So I found a second new favorite genre this year. The first is Mexican (actually Latin American) Gothic, and the second is now medieval Middle Eastern lady pirates. One might think this is a narrow category, but there was The Stardust Thief, which I read a few books back. This promises to be the first of a trilogy, and the author has a previous trilogy, The City of Brass, which is on its way from Powells even as we speak. In other words, I am hooked.
Amina is a now retired nukhudha, or master of a pirate vessel. She is famous for two things, being a women of sturdy build and exceptional height, and commanding an especially loyal crew. But she has a young (and mysterious) daughter now, and cannot be out to sea at all times. However she is lured out of retirement by offers of a fortune, which she and her daughter could use, by the wealthy mother of a crewmember who died under very unfortunate circumstances. The mother also has an exceptionally gifted teenaged daughter who was researching the Moon of Saba, which is not at all what anyone was expecting, and has been kidnapped by Falco, a fearsome Frankish mercenary. Feeling guilty for reasons, she calls the old gang together, which includes her frenemy Dalila, Mistress of Poisons, and they set off.
I (always) love that there is a map, and we are cruising the Northern Indian Ocean – from Africa to India – at a time before nations, when the port cities were their own stand-alone worlds. There is even a remote island Socotra, which I was sure was fictional, but I discovered actually exists, in the ocean between Somalia and Yemen, massive limestone caverns and all.
And then there is the third husband. She was sure that he had been buried far enough that he would never bother her again. But non-human beings are infamously hard to kill, and he is back. That’s all right, he does have his uses. And she sorta missed the lout.
All in all, a fun book and I am making gimme hands for more.