Book Review | The Isles of the Gods

Hello, welcome to my book review for The Isles of the Gods by Amie Kaufman. I was so excited to read this YA novel, I love everything pirates, and this book appealed to me so much!

Thank you to Rock the Boat publishers for sending me a proof copy!

Magic, romance, and slumbering gods clash in the start of a riveting fantasy series spanning gangsters’ dens, forgotten temples, and the high seas from the New York Times bestselling author of the Illuminae Files and the Aurora Cycle.

Selly has salt water in her veins. So when her father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter at home while he sails to adventure in the north seas. But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician’s marks on his arms commandeers her ship under cover of darkness: He is Prince Leander of Alinor, and he needs to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods.

Selly has no desire to escort a spoiled prince anywhere, and no time for his entitled demands or his good looks. But what starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible and two dangerous gods stirring from centuries of slumber… -Waterstones

Thank you so much to Rock the Boat publishers for sending me a proof copy of The Isles of the Gods to read and review!

I love books about pirates, and I really enjoyed the Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman so I was very excited to see the details that were released about this book, and the publisher was kind enough to send a copy through!

This novel revolves around Selly, who is learning to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a Captain, who finds herself trapped on a ship which has one task, transport a Prince to an Isle to make sure he gives a sacrifice to the ancient Gods. Obviously, as is often the way in YA, Selly and this spoilt Prince start to fall in love, which did make me eye roll, but wasn’t as painfully cliche as I feared it would be.

The majority of this novel takes place at sea, and I really loved the setting and the world building. Kaufman has sprinkled in sailing terminology which really added to the atmosphere, and showed Amie had done some research!!

The characters are at the centre of this novel. The action of the entire novel takes place over maybe 2-3 days, despite the novel being almost 500 pages long. A lot of the novel is used to develop the characters, and build the world.

There are 5 POVs in this novel, which I think Kaufman does a nice job of balancing. We as readers really get inside the heads of all the characters. Even our main villain, whose POV we get very early in the novel is really well fleshed out. I started off quite liking her and feeling sympathy with her, but by the end of the novel that had completely gone!

A few of the other characters we get to know have a journey in the other direction. A few of the perspectives were not great when i first started the novel, but grew to really care for by the end of the novel. I think this is one of Kaufman’s real strengths, her characters are always brilliant!

Thank you for reading my Book Review | The Isles of the Gods! Have you read this book? Do you have a favourite pirate book? Let me know in the comments!

Buy The Isles of the Gods from Waterstones or Bookshop.org (both affiliate links)

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