Titan Books The Winter Sea - Dark Water Daughter (Winter Sea, 1)

"There are fates worse than death, child."Long's best book yet.I devoured Dark Water Daughter in back-to-back days, and the whole time it felt like I was sailing the Winter Sea with Mary Firth and the rest of the crew. The worldbuilding and atmosphere are among the best I've read all year."Sleet hit with hurricane force, battering my face and turning to snow. Darkness came with it, thick and eerie, but I grinned a wild grin. This was power. This was what I'd been denied all these years, rushing across my skin and turning my thoughts clean and sharp."The MCs are written with so much depth; we have the honorable, wrongly disgraced Sam Rosser who seeks to capture the pirate lord, Lirr, and then the thralled Stormsinger Mary Firth as she struggles to take back her freedom, control her power, and gain closure on what became of her legendary Stormsinger mother.The dialogue is fantastic and often made me laugh out loud, and there was even some light romantic intrigue to sate my romance-loving heart. As DWD is adult fantasy, there is a ton of action (on and off the high seas), ship loads of gore, suggestive themes, a couple F bombs and other fun phrasings, betrayals, and a really dark secret that kept me invested with certain character relationships and raised the stakes considerably.Long sprinkles in bestiary-style tidbits to provide details and a little history for her original creature lore. I don't know if she meant to do this or not, but a mention of a shaggy bearlike creature elicited thoughts of the savn from Barrow of Winter—a great nod to Four Pillars, if so. The ghistings are such a cool concept, and the conflict around a certain Sooth and Magni was dark and unputdownable and one of my favorite parts about the book.The story kept me hooked—from the gallows to the final showdown—the setup at the end hitting nicely, because I cannot wait for Black Tide Son to come out.Fantastic pacing, lovable characters, an enthralling storyline, and deep atmosphere—I can't ask for much else. I wanted to be completely transported and sucked into the story, and this did the trick!

Described as a swashbuckling pirate adventure full of battles, stormsingers, magic and terrifying creatures- Dark Water Daughter has all the ingredients for a truly original and captivating story!I’ve been a fan of Hannah’s books since her debut, Hall of Smoke, was published in 2021. The worlds she creates are highly developed, the characters are fully realised on the page, and each story has the perfect amount of action and brutal fights.Dark Water Daughter focuses on Mary Firth, daughter of one of the most famous stormsingers and Samuel Rosser, a disgraced naval officer who now hunts pirates to redeem his name. They have an enemy in common, the infamous pirate lord Silvanus Lirr. Mary and Samuel must choose where their loyalties lie and navigate the Winter Sea to fight forces far older and more deadly than the pirates who wish to make them their slaves.Hannah excels once again at giving her readers a strong female protagonist who is fierce and determined to find her mother and stop the pirate lord who made her his slave. The magic system created by Hannah is perfection- easy to understand, and the creatures she has brought to life are uniquely terrifying!With just a sprinkling of romance but as always with a focus on a complex plot and plenty of action and suspense, I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2 of The Winter Sea Series!Thanks to @titanbooks & @netgalley for the arc. Dark Water Daughter is out now- she’s now sitting proudly on my shelf along with the rest of Hannah’s books… just look at that cover!

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑.”Read this for:🏴‍☠️ a swashbuckling adventure full of magic, mystery, action, witches and PIRATES!❄️ the perfect stormy winter atmosphere🌳 complex characters, so much magic, excellent world building , a perfect dose of romanceThe perfect pirate fantasy book! I have no notes, this was a really great time and left me ready to face the high seas with more books in this world- I can’t wait for book 2

Arrived in perfect condition

As expected