I bought this for a friend on impulse, because frankly the portmanteau was too delightful to pass up. That dear, she actually read it and gave it back for me to read, too.

Cuando Connor Tempest y sus intrépidos amigos piratas tienen un raro descanso en sus deberes, están de humor para la diversión, el sol y la aventura. Un encuentro casual con la tripulación de The Lorelei parece ofrecer todo eso y más. Pronto, Connor y compañía están aprendiendo a bucear en apnea en el asombroso mundo que se encuentra muy por debajo de la superficie del océano. Pero los piratas están más lejos de lo que creen. Debajo del agua, el peligro acecha, y van a necesitar todo lo que tienen para salir con vida...

A los gemelos Connor y Grace no les quena nada en tierra por lo que luchar: su padre acaba de fallecer y nunca han conocido el cariño de una madre. Temerosos del incierto futuro que le espera, deciden huir en barco. Una tormenta impredecible les sorprende en alta mar y, cuando están a punto de ser devorados por las olas, dos milagrosos barcos acuden en su ayuda. Recogido por el Diablo, capitaneado por el orgulloso y legendario pirata Molusco Wrathe, Connor se sentirá pronto como en casa y hará suyas las artes de la piratería; en cambio, la suerte de Grace es bien distinta. Sin saber ni siquiera dónde está y encerrada en una habitación a cal y canto, todo irá bien siempre y cuando siga las reglas del enigmático capitán sin rosto...

"I'll tell you a tale of Vampirates..."

Such is the beginning to a rather blood thirsty sea shanty sung to the Tempest twins, Grace and Connor, by their recently deceased father. How it was able to calm them for bedtime versus raise all their red alerts is beyond me, however it might serve as a good reason behind their ability to cope with the events that were just on the horizon. Losing everything they had on this earth besides each other, they set off to find a new life, only to have it snuffed before they even get started. The mysterious storm that overtook them out of the blue during their escape from dry land was unusual, but what happens to each of them is even more so. For one, it's a pirate's life for them, as they gain their sea legs and never stop searching for their other half; for the other, it's as yet to be decided...if they can manage to survive their savage "hero" and a bloodthirsty crew. Oh yes, my friends...there is MUCH more danger than what lurks in the murky depths below...

I rather fell in LOVE with this story. Grace and Connor are stars in their own right, and their journeys are far from over...but the author set this series up with an incredible cast of characters that are equally charming (well, some are more monstrous, but beauty IS in the eye of the beholder...just don't let some of them ACTUALLY be HOLD anything of yours!) in their own ways that make you want to learn their stories (Grace has the right idea!), and see just what the sea has in store for them! The mysterious captain, midshipman Lorcan, Cheng Li, and the one that we shall not name here that was cast out...all of them are quite obviously going to play integral roles in what's to come, and for that matter what happens here, so yes...I say GIVE ME MORE to satisfy my own book thirst!



*copy received for review; opinions are my own ( )

Fourteen year old twins, Grace and Conner Tempest, grew up listening to their father's tales of a ship of Vampirates sailing the seas. He sung a shanty about the Vampirates to them to comfort them when they were scared. After their father's death, Grace and Conner decide to run away. They steal his boat and set out to sea and straight into a storm. Their boat is destroyed and the twins are picked up by two different pirate ships - one of them by the Vampirate ship. Each child struggles to deal with ship life and with the possible death of their sibling and their undesirable need to continue looking for each other.



I enjoyed this book. It wasn't great but it is a different idea and storyline and a good, if shaky, start to the series.
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