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A review by ivanareadsalot
Fated Winds and Promising Seas by Rose Black
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
I would like to thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
This was a lovely, soft, fantasy romance with the most gentle MCs, a bit of water magic, zealots vs heretics and quite a few run ins with Leviathans that added some toothy monster energy to the narrative!
The overall tone was an interesting blend of cozy and creepy. And while the weaver-beater-church bit made me tune out as i've no patience for religion, i stayed for the sweetlings, Lucky and Gabe, for the Dreamers -especially Poe- and for the HEA i needed more than anything because Lucky and Gabe were sooo precious and they deserved it!
The trauma was real and very painful to read at times, and for both Gabe and Lucky the going was tough for a while there. But there was also so much here about identity, devotion, and trust. And the way they both had to help the other -at different parts of the story- to discern what was real from the terrors that haunted from within, just shored up their love story with an intimacy that i found really validating.
Fated Winds and Promising Seas was on the lighter side of queer fantasy, and other than a few gaps in the narrative where i wasn't sure if i'd just missed a connection (arc copy) or the jump was on purpose and my brain was scrambled for a sec, i thought Black did a good job with tone and palpable tension. Can't wait to see what Rose Black has in store in the future, because this was charming and I'm sure whatever comes next will be as well!
This was a lovely, soft, fantasy romance with the most gentle MCs, a bit of water magic, zealots vs heretics and quite a few run ins with Leviathans that added some toothy monster energy to the narrative!
The overall tone was an interesting blend of cozy and creepy. And while the weaver-beater-church bit made me tune out as i've no patience for religion, i stayed for the sweetlings, Lucky and Gabe, for the Dreamers -especially Poe- and for the HEA i needed more than anything because Lucky and Gabe were sooo precious and they deserved it!
The trauma was real and very painful to read at times, and for both Gabe and Lucky the going was tough for a while there. But there was also so much here about identity, devotion, and trust. And the way they both had to help the other -at different parts of the story- to discern what was real from the terrors that haunted from within, just shored up their love story with an intimacy that i found really validating.
Fated Winds and Promising Seas was on the lighter side of queer fantasy, and other than a few gaps in the narrative where i wasn't sure if i'd just missed a connection (arc copy) or the jump was on purpose and my brain was scrambled for a sec, i thought Black did a good job with tone and palpable tension. Can't wait to see what Rose Black has in store in the future, because this was charming and I'm sure whatever comes next will be as well!