ebook_em's Reviews (960)

If you like Pirates of the Caribbean and City of Brass, you might want to pick up Dark Water Daughter. 

This is a swashbuckling pirate fantasy set in an arctic landscape. The style of world-building reminded me of City of Brass, even though the worlds in the two novels couldn't be more different. Dark Water Daughter is very atmospheric with a cool magic system and forest spirits.

Our two main POV characters are a Stormsinger (basically a weather witch) and a Sooth (basically a mage who has visions), and they come together to hunt down a deathless pirate on icy seas. There's a touch of romance that will probably develop more in the sequel.

As much as I enjoyed the sense of adventure, the writing style, and the world, I didn't feel like I knew the characters well until near the end. There's a lot of ship hopping and minor crises throughout the middle of the book, which made the characters feel disconnected from each other and any sense of place. However, Long is clearly setting up a complex, richly layered world in this book and I expect there to be more character development as the story progresses in future book(s). 

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

I had high hopes going into this because I’m a sucker for multi-POV family sagas, and Family Lore did not disappoint. 

Flor Marte can predict when people will die, so her family members are alarmed when she decides to throw herself a living wake. The story moves backwards and forwards through the family’s lives, exploring their various conflicts and secrets. It’s narrated by one of the second gen characters and she inserts her own reflections as parenthetical asides while recounting her cousin’s and aunts’ stories. This narrative choice felt like a fresh take on a multigenerational family saga and left me wondering what parts of the story were altered or left out in the process of sharing oral histories. 

It was so easy to relate to all the characters. One of them reminded me of myself and I was constantly reminded of my loved ones in many of the sisters and side characters. They were all so frustrating and endearing. 

Much of this was a solid 4-star read for me, but the ending and Acevedo’s beautiful prose bumped it up to a 4.5.

My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for an eARC of this book. 

Just read the first chapter for an academic project, but I want to read the full thing once my local library gets a copy!