Book received from Netgalley and NineStar Press for an honest review
I hate when I start off a review this way but . . . I've no real clue how to write a review for this book. Most of what I could say would probably be spoiler. So . . . I'll try to weave my way to something approaching a review.
One of the first things I need to mention, and I'm not sure if it is a spoiler or not, I assume it isn't considering how the book flows from beginning to end, but it is something that was hidden from readers in the book description. And that is the part where I thought I was going to read one of the quite rare FFF books. I mean, the description certainly lead me to a reasonable belief. Perhaps. Maybe. Maybe not. The words around one of the characters - describing all but that character, are loaded with female gender terms. I suppose it could be said that having two of the three characters be overloaded with female pronoun words, while leaving the third suspiciously pronoun free should have been a hint at something or other. Well, I didn't notice - I just saw all the female pronouns, saw that the book involved three main characters, and assumed stuff.
The book alternates point of views - having Aela, Del, and Brynne get turns at the POV controls. I mention this specifically so that I can continue the above paragraph. The first time I got to Del's POV section (Aela leads off the book, Del came second), things were worded a particular way. Well, one, I knew immediately that Del thought of himself as male. But there were these hints being dropped that made me vaguely suspicious. Del was described as soft, and as someone the other soldiers were protective towards. Should I be reading anything into that, I thought to myself as I read? Yes . . yes I should. But I'll leave that specific detail of why be found out by the reader. I will say, though, that as far as I know, this book involves two women and one man.
Aela is a pirate, a corsair (I think I spelled that right). Her entire life, at least as per her own memories, has consisted of being a pirate. She leads off the book and POV. And there's this quite exciting, thrilling pirate action scenes where a pirate ship chases down another ship. Aela is dark skinned, heavily scarred, and there's something . . . different about her that gets revealed relatively quickly. Something I'll let the reader learn, though they don't have to wait long to learn. Aela, from everything 'dropped' in the book, is, at my best guess, a lesbian. A woman who enjoys the sexual company of other women.
Del takes over control of the book second. He, when first seen by the reader, is a solider whistling happily as he wanders with his fella soldiers, and the fiery other, on a quest. And yes, he. While there's these 'soft' impressions heavily laid down, he is a man. It is never really confirmed, but it appears that Del might very well be heterosexual.
Brynne takes over third. Three things to know about her immediately: 1) she has a connection to Aela - they are lovers; 2) she's a crofter's daughter (I've no clue what a crofter is - her mother sells fruit from a stand while her father is a merchant ship captain; I just made myself giggle after looking up the word crofter - 'crofter: a person who farms a croft' . . . um, wha? croft: small scale food production); 3) her first appearance introduces her as the newly engaged bride to the prince of the kingdom - which is both in the book description (well that she needs to learn to be a princess) and the first thing the reader sees from her point of view. She has red hair . . . I think I remember that. bah, I bad at noticing things. She's the kind of person who normally lived a life of walking barefoot, and speaking crudely. Already noted: Brynne and Aela are lovers. Both are female. She's engaged to a prince and seems determined to be a good princess and seems to have no 'issues' with marrying a man. Weakly I use this evidence to come to the conclusion that Brynne might be bisexual.
The book includes some interesting, fun, pirate action, a mini-quest, wandering underground, dragons, learning to be a princess, learning to read, learning about the past, both the past of the land the kingdom sits on, and Aela's past that she otherwise doesn't remember.
There's some exciting stuff in this book, but there's also a longish period in the middle where nothing much happens (stuff happens, just not the kind of stuff expected after pulse pounding opening action bit), but excitement returns to finish off the book. There are some obviously plot-lines, though, that are not wrapped up by the time the book is concluded.
Rating: 3.82
December 8 2017
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