Sword Echoes (Pirate Academy #3) by Justin Somper

Title: Sword Echoes (Pirate Academy #3)

Author: Justin Somper

Genre: Adventure

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 2^nd June 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Neo, Jasmine and Jacoby uncover lies and secrets all across the oceans in the third book in this 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

Neo Splice has left his friends behind at Pirate Academy and is aboard the legendary Brave as the Waves. Together with Captain December Wilde and her faithful four-legged companion Pickle, he is following a mysterious trail of clues left by his late mother. Neo is one step closer to revealing his unique destiny.

Back at Pirate Academy, Jacoby Blunt and Jasmine Peacock are fighting to understand what makes their friends, family and now a favourite teacher defect to the rebellious League of True Pirates. So when Jasmine launches a maverick sailing mission to reunite with her father in the hope of finding out more, her friend Jacoby is right by her side. But a surprise twist sees the two friends separated and behind enemy lines.

Survival for all three young pirates-in-training will depend on everything they have learnt at Pirate Academy. However, Neo, Jasmine and Jacoby will soon discover they each have far more power than they realised to change the course of events …

Three friends divided by fate but united in mission. It’s another swashbuckling adventure with our heroes from Pirate Academy!

Perfect for:
– Reluctant and confident readers aged 8+ seeking fast-paced adventure stories
– Parents, teachers and librarians seeking stories with both boy and girl protagonists
– Fans of popular series such as Oceanforged, How to Train Your Dragon and Artemis Fowl

Read all the books in the Pirate Academy series:
– New Kid on Deck
– Missing at Sea

~*~

Neo, Jasmine and Jacoby are back for a new adventure, and hatching new plans to take down LOT P, especially after the revelation that one of their teachers is defecting to LOT P. Neo has been off with Captain December Wilde on Brave as the Waves when the defection happens as they follow the trail of Neo’s destiny, hidden by clues his mother left.

Yet, his friends Jacoby and Jasmine are working out why their friends, family and teacher are joining the rebellious League of True Pirates. And Jasmine has maverick plans of her own – sail to her father to find out more and get her mother back.

As the friends are separated and spread across the waves, trying to find out what is going on at the Okinawa Pirate Academy as well. Strange things are going on there as well, so everything in their world is changing, and it has been since New Kid on Deck. This one brings everything that has happened in the first two books into play, and builds on everything that has come before.

This is pirates in a new and unique way, whilst still keeping the familiar things about pirates in the story, and showing what happens when the pirates are the good guys and the bad guys.  This rift in the world this story is set in is a series-long theme and plot line as the main characters work against LOT P in every way they can.

Each book picks up not long after the previous one, and has a great summary at the start of the story so far, so you can dive right in without rereading, and it gives new readers a good entrée into the world if they pick up the book without having read the first two books.

The series is moving along well, hitting all the things it needs to, celebrating friendship, diversity and a changing world that has many similarities to ours, yet is also its own entity. It’s a world ruled by pirates, and the conflicts that different pirate families and leagues have with each other. It’s a fun series that is filled with fun characters and emotional highs and lows that are relevant at any time of life.

It’s for all readers, and can engage reluctant readers with something that has, to my knowledge, never been done before. It’s great to see a series with boy and girl protagonists that get equal billing so that the book isn’t pushed into a boy book or a girl book category. Books are books, they don’t have gender, and this book really shows how pirates can appeal to everyone, regardless of gender or age.

Everything feels like it is building to something big soon, maybe in the next book. It will be interesting to see where the series goes next and how it all wraps up, and brings the pirate community together in whatever way happens. And it seems that the pirate world will never be the same.