Lovable characters, daring missions, and striking villains make this supernatural tale a rousing read.
Pirates, an airship, and a sea witch collide in this historical fantasy set in 1806.
If Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign isn’t enough to keep most people frightened, the fact that there’s a sea witch lurking in the waters definitely will. That is, if they find out about her. Unfortunately for Capt. Ryland Coldwell, who lost his ship and crew, he’s very much aware of the witch and her schemes. Many years ago, Ryland and Gwenifer Byrnes were in love, but she became involved in dark magic and turned into “a monster.” When he tried to kill her by sinking his ship, she crashed into the depths of the sea. In those murky waters, Gwenifer made a deal (“She had sworn an oath to something sinister, and instead of departing this world, she had been spared”). But Ryland was affected, too: He was cursed with immortality. Plagued by the witch’s machinations, he is now stuck in the West Indies, unable to escape by sea. So imagine Ryland’s good fortune when he happens upon an airship stranded in a cove. Helping the crew combat some pirates intent on stealing the airship, Ryland earns enough goodwill with the captain to secure passage on the craft. Traveling by air instead of by sea means that he can avoid the witch’s storms that have kept him trapped in the West Indies. And maybe, he can finally get his revenge on the woman who sentenced him to this wretched life and has haunted the seas for the last century (“I’ll find you, witch, he thought, feeling his jaw clench. Be ready”). Ryland is prepared for his immortality to end, but the airship’s crew, especially the beautiful, young female engineer, Emmeline Whittock, will make this decision his toughest one yet. In this riveting book, Dunnewin delivers richly developed characters in a tale of adventure, love, and loss. The crew of the airship is small, but the mates have distinct personalities that make them a captivating bunch. Still, Ryland, a reformed pirate, is the true star of the story, and is likely to steal readers’ hearts. This complex, well-drawn character is the type of morally gray hero that will stick with the audience long after the vivid novel has ended.
Lovable characters, daring missions, and striking villains make this supernatural tale a rousing read.Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 596
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Spanning centuries and continents, this is a darkly romantic and suspenseful tale by a writer at the top of her game.
When you deal with the darkness, everything has a price.
“Never pray to the gods that answer after dark.” Adeline tried to heed this warning, but she was desperate to escape a wedding she didn’t want and a life spent trapped in a small town. So desperate that she didn’t notice the sun going down. And so she made a deal: For freedom, and time, she will surrender her soul when she no longer wants to live. But freedom came at a cost. Adeline didn’t want to belong to anyone; now she is forgotten every time she slips out of sight. She has spent 300 years living like a ghost, unable even to speak her own name. She has affairs with both men and women, but she can never have a comfortable intimacy built over time—only the giddy rush of a first meeting, over and over again. So when she meets a boy who, impossibly, remembers her, she can’t walk away. What Addie doesn’t know is why Henry is the first person in 300 years who can remember her. Or why Henry finds her as compelling as she finds him. And, of course, she doesn’t know how the devil she made a deal with will react if he learns that the rules of their 300-year-long game have changed. This spellbinding story unspools in multiple timelines as Addie moves through history, learning the rules of her curse and the whims of her captor. Meanwhile, both Addie and the reader get to know Henry and understand what sets him apart. This is the kind of book you stay up all night reading—rich and satisfying and strange and impeccably crafted.
Spanning centuries and continents, this is a darkly romantic and suspenseful tale by a writer at the top of her game.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7653-8756-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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