Hunting kraken from balloon ships is something James Darkling only dreams about. He’s never traveled by castle-ship, plundered shipwrecks, or sought treasure with a giant buccaneer. All he knows is school, books, and tests. But when he is elected to compete in a pirate’s trial South of Antarctica, his wildest dreams become reality. He is taken to a place of unbelievable wonder and danger where he finds not only friends, pirating sports, and baby krakens to raise, but a future as the greatest pirate ever, just as long as he can stay alive . . .