Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**2.5-stars heavily rounded up**
As Caledonia and her best friend, Pisces, are on an island searching for provisions, everyone aboard the ship they call home is slaughtered by the corrupt warlord, Aric Athair, and his army of soldiers, known as Bullets.
After the tragedy, Caledonia and Pisces are left to fend for themselves. It’s a devastating loss, the one silver lining being that they still have each other.
Years later, Caledonia finds herself Captain of her own ship, the Mors Navis, with Pisces operating as her First Mate.
The two women head a crew of girls, who have also lost loved ones at the brutal hands of Aric Athair and the Bullets.
Together these women are hellbent on stopping Aric’s murderous reign once and for all.
But after Pisces gets briefly taken captive and then freed by a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia has to question all she thought she knew. Bullets are never to be trusted, right?
I’ve had Seafire on my shelves since it first released in 2018. As part of my effort to check off some of my backlist, I decided to pick it up in December 2021.
The Prologue was incredible and the first few chapters had me extremely interested, after that however, it completely went off the tracks for me.
I almost feel like I wish the beginning hadn’t been quite as strong because ultimately, I was let down.
The non-stop dramatic conversations between Caledonia and her crew just started wearing on me. I know you need drama in order to progress a plot and I’m the first to admit I love drama, but this seemed like Caledonia being stubborn and over-the-top for no reason.
Her character ruined this for me. I was becoming annoyed with everything she did. I barely even remember the second half because I just wanted her out of my life.
I can absolutely understand why some Readers may really enjoy this. It definitely had some great sea-faring vibes and I did enjoy the steampunk feel of the ships and technology they were using.
Who knows? Maybe I was just in a bitchy mood and I’m being dramatic and over-the-top about the whole thing.
I’m really glad that I gave it a shot. I would pick up more from Natalie C. Parker, as I believe she did a great job in creating the world for this story.
As far as this series is concerned, I am done for now and will be donating my copy of the first two books to my local public high school.