I really really wanted to love this. Maybe expectations were too high.

There are so many great things about this duology : pirates & sea creatures & sea creature trainers & a brilliant cast of characters. We have women of colour in charge of pirate ships and no one ever questions it. Just like no one ever questions the lesbian relationship. That's what I call positive representation.

I loved Cas and Swift in the 1st book but in this one I almost wanted to punch them. They went from hating each ther to kissing each other in circles over and over and I just couldn't back their relationship anymore.
(although yes, a couple of things Swift did made my heart melt)

For some reason it took me ages to get through. Why?
I believe it lacked urgency. It lacked a pinned goal or threat. A "baddy" is mentionned but even by the end, he doesn't really appear, nor does he have a major threat that is urgently needed to be dealt with. There are a few monster attacks but by the time they came I think I just wanted to be done with the book.

Gosh, th review makes it seem bad. It really isn't. I had just hoped it would be amazing and it didn't live up to my expectations. I would still recommend it and share it and talk about it to whomever might like it !