Upon another reread...my stance on Nikolai has evolved and I now live him with my whole heart lol

I enjoyed this! Don't go in expecting fast paced pirating. It's so much more about the world and the story instead. I don't think it will be for everyone but it was for me. A few lulls in the pace but the world was just so interesting and adding the element that the story is being told in the book (think the way The Princess Bride movie has the grandpa telling the story) just made it better. The conflict of fighting over resources is definitely something we can all relate to.

I will definitely be pre-ordering the next book.

Rtc

Super fun world and read!

thank you to the publisher for the eARC through NetGalley

This was a little too traditional YA fantasy for my preference but I am so incredibly impressed at how well Jillian writes standalone fantasies. I normally feel them falling short and either under developing character or the world or both but this is my second book by Jillian that I've read and both fantasy standalones...gave me everything I needed. I furthermore LOVE lineage reveals and political conspiracies so this was perfect for me!

Actually pretty similar to the movie which I was pleasantly surprised by.

THIS IS THE DARK SHIT I SIGNED UP FOR! I've read a fair number of books in the past year or two that promised darker tones and fucking with some messed up parts of history. None of them were bad but none of them gave me the dark themes/tones I was promised...but this DID. Big hell yeah to this from start to finish AND THEN IT'S A DAMN SERIES SO I AM GETTING MORE! BIGGEST OF HELL YES TO THAT.

Now I'm not joining the cult about this but I'll definitely read the sequel and I enjoyed it. The romance seemed awfully...shoved in without any development so that really was not for me though I did like the romance by the end. I liked the world, conflict, and plot.