Seaborn by Michael Livingston

Book Review

Eloise Hopkins

When she was young, Bela became Belakané, Hero of the Harbour. The windborn had come with flying ships and fire, and it was Bela who saved three of their own ships. From that, her legacy was born.

Four years later, Bela is still unsalted, though she hopes this voyage will change that. She serves Shipmistress Nala of the Black Crow, but the seer had assured her that when Mother’s Mount erupted, the prize of Furywood would fall to Bela. With it, she would be able to fit out the strongest ship. A ship of her own. She would be proven.

Myst Mahaki is haunted, or so they say, but that will not stop Bela from seeking her prize. She follows the ship’s magicker towards the coveted Furywood but cannot resist the opportunity to see a real Rootless village for herself. When she sees the reality of the legends, what she discovers will change her path in ways she cannot imagine.

Elsewhere, aboard the Pale Dawn, Shaesara serves the Bone Pirate with fierce loyalty. They are a formidable foe. All quail when they see her sails, knowing how things will go. But against the Windborn they have a vulnerability Shae had not considered. There may be no prize for her this day, and a new foe will change the course of her future.

Seaborn has all the pluck you would expect from a story based on pirate lore. Bela and Shae take on narrative roles among the Seaborn, where women command, with the Windborn, and a male pirate captain named Kayden providing the enemy. As the story unfolds, the reader learns more about who really opposes whom and the greater narrative in play.

This story moves with excellent pace. Livingston has created a unique world that brings the sea and those who sail it to life in rich, vivid, and at times brutal detail. Our protagonists are forced to re-think their assumptions about one another and their rulers. we, the reader, are immersed into this new trilogy, where a patriarchal and a matriarchal society stand opposed. A solid opener to The Seaborn Cycle and a promise of more well-crafted and entertaining swashbuckling to come.