New Kid on Deck (Pirate Academy #1) by Justin Somper

Title: New Kid on Deck (Pirate Academy #1)

Author: Justin Somper

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 29^th July 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: From Justin Somper, award-winning author of the Vampirates series, comes a fast-paced and exciting fantasy adventure series perfect for readers of How to Train Your Dragon or Artemis Fowl.

‘A gloriously action-packed adventure, full of characters you really care about’ – Cressida Cowell, author of How to Train Your Dragon

‘Pirates done right! I love this world.’ – Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl

‘So engaging, with a great cast of characters.’ – Kiah Thomas, author of The Callers

The year is 2507. The oceans have risen. A new dawn of piracy has begun.

Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock are students at the elite Pirate Academy. This is no ordinary school. Lessons range from Knots Class and Sailing to Combat Workshop. The students hail from famous pirate families. The teachers are all legendary sea captains. The pressure is always on, and friendship is everything.

When a new kid – the mysterious Neo Splice – arrives, everything changes FAST. Suddenly, the dangers are no longer at sea but stalking the classrooms and corridors of Pirate Academy. In the face of real peril, the students of Barracuda class must put everything they have learned to the test against an unexpected and ruthless new enemy.

Welcome to Pirate Academy where every day is a swashbuckling adventure!

~*~

It’s 2507, and the world is ruled by pirates. The Pirate Federation is running things, and elite families and their ships are part of it. Pirate children are sent to the Pirate Academy for ten years to learn the art of piracy, sailing, combat, and everything in between. They learn respect, and about how to be a good pirate. When Wing is whisked away in the middle of the night and a new student, Neo Splice arrives at the school, things change fast for Jasmine and Jacoby, two members of the Barracuda class.  It’s piracy for a new age and audience that has been reinvigorated with new ideas whilst playing with the classic tropes that are recognisable.

So far, things have been calm. They’ve been studying with their friends Ocean, Priya, Cosmo, Shay, Fergus and the rest of their class for five years. They’ve never really been tested by an enemy, and are all keen to get through their education and get their own pirate ships at seventeen. This is a swashbuckling adventure kicking off a series that has tensions, fun and intrigue. It has all the hallmarks of a great pirate adventure. Swords, knots, ships, treasure and navigation. These pirates are good and ethical, and are up against an enemy that wants to unravel the work the Pirate Federation has done to create a community and family. It’s filled with humour and fun too, perfect for middle grade readers.

Adventure on the high seas in a world with higher sea levels is filled with danger and intrigue. There’s secrecy within – centred around Neo at first, but there are more secrets to come. More intrigue and surprises. Because things are not as they seem. Jasmine and Jacoby are determined to find out what is going on. Especially with Jasmine’s missing parents and other ships that have been lost. There’s definitely evil in the air, and the Barracuda class and the Pirate Academy need to be prepared to fight with the legendary pirate captain teachers by their side. It’s pirates done differently, where diversity of gender, race and disability are embraced. Where missing a limb doesn’t make one evil, and where everything just works so well. It’s a very believable world that middle grade readers will enjoy as they place themselves in the right class based on their age.

It also uses our world to create games they’d play, modern language and everything cool about pirates in an engaging story, where you never really know who to trust. It’s a great speculative fiction, very different from what I have read in the past. Pirate Academy still hints at climate change and its effects through rising sea levels across the world whilst not being too heavy-handed about it. The pirate academy sounds like fun, and kids will love imaging themselves as the characters or going to the academy – it was certainly fun imagining being part of it in some way for me. It was a really fun read, and I have to say, I loved the pirates and how they were written in this novel. It made them nuanced and layered. It was a great read, and I look forward to where Jasmin, Neo and Jacoby go next.