Seafire, by Natalie C. Parker
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Series?: Yes
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: August 28, 2018
Length: 374 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: Girl Power TO THE MAX

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, whose lives have been turned upside down by Aric and his men. The crew has one misson: stay alive, and take down Aric’s armed and armored fleet.

But when Caledonia’s best friend and second-in-command just barely survives an attack thanks to help from a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia finds herself questioning whether or not 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?

What I Liked: This is the feminist book featuring lady pirates, sisterhood, survival, and found family that I’ve waited all my life for. I’ve always loved pirate stories, but they’re super problematic what with all the treating women as property and misogyny. This book has neatly solved all these problems and given me SO MUCH MORE.

♥ So many amazing characters. All of these girls are richly drawn and total individuals. We meet a core group of them that surround Caledonia and Pisces, and we get to know each of them so well. I can’t wait to see more of them in the future, and I hope that we’ll get multiple POVs to get to know them even better in the next two books.

♥ So many fierce women. Everyone on the Mors Navis crew is a woman, no exceptions. But my favorite part is that even though Cala is the Captain, the other girls on the ship aren’t afraid of her. If they have a different opinion, they tell her. If they disagree, they tell her. She’s ultimately in charge, and her opinion overrules everyone, but it’s not a dictatorship. She respects her sisters.

♥ The Ex-Bullet. On this ship of fierce women, one lone male attempts to join the fray. I won’t get into everything that leads to Oran’s arrival on the Mors Navis and what keeps him there, but I really liked a book of all females with one man. And what I liked best about this particular man was that he had a quiet, calm, very soft energy. Soft boys are still masculine, and I loved seeing that represented here.

What I Didn’t: So very little. The prologue is super strong, but it’s a little slow after that. It really picks up in the second half, though, and things start to fly by.

⊗ Some of the sailing detail. I had some issues with following along with some of the details. A lot of terms weren’t explained and I couldn’t pick them up, but it didn’t really detract from the story. I still understood what was happening, even if I had to skim a little over those parts.