The Isle of the Gods by Amie Kaufman

Pages: 465

Publisher: Rock the Boat 

Released: 4th of May 2023 

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...

What I Have to Say 

An beautiful fantasy tale with fantastic world building and description that makes you feel like you're actually on a boat, this book was a delight to read. I loved the characters, the world, the themes. It was really good. 

The themes of grief and personal growth were really interesting to read. The characters all had roles they had to grow into and bad habits they had to move on from. It gave it a coming of age style of narrative to the book, that really added a level of realism to the characters. 

This book was seriously almost perfect. The only thing that gave me pause was the fact that both queer characters were on the villain side. There was a hint that a third character was asexual, which would add some balance to it, but I wasn't sure. I'm hoping that in the next book one of the characters will switch sides, but I'm not sure if he will or not. All the characters were well rounded and didn't seem like tokens at all, but I'd like to see at least one LGBTQ+ character on the side of our heroes. 

Overall I enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to the next book! 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Rock the Boat for providing me with this copy for review.