The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon, 528 pages.
Gráinne Nà Mháille (or Grace O'Malley, as she is better known to English speakers) was born in Ireland in the 16th century, coming of age right as the English crown decided to strengthen their claim to Ireland. Grace was the daughter of a powerful chief, leader of a sea-faring clan, and all her life she longed not only for the sea, but for the independence her dominance could offer her. Her political control of many of the clans of Ireland, combined with her fearless piracy, rendered her the most powerful woman in Ireland, someone bold enough to appear before Queen Elizabeth herself.
There isn't really a way to make the story of an anti-colonial pirate queen boring, so I can grant that this book had interesting parts, but I don't believe the style it was written in does it any favors. The chapters rotate between Maiden, Mother, and Matriarch, following Grace through various stages in her life. Unfortunately, what I found this did in effect was kill any possible momentum the book was building. The structure already often felt like a series of vignettes, which makes an amount of sense when trying to cover nearly six decades of a life, but the sense of disconnect was strengthened by having long stretches of events that occurred decades before whatever exciting thing was interrupted. I had a hard time remembering what was happening when by the end, as the three timelines began to join together.
There were a few other writing choices I found minorly frustrating, such as the narration usually referring to the protagonist as Grace to appeal to the recognizable historical figure, even though every time she is called Grace by another character it is taken as an insult; the somewhat two-dimensional supporting cast; or the sort of over-saturated "girl power" tone it sometimes took. I did appreciate that Lawhon did a good job of setting the scene for 16th century Ireland. Despite how interesting the subject is, I don't know that I'll be recommending this book.
