Blog Tour – The Ship of Shadows

Now it’s a well known fact that I read a bit of everything. My bookshelves are full of forensics, fantasy, history, and thrillers. What I really just crave in life is a good book. And The Ship of Shadows is just that. With a beautiful cover, an engaging blurb, and CAKE, it doesn’t matter how old you are – this book is the perfect read, for anyone at any time.

I’m here somewhere near the end of the tour, ten days after this beautiful book has been published, and I have been waiting to rave about it since I finished it. No, since before then. I knew I needed the second book the moment Maria Kuzniar even vaguely mentioned it on Twitter, and it was also awesome to be able to swap a book recommendation with my ten year old; he loved it as much as me, just so we’re clear.

Aleja is a dreamer who longs for a life of magic and adventure. She has been reading books taking her around the world whenever she can, teaching herself different languages as she trundled along. Then a chance – or fate filled – encounter in the port of Sevilla gives her an opportunity she has only ever dreamed of; to join a pirate ship full of some of the fiercest women of the seas. She hesitates only slightly before jumping aboard, keen to prove herself to Captain Elizabeth Quint. With a talent for languages and code breaking, Aleja might be just who the crew need…

With a crew full of women and girls who are perfectly capable of holding a cutlass to you or providing you with cake, onboard a ship full of magic that works in unprediactable ways, and on the run from pirate hunters, there is nowhere this book won’t take you with your imagination.

I firmly believe that no one is ever too old to read fiction aimed at children or young adults. If a book is good, then it’s good. While The Ship of Shadows might be aimed at those in the middle grade bracket, I enjoyed every single page of this novel. The descriptive work is stunning and far outruns that I’ve seen in adult books before, captivating you and pulling you into the heart of Africa on an adventure, led mainly by your stomach. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK HUNGRY; I think that should be a law. Midnight snacks in the form of cake or sticky dates especially encouraged.

I’m smiling writing this because the best thing about reading this book as an adult was that it was so much fun. Throughout the highs and lows of the story, there is still the brilliance of childhood wonder, captivated so perfectly by Maria Kuzniar. Uniting women and girls from across the world, both Captain Quint and the author have done a wonderful thing, giving girls the power to fight back, to defend themselves, and to be the pirates some of us always dreamed of being.

Thank you to TheWriteReads for his wonderful organization as always, to Penguin for my copy of the book, and to the author for bringing this wonderful world to life.