LIBERTAD

A year on from the events of Capitana (2025), Ximena Reale is determined to prove her mettle as a pirate.

Much has occurred since readers last met her: She’s sailed the high seas with her sister, Marquesa, pursued—in more ways than one—by one Dante de León. La República de los Piratas has given her this year to prove herself reformed, no longer a cazadora, an instrument of the empire, but a pirate through and through who’s ready to fight for her people. No one, however, is as hard on Ximena as she is on herself; she agonizes over her past mistakes and worries over the fate of her beloved archipelago. Her worry isn’t unfounded: The Empire of Luza is tireless in its pursuit of control, and the secrets discovered in the duology opener were only the tip of this iceberg of deceit. With her second novel, James falls effortlessly back into the 18th-century Latin American–inspired world she created, expanding both the magic and the political intrigue in service of a moving and nail-biting plot. The seeds of romance planted in the earlier book are allowed to bloom deliciously into an earned connection that’s as swoony as it is believable. The author uses time skips to good advantage, sustaining the story’s momentum and providing ample space for imagined interludes.

More swashbuckling sisterly fun, with a healthy dose of hope for a brighter tomorrow: siempre juntas.