TL;DR: Phantasmal world and mysterious characters. The strongest elements are the world building and main character, weakest are plot and all the character things overall. Not a perfect book for me, but I can see it blowing someone's socks off.
ARC REVIEW
I received an audio ARC from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and publisher. These thoughts and opinions are my own. I did switch to purchased e-book after release at about 60%. I reread the first 5% and selected chapters, then continued either doing a blended read, e-read or audio read.
WHO THIS COULD APPEAL TO
If you prefer rich world building, this book has it. Set in an unusual world with its own uniquely constructed history and lore, the characters are as mysterious as the world phantasmal. If eldritch meets swashbuckling sounds appealing to you or you like single-POV stories, then I recommend.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
Cady, a long-retired boat captain, reluctantly takes on a dangerous ferrying job across the river Nysis, home of Feyner, ghost of the fallen dragon Haakenur whose skeleton lines the entirety of the river. A threat is looming that none on the journey foresee.
CHARACTERS
We follow Cady as the single-POV character. I found Cady to be enjoyable to follow and fully realized. There are other characters on this river voyage, none human, and everyone is shrouded in mystery. While we have many different non-human characters, there are two main side characters who I couldn't distinguish from humans aside from their physical characterics.
The character development here lacks for me quite a bit. Perhaps this is the nature of single POV stories, but still I wanted more from the side characters. More importantly for me in my reading preferences is character connection or complicated character dynamics. It's not that books need to have this, but I get the sense that Noon and Beard were aiming for this, at least the former. Cady is sweet and caring (and no-nonsense, tough and critical) and there are sweet moments between characters, but I never really felt it. Specifically, I felt Cady's care to others but I never felt it genuinely reciprocated. An example is an adoptive mother and son relationship in the book. They clearly like each other, maybe love, but I never got the warmth or sparkle I would expect (and want as a reader) from a child-parent relationship that is a positive one. The son was my least favorite character, purely because I was uninterested.
WORLD BUILDING
This is the best part of the book and was the most gripping. The primary lore revolves around a dragon, a starship, a magic sword and a ghost. It's weird, it's its own, it's vivid — and I adored these aspects of it. In the same breath, I was thrown at times with the choice to add a war with fighter planes and factories in this very otherworldly setting that to me was unnecessary to the plot. My favorite components of the world are the critters, creatures, magical and unearthly beings, and even the plants. My favorite scenes are the ones where Cady or the crew interact with them, from pffting never-nevers to dancing xilliths or from slimy syqod to monstrous voor.
PLOT
The book of course is ultimately about a river voyage, to bring its passengers to the city of Ludwich. Like any such quest story there are unforeseen obstacles along the way. It could have been great or fine, but there are chapter transitions and character actions that were abrupt to me. For example, something about the substantial threat that is revealed felt sudden. Another example is when a side character randomly kisses someone and I was baffled by that part. The beginning chapters and climax were the strongest, but the middle too clunky. The closing was rushed with more focus on set up for the next book. It was another example of abruptness for me and ruined any possible satisfying conclusion to the book's arc.
MY SUMMARIZED THOUGHTS
This is one of those books I didn't love, but respect. My ideal book has a balance of excellent world building, an engaging and satisfying plot, character development and character connection. It clearly checked only on box entirely. I can adore a book that lacks one or more of these elements, but I really have to be blown away by everything else. Despite the parts I liked, I wasn't satisfied enough by the story as a whole. I became disconnected by the aforementioned war mentions, somewhat choppy plot, and by abrupt character actions and scenes. I will recommend this book in the future, but I do not plan to continue on with the duology.
NOTE ON AUDIOBOOK
If you are considering purchasing the audiobook, I suggest sampling first. I personally do not recommend the audiobook, particularly because there is a huge volume discrepancy between the narration and character voices, which are often whispered, though parts of the narrators voice are whispered too. Most of the time I couldn't hear when the narration was perfect the characters were too soft, or too painful when the characters were perfect the narration was too loud. The only way to listen comfortably was with my headphones when there was absolutely no sound around me. I'm noting this because this was a rare experience for me as an avid audiobook listener.
