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Catrine “Cat” Rose always feels guilty as she walks the route from the Archenport harbor to her pub, naming the dead as she passes the drying corpses of pirates that the Meridian Empire’s governor hung when reclaiming the islands in the Lyrian Sea. Her guilt stems from having provided many of the pirates’ names to save herself and her former lover, Valerian Kane—only to find herself suddenly imprisoned as an accomplice to piracy. Captain Jasper Fell, a longtime on-again, off-again ally, convinces Governor Osprin that Cat can help them capture Valerian, who appears to be single-handedly seizing their ships despite the apparent destruction of the pirate republic. Cat leads Jasper’s team on a merchant sloop through pirate-filled islands, searching for both Valerian and her own escape route, while the story alternates between the current era and Cat’s arrival in the Lyrian Sea a decade earlier. Aveyard, in her adult debut, builds a rich history for both the region and the primary characters while smoothly setting up for an eagerly anticipated sequel.

Publishers Weekly
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A disgraced noblewoman must hunt down and capture her former lover, a pirate captain, to ensure her freedom in the sweeping if slow-paced adult debut from YA author Aveyard (the Red Queen series). At 20 years old, Lady Catrine Rose loses everything her pathetic husband has in a pirate raid, leaving her floundering and aimless in the vast Lyrian Sea. Ten years later, Cat, now known as the Widow Rose, has betrayed everyone she cared about for safety from the colonizing Meridian Empire, but she’s still going to be hanged if she refuses to comply with the empire’s demands. To show how she got there, Aveyard toggles between these two tumultuous times, following Cat as she navigates treacherous pirate organizations, exploring her complicated pasts with soldier Jasper Fell and pirate Valerian Kane, and making clear that her primary motive is to save her own skin. Cat proves a unique and refreshing heroine: she’s selfish, manipulative, and truly morally gray but still has excellent chemistry with the extended cast. Flowery prose and a tendency to repeatedly revisit the same topics weigh the story down, and the “After” chapters tend to be more action-packed and gripping than those set “Before.” Still, readers content to go at a dawdling pace will find much to hold their attention in Cat’s rise to power on perilous seas. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary. (Sept.)

School Library Journal
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Aveyard, best known for the "Red Queen" series, pens an atmospheric adult debut set in the cutthroat Lyrian Sea. Catrine Rose, a widow navigating the fallout of a fallen pirate republic, is forced into a deadly bargain with the Meridian Empire to hunt her former lover, the legendary Captain Valerian Kane. As Cat maneuvers between ambitious naval officers and vengeful buccaneers, Aveyard explores themes of survival and systemic oppression amidst high-stakes sea battles. VERDICT Featuring electric chemistry and a fascinating concept of storm-calling magic, this is a swashbuckling epic for mature teens.