Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
In a "closely parallel" historical world, Miss Artemesia Fitz-Willoughby Weatherhouse, age sixteen, wakes up from a head injury one day at her finishing school in "Lundon" to remember her former life as the daughter of Molly Faith, the daring Piratica, captain of the pirate vessel Unwelcome Stranger. So Art escapes up a chimney and sets out to rejoin her dead mother’s crew, now engaged in the unworthy--for pirates--work of advertising coffee on the Pirate Coffee and lead them back to search for treasure on the high seas. What follows is a lengthy series of piratical adventures in "Africay" and "Mad Agash Scar," as Art is pitted against her arch-rival, Little Goldie Girl. The gender roles seem too dutifully reversed, in 1970s feminist fashion: When a former shipmate tells Art, "Fear not, we’ll take care of you," she replies haughtily, "I don’t need taking care of. I will take care of you." And her reluctant love interest, Felix Phoenix, is a pale and weakly effeminate pacifist, sworn to oppose all things piratical. Art never becomes a character we can become close to or truly care about, and despite her "noble" creed of refusing to kill her enemies, a life of theft and pillage is as morally problematic as Felix recognizes it to be. But fans of Stevenson’s Treasure Island should have fun with Piratica, too, and the ending is so gosh-darned satisfying that most readers will join in cheering in spite of themselves. 2004, Dutton, $17.99. Ages 10 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 17))
A glorious roustabout of a tale, full of yummy set pieces and terrific adventures, unbelievable in a most satisfying way. Sixteen-year-old Artemesia (Art) escapes via chimney from the boarding school her dastardly father has shipped her to, and finds her mother's crew in the town of Lundon. Her mother was Molly Faith, a pirate queen, who never hurt a soul and won her booty by cleverness. The crew, however, reminds Art that her baby memories are of playing pirates onstage, not actually going to sea. Art whips them into shape anyway, gathers up a ship, and sets off for treasure in a parallel world similar to but different from our world circa 1802. There's a taste of Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones, along with a fabulous parrot, a mysterious freed slave, set pieces with lost islands, treasure maps, storms at sea, and stagecraft. There's even a boy with a silver tongue and shining hair who Art thinks is her enemy, but who is not. The language is rip-roaring or glides like a seagull, as needed. And the thrilling dénouement is romantic as heck. 2004, Dutton, 320p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. Starred Review. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2004 (Vol. 58, No. 3))
A tumble down the school stairs unearths a cache of buried memories in sixteen-year-old Art(emesia), and in defiance of her father she leaves the toney academy to return to sea, where she was raised by her pirate mother. No matter that her deceased mother was actually an actress who played a lady buccaneer, and Art merely a child at her side on stage. Art rounds up the old cast--now hawking Pirate Coffee off an undersized advertising ship--and after taking aboard handsome Felix Phoenix, who has been misidentified by the police as highwayman Gentleman Jack Cuckoo, Art thieves her way around the globe, pursued by Goldie (vengeful daughter of an all-too-real pirate), dodging the law, discovering a trunk of treasure maps, and succumbing to true love when Felix rescues her from the gallows at the big finish. This never quite fulfills its Fun Potential; Lee patches together stock elements of piratical romance so conscientiously that her tale has little independent life of its own. The parallel world setting, in which 1802 England is a republic and France groans under monarchy, sometimes seems little more than excuse for Lee to toy with British place names, wordplay which is likely to resonate only with geographically savvy readers. Still, there's action aplenty, and the swordpoint showdown between Art and Goldie is worth the price of passage. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2004, Dutton, 288p, $17.99. Grades 6-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2005)
A fall unearths Art's hidden memories of her mother's death and their pirate life. Art reassembles her mother's colorful crew and returns to the sea, but a hidden twist (her mother and crew were only actors who played pirates) quickly provides humorous adventures and memorable challenges. Some scenes require serious stretches of the imagination, but on Art's strong shoulder's the novel stays afloat. Category: Older Fiction. 2004, Dutton, 288pp, 17.99. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Michele Winship (VOYA, October 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 4))
Sixteen-year-old Artemesia Fitz-Willoughby Weatherhouse has spent six years at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens, learning how to walk with good posture, act like a proper lady, and be an ornament to the female gender. That is until she falls down, hits her head, and remembers who she really is-the daughter of Molly Faith, pirate queen of the high seas. Six years earlier aboard Molly's ship Unwelcome Stranger, a cannon blew up, killing Molly, knocking Art senseless, and disbanding the pirates. Art is determined, however, to reassemble Molly's crew and take over where her mother left off, plundering ships but never taking a life. The only problem is that Molly was an actress who performed her adventures nightly on a stage ship with her troupe of made-up pirates. Or was she? As Art becomes Captain Blastside, commandeering a ship and reenlisting the crew that has been hawking Pirate Coffee, she seems to have knowledge of the pirate life that only the true Piratica could have imparted. Emboldened and determined, she leads her crew over the high seas in search of a great pirate treasure while in constant battle with her pirate rival, Goldie Girl. Lee's over-the-top storybook prose allows readers to enter the parallel world of a not-quite England of the early 1800s and to join an unlikely band of "pirates" on their adventures across the seas. Told in three acts, this swashbuckling tale follows Art's coming into her own as a pirate queen and a young woman. VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P M J S (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2004, Dutton, 320p., $16.99. Ages 11 to 18.