

The adventure begins with a highly organized group of pirates. Veena is a young woman who lives under the pirate king Zavaxer, whose rule can be challenged by anyone willing to fight him in a duel. It is through such tough but fair policies that the pirates keep order. Veena and her uncle journey to a city called Lyrah. The two are there ostensibly to represent the interest of their king, but Veena (who will be called Violet for the mission) has plans to inspire an insurrection. Meanwhile, another young woman, named Katjia, arrives in Lyrah. Katjia hails from a nomadic people who have fallen upon tough times; she and her brethren are in search of somewhere to stay until the rains return to their native land of Onkay. In Lyrah, Katjia meets 14-year-old prince Marley, and the two hit it off—Marley even invites Katjia and her kin to stay in a royal courtyard. Both Katjia and Marley are suspicious of Violet—when they confront her and her uncle leaving the city, their suspicions prove correct. The story is divided into various first-person narratives and supplemented by the author’s occasional simple black-and-white illustrations that provide faces for the names. Although many characters appear throughout the work, the technique of allowing them to tell their own stories keeps the narrative manageable (while the characters partake in subterfuge, they tend to speak directly). While there is more going on beyond the main characters’ escapades (such as some letter-writing intrigue back in Lyrah), the story progresses smoothly—and sometimes more violently than one might expect from YA fantasy. (A knife ends one character’s days as a “crimson flower of blood soaked her lilac dress.”) The dialogue tends toward the blunt (one individual states, without any hint of subtext, “I’m glad I met you”), but the plot’s deft combination of complexity and clarity keeps the pages turning.

An enveloping drama of conflicting kingdoms.