In her debut novel, author Suzanne Freyjadis jumps into the sea of young adult fiction with a swashbuckling young adult adventure.

In book one of a series, Celia Morgana and the Pirates of the Dragon Clan rocks the boat of boring kid lit and encourages both male and female readers to set sails on a more thrilling plot line of fun.

What it’s About

Ruthless and cunning, the pirates of the Dragon Clan rule the Eastern Seas. The mere sight of their flag, emblazoned with a ferocious winged lizard, is enough to send ships fleeing straight back to harbor. Their reputation is legend, their exploits, rivaled only by books of fiction, and their wealth surpasses human imagination. Yet no one knows just how they pull off their magnificent acts of thievery, for the Dragon Clan has a secret, they have formed an alliance with powerful beings of magic thought only to exist in myth. Dragons. 

Celia Morgana is the daughter of a wealthy merchant, living a life of luxury and leisure. She is also incredibly bored, wishing only for a bit of adventure. When the ship she has boarded is attacked by the Dragon Clan, she sees not a terrifying ordeal, but a chance to at last have the excitement that she so desperately craves. And so begins her induction into the strangely fascinating life of a pirate of the Dragon Clan. However, being a pirate might be more than she anticipated, and her natural affinity for magic might make for more trouble than those of the Dragon Clan were expecting.

Believe.com asked Freyjadis a couple questions about her inspiration for writing, as well as how faith and hope plays into the story.

1. What was your impetus in writing this book?

“I really like pirate stories, but I was tired of reading books where the lone girl had to battle for acceptance. I wanted to read a story where the fact that the new pirate was a girl was the least of her troubles. Being a pirate should be enough drama. So in the Dragon Clan Series the men and women in the clans all do the same types of jobs. What they do depends on their skills, not their gender.”

2. What is your background?

“I’ve been mentoring teens and tweens for the past 20 or so years and I love reading young adult books. I work in education technology and curriculum along with writing.”

3. Did having a tween and a teen influence you in writing this?

“I started the book when my kids were much younger, but as they’ve moved into the teenage years I think it helped me to write more realistic teenager characters.”

4. Give us an example of faith in the book.

“Celia has to have faith in herself and her decisions throughout the book. She had faith in her ability to become a pirate and take the leap onto the pirate ship.

Celia is also surrounded by a group of friends who have faith in her and she has faith in them. Her best friend, Bronwyn, has nascent magical power for most of the book, but when Celia’s and her lives are in danger, Celia has faith in Bronwyn to perform the magic needed to keep them safe.

Celia also learns to have faith in her training and the leaders of the Dragon Clan. When she learns to climb the ship’s rigging she’s terrified. The ship has three masts and the rigging goes up for several stories. Celia has to learn to climb up and down the rigging so she can deliver messages and take watch in the crow’s nest. When she first starts up the rigging she freezes on the ropes after looking down and realizing just how far up she is from the deck and how much farther she has to go. She has the support of her mentor, but she also has faith in herself, her training and her abilities.

This book is really a journey of having faith in yourself and becoming the person you were always meant to be.”

5. Name a quality in your female lead that you would love to see in girls these days?”

“I want girls to have faith in themselves and take chances. Girls are strong, competent and capable and sometimes the images they see and things they hear in the media or from teachers make them doubt themselves. They need to believe they can pursue their goals. I think it’s the most important thing.”

6. Name a quality in your male characters you wish more boys would exert these days.

“The boys in this series are every bit as strong and hard working as the girls and everyone is kind to one another. Kindness is a big theme in my work. I think that boys are not often allowed to be kind to themselves and one another, which makes us all weaker.

The character, Pascal, will play a much larger role in the next book as he and Celia grow into their leadership roles in the Dragon Clan.”

7. How do the characters treat each other?

“The Dragon Clan is really ethical. Their enemies aren’t, but the Dragon Clan only kills when there’s no other option and they go after slave ships for the treasure, but also to free the slaves and ask them to join their clan. Most of the ships in their fleet are former slave ships.

Every character has to work hard both physically and mentally to succeed, and success is required since to fail means falling to your death from the rigging or being killed by another pirate clan. Celia trains with her friend, Pascal, every day so that she can be strong and skilled with her sword.

In this book Celia ultimately is given some leadership on the ship, but she earns it.”

Freyjadis loves to hear from her readers!

Her website is www.freyjadis.com and it has art from the book, authors she likes, her blog and a way to contact her. She can also be found on Twitter@SFreyjadis and on Facebook at Pirates of the Dragon Clan.

Buy the Book!

The book is available on Amazon here.

Happy reading from Believe.com!