This was my first time reading this author, and unfortunately, I do not think her writing style is a good fit for me. The book was difficult to get through. It was far longer than it needed to be, and the story moved at a painfully slow pace. Things did not really pick up until around the 30% mark, which made the first half drag.

I experienced the story through the audiobook, and I will say that the narrators were excellent, especially the female narrator who voiced Amina. She brought a real spark and some sass to the character, which made listening enjoyable. I would happily listen to her narrate other books. However, the story itself was hard to follow in audio alone. I eventually paired it with the ebook so I could read along, which helped me keep track of events, but even then, the plot remained convoluted and often confusing.

When I picked this up, I expected something in the vein of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, but with a female lead. Unfortunately, it fell far short of that promise. While there were fantasy and supernatural elements, they were underdeveloped and inconsistent. At times, the story veered so far into the strange that it stopped feeling like pirate fantasy at all and instead felt almost surreal, as if I had wandered into Wonderland. This direction left me bewildered and ultimately unsatisfied.

I also had issues with the content. The frequent cursing pulled me out of the story, some characters seemed to be included only for the sake of ticking diversity boxes, and the book was riddled with historical inaccuracies. The author’s note claimed an effort toward historical accuracy, but I found it unconvincing and far lacking. My biggest frustration was how characters were meant to exist in the twelfth century, yet consistently thought, spoke, and behaved as if they lived in the modern day. It just did not feel believable, which made it hard to stay invested.

On top of that, the book leaned heavily into liberal, woke messaging that felt preachy and out of place in the story. The inclusion of queer characters, both gay and transgender, felt extremely forced rather than natural, and the emphasis on their sexuality did not contribute meaningfully to the plot or character development. Also, if the book was aiming for historical accuracy, it really missed the mark here. In the twelfth century (and even today), Muslim characters would not realistically befriend or openly support queer people. Having Amina and her crew, many of whom were Muslim, accept and embrace them so quickly felt inaccurate, forced, and implausible.

Overall, this was not the pirate fantasy I had been hoping for. The premise had promise, but the execution left me frustrated and disappointed. I cannot recommend this book, and I will not be continuing the series or reading more from this author.

**This book is part of a pirate fantasy real-time reaction episode, which you can listen to here.