A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Sometimes demon summonings go wrong, and that’s not always a bad thing...

Bryce Virra was a corporate executive in charge of the New Eden mining colony. But when a group of terrorists learn about her illegal weapons research, they decide to put a stop to it by sacrificing her to a demon. It doesn’t go well.

Now, with her captors dead and her secret out, Bryce can no longer rely on the corporation that was protecting her from a dark past. She’ll need to find a ship, form a crew, and learn to navigate the galaxy’s criminal underworld in order to survive.

But first she needs to negotiate a deal with the devil who was summoned to kill her. A deal that could change both of their lives forever.

Content warning:strong profanity, violence, dark themes, kidnapping, torture, alcohol and drug use, implied sexual situations, heavy-handed trauma, little-to-no piracy, poorly executed demon summoning, a rushed sapphic relationship, bad puns, really bad sex puns, dragon crime lords, werewolf gangsters, blatant spoiling of a fictional romance novel, and over representation/normalization of gay and/or queer characters

New chapters on Tuesday and Thursday

If you can't wait for those releases then you can find more chapters on myPatreon.It's a few chapters ahead, and growing! +there's pretty art!

Also, if you want a place to discuss the series or just hang out with cool people, then I have a discord server which can be foundhere.

The first novel is now available onAmazonand the audiobook ishere!

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Jayde Russell

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,322
Views: 803,563

Chapters(180 total)

What readers say about A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen

“This story starts quickly and doesn't let off, and it's fun as hell to ride along with the author to discover what's next. I binged the first 300 pages today, and can't wait to read more. The characters have depth and very distinct perspectives. And they're…”
wolfeflowRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Screamingly queer magical cyberpunky sci-fi, it's perfect. It's like Shadowrun has jumped another 2-300 years into the future. With interesting characters and a plot that looks like it's going to be fun for the long haul. A++ do recommend. I'm really lookin…”
cmkzRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

wolfeflowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story starts quickly and doesn't let off, and it's fun as hell to ride along with the author to discover what's next. I binged the first 300 pages today, and can't wait to read more.
The characters have depth and very distinct perspectives. And they're funny! The world is massive but with enough details to keep you grounded. I wouldn't call this a queer story, even though the majority of major characters would qualify as "queer" in our society; instead, it reads more like I would imagine a galaxy-wide society would, with so many different species and cultures coming together that there isn't really something "normal" to inform someone else being "queer."
My only critique so far is that I think the author should space out events, timeline-wise. Right now events are so crammed together that the character development we see seems a bit unbelievable, as there has been no time for such developments. Adding a few "four days later" type interludes would allow for the development to happen in the background and be more believable. To be clear: nothing seems unreal, but more some moments seem unlikely.
All in all, this is a lovely story and it's a freaking trip to read.
cmkzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Screamingly queer magical cyberpunky sci-fi, it's perfect. It's like Shadowrun has jumped another 2-300 years into the future.
With interesting characters and a plot that looks like it's going to be fun for the long haul. A++ do recommend.
I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes from here, because the set up had been excellent.
AlobombRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've got a thing about lesbian web fiction, and that thing is an endless hunger for more. So when this was recommended on a Discord server for another story, I was pleased as a peach to dive in, but even so I was caught by surprise by what I found.
Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen (GtBPQ? GBPQ? GtBaPQ?) is a, thus far, fun romp through a sci-fantasy corpo-dystopian space future following a pair of absolutely embarassingly homosexual lesbians as they cope with their respective pasts, and their newfound relationship with one another.
The setting comes off as a somewhat gritty take along the lines of something like Starfinder or what have you (think elves, dwarves, dragons etc., but in spaaaaace) that toes the line between the intrinsically somewhat silly feeling nature of, say, an overwrought, snooty dragon space mob boss, and some more dark takes on things like space travel or pervasive organized crime.
The character writing so far is delightful. The story dances between POVs every couple chapters or so, and it's a good time peeking into each character's thoughts, as they often have humorously different takes on the events of the story. Bryce is a delight, I'm a sucker for the sorta troubled, disgraced academic type, and her tendency to become very assertive when flirted with too hard by her very flirty... devil, is cute, funny, and :maam:.
Said flirty devil, Thea, is a ton of fun. It's interesting to see things from her perspective, because you sorta get why the non-devil mortals have the assumptions and stereotypes they do about devils and demons, but you also get to kinda see the ways they're utterly wrong, it's a good time.
Mild character spoilers for partway in here.
Sora is another super fun character, and a great bit of non-binary and sex worker rep besides. It's extremely nice to see a NB character that is still very much attached to their sexuality, while also being a rounded character. It feels like too often it's one or the other, and I feel as though the
Kitten with GunsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When I am reading this I imagine the charaters in an anime settings just full of spirit. I am sure you support this book we will see an amazing audio book come out that bring the story to life. One can hope at least. Great Work I can't wait to read the finished product and see what kind of adventures come afterwards.
Slifer274Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not sure why the rating on this is so low. Enjoying this a lot so far. Both characters are very entertaining to spend time with, and the style is smooth. Intriguing story so far with a magic system that isn't too crunchy and isn't too handwavey, and I'm super excited to read more about these two characters. Some minor issues with mixing up present and past tense, but it's not too noticeable, just something to watch out for. I'll be watching this one.
TealiciousTeaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I recommend it!
Compelling characters and well written. The author does a great job of getting the reader invested in our characters quickly. The worldbuilding and magic system are introduced nicely without pushing the plot and drama to the side or the characters. Side characters too also get a chance to shine which is nice. Grammar is on point. The style leans towards descriptive without getting bogged down in it. A fun read.
VytmuirRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I absolutely love this series. It's got great characters that i love experiencing the story with. It's got Cyberpunk level corporations, it's got planes of existence, demons, devils and gods, There are pirates, magic, and technology all done up in a pretty bow called romance, and I love it!.
you would think that with so many traits? topics? elements? to the story that it'd be a bit of a 'Too many cooks in Thea's Kitchen' situation. However Jayde does an absolutely brilliant job of balancing what is currently grabbing our attention and what can sit in the background for now, that we never get this problem.
This story is a fantastic ride through space with some very fun characters, please, do yourself a favor and read this.
aivhorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a science fantasy series set in a corporate dystopia where FTL travel, neural implants, and nanites are commonplace, filled with the denizens of the various planes of hell and the elements, elves, orcs, kitsune, djinn, fae, and more. Shadowrun in space is not too far off. The action-adventure story follows a found family of weirdos as they try to survive the various bounties set on them.
The writing Style fits the genre and tone, and is pretty straightforward. While the story has several viewpoints, the voice of the narration doesn't change to accommodate the shift in perspective. Ignoring the character specific content, you wouldn't generally be able to tell which chapter belongs to whom just from the style. Descriptions are sparse and rely more on prompting imagination to fill in the gaps instead of very specific descriptions. I've never found it lacking to the point where I couldn't picture a person or a situation and it helps keep the pacing fast.
The writing is excellent on a technical level. The copy editing is on point; there are very, very few typos, Grammar or punctuation errors, or other language issues interfering with a smooth reading experience.
The Characters are a major selling point. Contrary to what I said about the narrative voice, their personalities and skills are very distinct. Said skills are well-justified by their backstories, and the feedback loop between their worldviews and opinions, and their capabilities, is carefully thought out. They approach situations in ways that are logical based on their biases, knowledge, and abilities, and these resolve in ways that are appropriate. That is to say, if they are wrong about something, they rarely get away with it; whereas if they make the right call, they can feel smug. This feeds naturally back into how they think about things and either reinforces or disrupts existing patterns. I'm sure written out like this, it sounds pedestrian - "shouldn't every character in every book work like this?
CestarianRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is a fun sci-fi/fantasy mix story with a look at how a fantasy universe might look once it becomes a type 3 civilization. It's certainly not the only story of it's kind, but they're not exactly common, and this story gets it really right by exploring ways in which magic and interstellar travel might mix
I'm not entirely convinced of the description though, i have not really seen any space piracy from the leading cast and they don't even seem to have the requisite mentality for such a thing (e.g. the more i read the more it looks like there is not and never will be any space piracy in this story, at least not from the leads), this of course is just my impression and the author could subvert my expectations at any time if they so choose but ultimately, not convinced this is a story about space pirates.
The characters are ok, they often seem a bit more characterized by their sexuality than any actual personality traits though, they're all fairly generic but with slight deviances. I had one problem though with one character whose gender isn't specified, i think when they were first referred to it was as a she but every moment after that it was a they. This is imo just a poorly written character, as this lack of definition makes it difficult to picture this character, i don't know if it looks male or female or somehow ambiguous, i don't know what kind of genitalia they're in possession of, all i know is that they can turn into a fox... That's not a lot to go on.
Granted this isn't the only character that's poorly described but the rest are at least given a gender and a race which is enough to puzzle together some kind of image of them at least.
The grammar is nothing short of stellar, i haven't even noticed any typos in here, and the style is one of the best multiple lead pov style i've ever read, it flows really well and i don't feel like the pace of the story gets disrupted at all when povs are changed between chapters; it's never jarring or confusing either. The
RielleRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Content warning is no joke...
Rushed sapphic relationship - Well, that's an understatement. Someone may like all that I fall in the day after our meeting, but not me.
Over representation/normalization of gay and/or queer - gay is ok... but "They" thing... It just makes my eyes bleed.
Alcohol and drug use - Well, for residents of some countries, this may be commonplace, but it is unpleasant for me to see the general acceptance of the drugs
In any case, I wouldn't give a low grade just because the novel didn't satisfy my personal preferences.
Much more important problem is fact thats "Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen" is more an anime, than a novel. I.e., events run one after another, without having time to tell us small details. If everyone usually writes that the author is a graphomaniac and he should fit 3 chapters in one, then here the situation is exactly the opposite. There are just not enough details. Not enough background.