The world building and alternate history in this was fantastic. I love Napoleon-era naval fiction, and while this wasn't quite the same, moving along the Aurora with Matt reminded me so much of the Hornblower books. At times it felt more like a love letter to seamanship than a novel with an ongoing plot, but that didn't bother me at all.

Kate did, however. I think Matt calls her willful once, and that's a freaking understatement. This is one of those times where in trying to create an independent, awesome female for young girls to look up to, the author goes way overboard and makes her stubborn, selfish, dumb and irritating. I can't count how many times I want to reach into the book, knock her out and lock her in a room on the ship.

The plot itself was decent. I expected much more from the cloud cats, but the pirate stuff was a fun read.

Spoiler

The first part, anyway; I understand that in writing YA you can't really have your kids killing people, but it felt way too convenient, the way the cloud cat took care of half the pirates on the ship.

All in all, this was a fantastic look at an alternate history I totally want more of, and I love Matt Cruse. Grabbing the rest of the series when I can.