UptownOracle in Book Reviews

Uptown Oracle Reads… Viper

Viper
Bex Hogan

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He will make me a killer. Or he will have me killed. That is my destiny.

Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles.

But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake.

He’s the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne’s father.

She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves – and perhaps even her life?

I re-watched Pirates of the Caribbean and wanted to read a pirate-y book, so Viper was strongly suggested by Connie. It has pirates, a sea adventure and many great characters that you grow to love.

What I loved most was the world building, and even the hints at secrets we haven’t uncovered yet in this world. I wanted to go off and explore all the different islands as they’re so vastly different. On the Eastern side (the side we stick to in Viper) there’s 6 isles and each of them provides a different key resource to the people.

First Isle – King’s Isle – Resource is mainly trading and manufacturing, and holding the largest population.
Second Isle – Fallow Isle – Resource is agriculture.
Third Isle – Black Isle – Resource is lumber.
Fourth Isle – Floral Isle – Resources are flowers, spices and medicine.
Fifth Isle – Mist Isle – Resource is livestock.
Sixth Isle – Rock Isle – Resources come from mining.

Of all the islands, I loved the floral isle as Marianne spends some time there, but I was also intrigued by the black isle. As Marianne has lived all her life at sea, we know about each of the islands but going with her to explore them was like seeing the islands for the first time. Plus I’m sure we’ll get to explore the western isles in a future book too.

There’s also mentions of magic, monsters and sea creatures which pulled me into this world even more. Unfortunately these aren’t a huge part of Viper, but it seems like a little taster of the future books when we’re moving across to the western isles.

Marianne is our main character and she’s determined to do what she thinks is right. Being the Viper’s daughter she’s been stuck in the ship most of her life, however she somehow retained a little hint at humanity that the Viper tried to crush out of her. I especially love scenes where she has to come up against her father or father’s men as you see her struggle to hurt those she knows (despite them being awful in some cases!).

Speaking of those she knows, we also have Grace who was Marianne’s friend on the ship/potentially the closest thing she has to a motherly figure. Grace has a hidden past that I’m so interested to learn more about (hopefully??) in the next book. It definitely has some weight to the overall storyline, and her relationship with Marianne was written with a lot of background depth that we don’t see at first but understand the loyalty there.

Then we have Bronn, the love interest, and Torin, the Prince. Bronn is a fairly stereotypical love interest in that he can’t show his feelings, and feelings mean the other person can be hurt more etc. But his actions do help move the story forward, and it’s shown that Marianne isn’t totally dependent on the man to save her which I liked. Then there’s Torin, and technically Marianne does need this man to help save her… but it’s written in a way that is more complicated. I kind of wish we’d spent more time focused on Torin, and potentially more on his backstory as he’s at odds with his father.

Overall the storyline is very fast paced and there’s a lot of action packed pirate scenes. It’s very violent in parts, and there’s some blood and gore in case you’re not into reading that. But overall there’s a grip once you start reading that makes you want to finish the book and find out what happens. There’s also some tense scenes, as well as slower paced scenes which add to the characters and world building – but this doesn’t take away from the adventure feel of the book.