A delectably sweet, queer, young adult coming of agefantasy romance with a splash of pirates pirating.

Prince Taliesin, Tal for short, is the last known (only by his family) wielder of forbidden elemental magic and is therefore kept hidden away within the walls of the royal palace. Days after setting sail on his long awaited coming-of-age tour, he meets Athlen- a lone prisoner and the last of his kind aboard a ghost ship. This chance encounter sets the course of this adventure story where we encounter shapeshifters, dark magical bargains, political machinations among warrings kingdoms, and ultimately love- whether it be platonic, familial, or romantic.

I'm not quite sure how the author managed to pack in such a vast, yet charming story in such a short amount of pages but color me impressed! My only gripe is that this doesn't have an extra 100 to 200 pages added on because I loved this book so much and really wanted to see more of these delightful characters! I would consider this light fantasy because there isn't a lot of bogged down world building to paint the canvas of this world. It just is, and I appreciate that it lended our focus to the characters themselves.

Go into this knowing that there is maybe 6% of piratey goodness because it seems a lot of readers were disappointed by that aspect. I want you to know that off the cuff so that you, dear reader, can adjust your expectations accordingly. Please do not let that bit of info deter you from picking this up because In Deeper Waters is a wholesome, delightful, fast paced adventure with a queer romance at its heart. 

I definitely plan on revisiting this one in the future!!