Seafire by Nathalie C. Parker ★★★★★
“Remember when they call you girl, they’re trying to tell you something. They’re trying to tell you that they’re more than you, that the body you’re in makes you less. But you know, and I know, that you’re exactly what you need to be.”
I received this e-book from NetGalley. This does not affect my review or opinion. All thoughts are my own and I’m being 100 percent honest. Thank you to NetGalley and Usborne Publishing for providing me this e-book for reviewing purposes.
If you’re looking for a good feminist pirate story, ‘Seafire’ is the one to buy
What a powerful feminist read. Seafire is unlike any pirate story you have read. It has so many amazing and interesting elements. I loved the pacing of Seafire, the change of scenery that happened throughout the book, and the stunning world-building. The friendships between these girls were wonderful to see. Seafire is a unique, fast-paced, and thrilling story about a wonderful group of strong and independent girls.
Synopsis
After her family is killed by corrupt warlord Aric Athair and his bloodthirsty army of Bullets, Caledonia Styx is left to chart her own course on the dangerous and deadly seas. She captains her ship, the Mors Navis, with a crew of girls and women just like her, who have lost their families and homes because of Aric and his men. The crew has one mission: stay alive, and take down Aric’s armed and armored fleet.
But when Caledonia’s best friend and second-in-command barely survives an attack thanks to help from a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia finds herself questioning whether to let him join their crew. Is this boy the key to taking down Aric Athair once and for all . . . or will he threaten everything the women of the Mors Navis have worked for?
This cover is absolutely stunning, wow. I do prefer this one over the other edition. The sparks of electricity are so well done. I love it.
The plot of Seafire is very unique and exciting. I love how the crew is one big group of girls. There aren’t enough stories about female pirates. Parker does a great job of keeping this adventure interesting. There were quite a few nice plot twists that I absolutely didn’t see coming. The prologue of Seafire is so good and from the moment I started reading it, I was hooked. I didn’t want to stop reading, which is obviously a good sign. I never thought I would like a pirate story this much, but Seafire is not your typical pirate story. This book is action-packed without getting too complicated. The suspense in this novel is unbelievable. I seriously couldn’t put it down.
The crew of the Mors Navis felt so real and honest. The crew consists of 54 members, but we only get to know five or six of them. They all do have different personalities, which isn’t an easy thing to do. The author did a great job of creating these personas. None of them felt identical. Another thing I really liked is that all these characters have such original names. I did have a bit of a problem with reading Caledonia’s name. I always read it as ‘Calzedonia’ which is a clothing brand. So it took some time getting used to that but overall I really did enjoy the non-conventional names.
“Take your ship, take your crew, and prove to that man that he has not quelled all of us. Prove that there is a fire on these seas he cannot contain.”
Before I read the book, I looked at some reviews and saw someone saying there is an f/f relationship. I kept wondering when I would see this couple but I never did. I have no idea who’s dating who. I did read that that relationship was pushed to the background. I do like LGBTQIA+ representation in a book, but I felt like romance definitely wasn’t the main focus in Seafire. This is a story about powerful female pirates and not about romance. I would like to see more f/f relationships, especially since the book features 50+ girls. Let’s hope there’s more of this in the second book.
I liked the writing style of the author, it was very captivating and addictive. The world-building was amazing. I love how Parker is descriptive without overdoing it. Every time the scene changed I could picture it without any problem. Something positive to note is that there are some scenes that don’t take place on the ship. Parker changes the scenery once in a while which makes it that bit more interesting.
Overall I really liked this feminist pirate story! I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did, to be honest. I always thought pirates were so cool and didn’t think they could get any cooler. Well… think again.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, a thousand times yes! Everyone should read this feminist pirate story and be enlightened. These girls are so badass! I can’t wait to read the second book.
Trigger warnings
Death, death of a loved one, PTSD, drug addiction, mention of withdrawal, murder
Representation in this book
LGBTQIA+ representation
Genre
Young adult, romance, fantasy
Publication date
August 4 (US) – August 6 (UK)
Publisher
Usborne Publishing
About the author
Natalie C. Parker grew up in a Navy family finding home in coastal cities from Virginia to Japan. Now, she lives surprisingly far from any ocean on the Kansas prairie with her wife where she writes and edits books for teens including the acclaimed Seafire trilogy.
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