A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Bloomsbury to a spectacular pirate themed book launch to celebrate the release of the proofs for an exciting new adventure novel, Pirates of Darksea by Catherine Doyle.

Catherine’s fiction for children includes the award-winning Storm Keeper trilogy, which is set on the magical island of Arranmore, where her grandparents grew up, The Miracle on Ebenezer Street, a modern reimagining of A Christmas Carol, The Lost Girl King, a magical adventure inspired by Irish mythology and her bestselling YA trilogy, which includes Twin Crowns and Cursed Crowns, co-authored with Katherine Webber. 

The final book in the Crowns trilogy, Burning Crowns, will be released in April 2024. She also has another YA novel, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy, The Dagger & the Flame, coming out in September 2024.

Here is the blurb for Pirates of Darksea, which is released on 14th March 2024.

“Deep in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, where the full moon rests on the horizon, lies a secret kingdom called Darksea. Ruled by the Pirate King, Captain O’Malley, Darksea’s tranquil waters have, of late, been haunted by an invisible and deadly monster – a monster that is eating the once-beautiful islands in gigantic bites.    

On the other side of the horizon, at his home in Galway, Max Reid and his family are battling a different monster. His big brother Christopher is in hospital and getting sicker – and his parents have begun to talk of miracles.    

Then one night a loud, bright red parrot taps on Max’s bedroom window, carrying an invitation from the pirate king. Captain O’Malley needs a new crew member for a dangerous quest; and the reward is everything Max has been hoping for.    

But in Darksea, not everyone is as they seem. When Captain O’Malley’s secret threatens to upend their mission and destroy Max’s chance to help his family, Max realises he’s going to have to navigate much more than he bargained for…”

Blurb for Pirates of Darksea by Catherine Doyle

I arrived at the Old Thames Inn wearing my pirate costume where I met the other people who had been invited and Catherine Doyle. We drank prosecco and then ventured to the escape room on The Golden Hind, designed by Secret Rooms.

This was the first escape room I had ever done and was not quite sure what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. On board we were split into two teams, The Stolen Sunrise and The Pirates of Darksea, and set a quest to find the ring and save the ship from sinking. We also had to find all the bottles of Darksea Stardust.

Then we were ushered into a room by the talented actors and locked in so we had to navigate our way through the puzzles and around the ship to find the missing ring. Here I am retrieving the next clue from the chest.

On the whole, the escape room on the Golden Hindproved to be a highly entertaining and fun test of our puzzle solving skills. I would highly recommend you giving it a go yourself. My team managed to escape with three minutes to spare.

After we had completed the quest and played a few pirate games then went for a late buffet-style lunch at The Anchor where we received our fabulous treasure: a copy of the proof Pirates of Darksea. Here is a photo of me getting my copy signed by Catherine Doyle.

To find out more about Catherine Doyle and her books see her website: www.catherinedoylebooks.com or follow her on X @doyle_cat and Instagram @cat_doyle0.

Keep an eye out for my book review of Pirates of Darksea next year.

I would like to thank Grace Ball from Bloomsbury for inviting me to the proof launch. Thank you.