I need to give a huge thank you to Netgalley and in turn Penguin for giving me a chance to review this beauty early. I have loved so many books Katee has put out in the past. And was so excited when I found out she was diving into a pirate book. No matter what my tastes change to over the years, I always seem to never get tired of a good ocean adventure, pirate, fantasy themed story.
(I may have turned on the OG Pirates of the Caribbean while I read this, and binged through the original 3 from the series as background haha)
A stern captain meets his witchy match in this captivating first fantasy romance novel in the Crimson Sails series from Katee Robert, the New York Times bestselling author of the TikTok smash-hit Neon Gods.
Evelyn is a witch with a perfect storm of impulses: terrible taste in bed partners, sticky fingers, and a lust for danger. After she steals from her vampire ex and falls through a portal to another realm, she’s fished out of the waters by a band of seafarers and their telekinetic captain. She’s immediately given a choice—join their ship’s crew or die.
Bowen has no memory of his life before he became one of the Cŵn Annwn. He and his band of pirates are bound by vow to patrol through Threshold, the magical sea in between realms, keeping the portals to other worlds safe. When he rescues Evelyn, he doesn’t expect to be attracted to the unflappably brassy pickpocket. The longer he spends in her presence, the more he begins to question if his heart is the next thing she’ll steal.
But as tension heats up between Bowen and Evelyn, the danger at sea escalates as well. Because Evelyn has no intention of keeping her vows to the Cŵn Annwn, and if she betrays the crew, both she and Bowen will pay the ultimate price....
I have been so excited for this book. When I first heard about it and read the synopsis, I knew it was something I was going to want to read. And when Netgalley approved the ARC request, I literally had it sent to my kindle and started within 5 minutes.
Then of course I only made it like 2 chapters in before I had to put it on the backburner for work, and wait until the weekend to actually read it. But man, I flew through it once I had the time to sit down and give it a good couple chunks of my time.
I have a lot of feelings for this book. As I whole I enjoyed it. There was adventure. There was thievery, there was good spicy time. There was even a little mystery and intrigue there. And of course there was pirates and questionable choices galore. Everything that helps to make a good fantasy book.
It was a pretty fast paced read, sometimes too fast at times. But the world was built well, and the characters for the most part were relatable, or at least intriguing. I didn't know much about where the lore for this book was based from, but found my self definitely interested and doing a few Google searches as the book went. I love some good mythology and lore based books. And am always interested in learning more about ones I've not heard of or know little about.
So that was a fun thing I enjoyed that came from this book.
I also really liked the characters in the book. They were all a little flawed in some way or another. And I really appreciated that. It's fun to have strong crazy heroes that can do whatever their hearts desire. But I like when a character has something they need to work on or get better at. Or just something that adds a little flair to them.
I wasn't sure how I felt about Evelyn for a good chunk at the start of the book. (I already struggle with female leads a lot of times in books) And for me she started a little rough. She was definitely feisty and sarcastic. And I liked those sides to her. But she annoyed me too at times. She was very stuck in her own head and didn't do a lot for me, other then frustrate me with her poor choices. That being said. She got better. And I slowly warmed up to her.
Evelyn started to show her true colors, and actually found something to fight and care for. And her moral compass wasn't quite as off as I originally thought. She had a good sense of humor, and the sassy sarcastic side became almost endearing at times.
I don't mind characters with questionable motives. But I need them to have a reason for them. And until that began to show with Evelyn, I think that's what I struggled with most. So when that was no longer an issue. I adored her, and her thieving ways haha.
On the flip side, we have Bowen. I definitely took to him easier then I did Evelyn. He gave a pretty sound introduction. And I liked his character progression, and he had a decent amount of depth to him that was conveyed quickly.
I appreciated all of the little things that affected him and changed him, and how he maneuvered them all. Plus he and Evelyn had some great chemistry. They brought out the best in each other. And it was once they started interacting, that both of them really began to shine as individual characters too.
I guess the last set of characters I wan to talk about are some of the supporting charters. Lizzie seems like she's got some depth coming that may be interesting to see when the next book comes out. Again, she was one at first that I wasn't exactly drawn to. But she grew on me as it went. And then there were Nox and Dia. We didn't get to see a whole lot from them. But the time they were in the book, I really liked what they added to the story. They gave it just that little something it needed, and provided some commentary and views that I think were needed to give our main crew the depth they were missing.
I'll jump into some of my thoughts on the story itself. As I said above, I generally liked this book. It had a lot of cool aspects to it, and an original plot. And even with the few downers I said with the characters, as they found themselves, they shined as the story went on.
I'm not gonna say there weren't some things I disliked about this book, but all in all it was a solid a read.
My one probably biggest complaint was that I could tell at about the halfway point that this book wasn't gonna wrap up its story. I was aware there is going to be a part 2. But it's going to be about different characters. And while I'm always up for standalone books in a connected world/universe. I'm not a big fan of seeing what these characters will do from someone else's perspective, when they're story is so pivotal to what is happening in the world of Threshold. I think Lizzie will be a fun character to focus on. She's bad a** in a scary way haha. But as far as Threshold and the Cŵn Annwn are concerned, I want Evelyn and Bowen for that. So I felt like it was kind of a let down to see their story not at least wrap up in a way that could tell the rest of that story on the fringes. And maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised by how Katee writes the 2nd book. She's a great author and I just have to trust her process. It just made things feel rushed and unfinished in a way I wasn't a fan of. And had me watching the pages tick down fully well knowing I wasn't going to get the resolution I wanted. (I can deal with cliff hangers. They drive a reader crazy in the best way. But the switching characters is what throws me here)
Also, there were a few parts of the book that just seemed rushed in general. I don't mind a quick paced book, or even like an insta love situation (Not that that was exactly what this was) But in world building aspects, there was so much to explain and explore, and I would have been super excited to spend some time seeing that and actually exploring on top of the romance and one particular conflict.
I don't know, I feel like I'm talking in circles here. I truly enjoyed this book. There was just something missing I wish I could put in words better without it seeming negative as heck.
So for a positive, I really really liked the world building. Threshold seems like such a cool yet dangerous fantasy world. And the monsters and creatures made my little fantasy DnD loving heart happy. And the way Evelyn uses her witch power is one of the coolest ways I've seen someone do that. It was so unique and original. And was such a neat take on the semantics of using her powers. Honestly she snot the only one with pretty cool powers, but I don't want to spoil too much. Just know, there are some people and creatures that do some really spiffy things in this story. Plus the Cŵn Annwn is just freaking cool. They are scary and intimidating. And just everything I could ask for in a group of a group of pirates. I have more feelings on them as a whole. But again, I don't want to really get into it here so I don't spoil anything. Just know things go much deeper then scary pirates.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I think there were a few misses for me. But nothing was ever enough to make me want to stop reading or consider putting the book down. I mean once I sat down and really started reading it only took me a good 2 days to finish. And that I spent most of my long holiday weekend enjoying this one. And while I said I'm not a fan of the standalone thing on this series. I will definitely be picking up book 2 when it eventually comes out. I'm super excited to see what kinda shenanigans Lizzie gets into and what her character will do now.
Also, if you haven't seen. B&N has a special edition for this book coming out. And the cover for it is freaking BEAUTIFUL! Plus there's some extra bonus content from Katee inside their edition as well. I know that's where I've ordered my finished copy from. And I don't think anyone will regret ordering that pretty.
I give HUNT ON DARK WATERS
⭐⭐⭐⭐4 STARS⭐⭐⭐⭐
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