The Art of Piracy by Cecilia Dominic from the Rogue Skies collection – Review

Tags

5 stars, airship, Art, Book Review, Cecilia Dominic, mystery, pirates, romance, series, Steampunk

About The Art of Piracy by Cecilia Dominic

Sometimes the clearest skies hide the deadliest secrets.

Veronica Devine is determined to return home in triumph and show the family who disowned her that she’s made it as one of the world’s premier art historians. Her one chance – escort art rescued from an abandoned chateau to the new art museum in Terminus. A simple airship trip over the Atlantic aboard a luxury liner promises to be a much-needed break and a chance to get her head on straight before facing the disgrace of her past.

Luc, the Marquis de Monceau, abandoned his chateau in the face of the Prussian invasion and is determined to recover one of the pieces. The problem – he can’t reveal who he truly is, or he’ll be arrested for aiding pirates. The other problem – he’s not sure which of the paintings he’s searching for since the information he needs is hidden in the art itself. Perhaps the beautiful art historian who’s escorting the collection can help him.

As clouds gather above, the ocean surges below, and air pirates pursue the ship. Veronica and Luc – locked in a dance of hidden identity, secret passions, and past betrayals – need to figure out which piece of art holds the key to unlock a metaphysical mystery, or else the pirates will be the least of their problems.

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Review of The Art of Piracy

Veronica has an eye for art. Well, maybe a feeling for art. Regardless of how one describes her talent, she manages to pick the one painting everyone else seems to want. Yes, that will cause trouble. One does not think an art curator will so troublesome. That she is, makes for a good story!

Luc is one of the people looking for that painting. Trouble is, he is not sure which painting it is. He just knows that Veronica is probably the key. Looks like he is going to have to get closer to her. Such a setup for a romance!

Most of the action in The Art of Piracy takes place on the Acadia Pearl, a brand new airship on its inaugural flight. To me, airships are the epitome of steampunk, so I always enjoy the in-the-sky setting. On the airship, Aether Physics series readers will be reunited with Inspector Davidson. At the request of the captain, he attempts to expose any possible piracy on this shiny, new luxury airship.

The title of this book is a giveaway. There will be pirates, ruthless pirates  –  as such characters tend to be. They are present throughout the story so the eventuality of the inevitable meeting with the pirates and the good guys (Veronica, Luc, and Inspector Davidson) makes for a nice bit of anticipation. Along with that anticipation, a slow-burning romance, a series of suspicious events and a bit of magic all combine to serve up a rousing good tale of adventure and love in the sky.

As a fan of Ms. Dominic’s Aether Psychics series, I am delighted with her return to that world in her new Steampunk/Romance The Art of Piracy. This might be my favorite so far!

The author provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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The Art of Piracy is one of 25 stories in the collection Rogue Skies.

About Rogue Skies

The skies have gone rogue. Space can’t be tamed. And magic is a law unto itself.

Transport yourself to new worlds where dark magic clashes with witty witches, diabolic demons, feisty fae, and sexy shifters. Or travel through time and space with cosmic spies, space thieves, and telepathic pirates. Add in a dash of Victorian heroes and inhuman soldiers, and you have a one-of-a-kind science fiction and fantasy collection of intoxicating proportions.

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Shockwave (Star Kingdom, #1) by Lindsay Buroker

Tags

5 stars, AI ship, Book Review, cliffhanger, humor, Lindsay Buroker, pirates, robots, sci fi, series, space opera

About Shockwave by Lindsay Buroker

What if being a hero was encoded in your genes? And nobody told you?

Casmir Dabrowski would laugh if someone asked him that. After all, he had to build a robot to protect himself from bullies when he was in school.

Fortunately, life is a little better these days. He’s an accomplished robotics engineer, a respected professor, and he almost never gets picked on in the lunchroom. But he’s positive heroics are for other people.

Until robot assassins stride onto campus and try to kill him.

Forced to flee the work he loves and the only home he’s ever known, Casmir catches the first ship into space, where he hopes to buy time to figure out who wants him dead and why. If he can’t, he’ll never be able to return home.

But he soon finds himself entangled with bounty hunters, mercenaries, and pirates, including the most feared criminal in the Star Kingdom: Captain Tenebris Rache.

Rache could snap his spine with one cybernetically enhanced finger, but he may be the only person with the answer Casmir desperately needs:

What in his genes is worth killing for?

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Review of Shockwave

A heroine (Captain Bonita) well past her youth, a brainy hero (Casmir Dabrowski) and a cleaning-obsessed AI ship (Viggo). What more could I ask for in a science fiction novel?

Bonita is jaded, but ever hopeful, taking on the modified young woman, Qin, who becomes the brawn of the crew. Bonita, otherwise known as Laser, has left her bounty hunting days behind and become a smuggler, a much tamer occupation. Well, that’s the theory. Things are not going to go that smoothly. Don’t you love it when a plan doesn’t come together?

Viggo, once human, is now a couple of centuries old and is always ready to offer advice, smart alecky comments, status checks and cleaning robots. In my book, AIs with humor always enhance a story.

Casmir, genius robot builder, myopic and seizure-prone and maybe a bit naïve. He uses humor in all situations, often as a defense, stall tactic, or to lighten a tense situation. He is pretty witty. His friend Kim, also a witty genius, gets accidentally pulled into the action when assassins go after Casmir. Why the assassins? Nobody knows, not even the knight, sent by his mysterious mother, to warn him.

Pirate/mercenary Captain Tenebris Rache is a main character also, along with his shanghaied doctor Yas. Rache is a mystery too.

Mysterious cargo, mysterious reason for an attempted assassination, mysterious pirates, mysterious mother. Lots of fodder for a 5-books series. This is just book 1!

I will mention that this book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. For those that don’t like cliffhangers (like me) I think it is good to know that before you start a book. However, I am familiar enough with Ms. Buroker’s books to know that if the book is the first in a 5-book series, you must keep reading if you want to finish the story. Since I knew that going into this book, I am okay with the ending. And I do intend to continue with the series (refer to my first paragraph)!

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The Harp of Kings (Warrior Bards, #1) by Juliet Marillier

Tags

5 stars x 2, Book Review, fantasy, favorite, Ireland, Juliet Marillier, magic, Mélanie Delon, music, series

About The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier

Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and a rare talent on the harp. But Liobhan’s burning ambition is to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. She and her brother train there to compete for places, and find themselves joining a mission while still candidates. Their unusual blend of skills makes them ideal for this particular job, which requires going undercover as traveling minstrels. For Swan Island trains both warriors and spies.

Their mission: to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has gone mysteriously missing. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted and the people could revolt. Faced with plotting courtiers and tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realizes an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobhan must make a bold decision and is faced with a heartbreaking choice…

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Review of The Harp of Kings

I absolutely loved The Harp of Kings. If you have read any of Juliet Marillier’s books, you know that she is natural storyteller.

Tears are shed and heartstrings are pulled as you read the story told from the alternating veiwpoints of of Liobhan, Brocc and Dau while they take on their first and hopefully not last mission for Swan Island. In each character’s narration, they reveal the hopes and fears that magically transfer from the character to the reader. All three are young, but family and experience have given them wisdom beyond their years.

Although the story takes place in a different part of Erin than Marillier’s Blackthorn and Grim series, the atmosphere is the same. References to people and places of that series will delight fans. A wisewoman, a ruler that needs help, a bit of mysticism and people becoming friends are also familiar themes.

As the book blurb describes, the Crown Prince is a boor. Nobody believes he will make a good ruler, but there is no alternative. And our three heroes are tasked with finding the harp so the coronation can occur. Up until the very end, I was not sure how that part of the story would play out, but I was happy with the rightful ending.

Details of various character’s lives, especially Dau, Brocc and the child Aislinn are revealed throughout the book. Surprisingly, Liobhan’s background is the sparsest, even though she is the strongest character. The lovely cover by Mélanie Delon does a nice job of depicting Liobhan.  This lack of detail may be deliberate, but in the meantime, I was drawn to Dau, who’s tragic background had me cheering for him all the way! As an animal lover, he gets extra points too!

After finishing the story, I did a little research and read that the harp is significant in Irish history and mythology. So it is no wonder that it now inspires such a magical story. While the instrument itself may be just a plain harp, the effects of the music that springs are mystical. Take that as you like, but when Brocc plays his plain bard’s harp, listeners can’t help but dance or laugh or weep. Does the Harp of Kings have such magic? The myth surrounding it would have you believe so. And reading the book proves that magic does exist!

I am so in love with this story that I needed more than 5 stars to rate it. Full of dreams, youth, wisdom, and music, The Harp of Kings is heartbreaking, beautiful, hopeful and magical.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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