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rlse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was a really interesting mix of (violent) pirate adventure and reflective diary and meditation on relationships (and food). A good story and well-written. I would have enjoyed it more personally but it had some elements I don’t enjoy as much—but that’s absolutely my fault, not the book’s and I knew most of what I was getting into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Animal death
siriface's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence
emilycbaker's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.5
The main character does nothing redeemable to make up for his racism, religious superiority, misogyny, and ableism. The author absolutely did NOT have to use the racist phrasing and terminology to get his point across -- that it was in the voice of a sheltered Englishman of his time is no excuse. It didn't need these words. This book made me so angry. Literally the first book I've read by a male author in years and I regret it deeply.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Grief, Vomit, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, and Gun violence
Minor: Animal cruelty
mizreads's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Ohhhhhhh my gods. OHHHHHHHHHHH my gods. I don't know why it took me over a year to finish this, but it did - yet at the very least I'm so glad I finished it.
I remember reading the first half like a madman. I really enjoyed the premise of a chef and a pirate - and a female pirate at that! And then I started reading it and I was immersed into an absolutely fantastical world. The writing is fantastic, every time I read I felt like I was quite literally transported into a pirate's ship navigating the roaring seas. New vocabulary, too! Especially about ships. Wait till all my neurodivergent friends hear about this 😂
I can't really say why I dropped the book for a while. I think it was mostly because I got super busy as I was moving to a whole new continent, and then school came in like a cannonball and I had to drop reading for a little bit. But then I finally picked it up again, this time in physical form, and I immediately fell in love again with the text. It was as if I hadn't even forgotten it, honestly.
The book is so vivid in its words about the sea and the ship and food, and ugh it just feels so real in my head. The visuals are breathtaking, and they're all text! The focus on day-to-day interactions was also something really fun and cool to me.
I don't know what to feel about that ending :) Bittersweet, I suppose. I wish Mabbot didn't die, but I also don't see any 'correct' reading aside from that. I'll keep her in my fanfics though.
I remember reading the first half like a madman. I really enjoyed the premise of a chef and a pirate - and a female pirate at that! And then I started reading it and I was immersed into an absolutely fantastical world. The writing is fantastic, every time I read I felt like I was quite literally transported into a pirate's ship navigating the roaring seas. New vocabulary, too! Especially about ships. Wait till all my neurodivergent friends hear about this 😂
I can't really say why I dropped the book for a while. I think it was mostly because I got super busy as I was moving to a whole new continent, and then school came in like a cannonball and I had to drop reading for a little bit. But then I finally picked it up again, this time in physical form, and I immediately fell in love again with the text. It was as if I hadn't even forgotten it, honestly.
The book is so vivid in its words about the sea and the ship and food, and ugh it just feels so real in my head. The visuals are breathtaking, and they're all text! The focus on day-to-day interactions was also something really fun and cool to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, and War
Moderate: Homophobia and Death
saloninareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Got recommended this as a "cozy pirate adventure" and it kind of is. There are parts of the book I really enjoyed, the delicious food descriptions and Wedge getting to know the crew (and Hannah *wink wink*) but it just felt like something was missing. It's probably because pirate stuff has never been my thing so im not the right audience. All in all a pleasant read with some fun characters!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death, and Xenophobia
pelledorso's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Trafficking, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, and Racial slurs
Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Vomit
evenstr's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Islamophobia and Racial slurs
annaledbetter's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gore, and Addiction
sarah984's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This is a very difficult book for me to rate. I loved the concept: kind of a "1001 Nights" type story about a chef kidnapped by pirates who can keep himself alive only if he makes a special meal for the enigmatic captain every Sunday.
The cooking and food descriptions are great, and the inventiveness that the main character uses to create meals he knows within the limitations of being at sea are clever and fun.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book is very weird. The book starts out with an almost lighthearted swashbuckling tone, but then veers wildly into a darker type of story wheremajor characters are dying left and right. There is a minor "mystery" subplot about a saboteur on board but it is immediately obvious who it is so there's not a lot of suspense there. A few of the characters are standouts (Mr Apples was great, and while he was basically a plot device I liked Joshua) but most of them are flat and stereotypical (the Chinese twins, everyone involved with the Brass Fox). Sometimes there were huge revelations about characters that never went anywhere, and the confrontation that the whole book builds up to ends in under ten pages.
I feel like a lot of the historical issues were not understood particularly well (multiple characters imply that Americans dumped tea into the sea because of the unethical way it was acquired), which would have been fine in a more fanciful pirate story but not the more serious story the book became.
The cooking and food descriptions are great, and the inventiveness that the main character uses to create meals he knows within the limitations of being at sea are clever and fun.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book is very weird. The book starts out with an almost lighthearted swashbuckling tone, but then veers wildly into a darker type of story where
I feel like a lot of the historical issues were not understood particularly well (multiple characters imply that Americans dumped tea into the sea because of the unethical way it was acquired), which would have been fine in a more fanciful pirate story but not the more serious story the book became.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Slavery, Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Vomit
Minor: Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Addiction, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Trafficking
There is a scene where a character is accused of bestiality but he is actually doing something else. (this is played for laughs)heather_lt's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
The story begins by talented chef, Owen Wedgwood (and the narrator of this story), being kidnapped by pirates after they murder his employer. To survive he has to serve the captain one gourmet meal a week with nothing but the scraps he can find on the ship and ingredients he can barter from the band of odd, eccentric people which make up the crew. Throughout the story, as the captain sails them across the globe, Owen learns her work isn't all murder and piracy.
In theory I should have loved this because it has many factors I enjoy in a story: historical fiction, an adventure plot, a ship/sea setting, a strong female character. But it just didn't quite hit the spot for me. That's not to say I didn't like it, I just didn't love it like I expected. I think it was mostly due to the writing style. It was too simplistic for the heavier themes this story adresses and for that particularly sad ending.
I enjoyed Owen's skill in the kitchen. The author must have had to do some thorough research to come up with these believable recipes! I also enjoyed getting to know the crew along with Owen. They were all fascinating, diverse characters I wanted to get to know further. I also appreciated the author not sugar coating the dangers of piracy and the injuries crewman was likely to suffer from in that time.
In theory I should have loved this because it has many factors I enjoy in a story: historical fiction, an adventure plot, a ship/sea setting, a strong female character. But it just didn't quite hit the spot for me. That's not to say I didn't like it, I just didn't love it like I expected. I think it was mostly due to the writing style. It was too simplistic for the heavier themes this story adresses and for that particularly sad ending.
I enjoyed Owen's skill in the kitchen. The author must have had to do some thorough research to come up with these believable recipes! I also enjoyed getting to know the crew along with Owen. They were all fascinating, diverse characters I wanted to get to know further. I also appreciated the author not sugar coating the dangers of piracy and the injuries crewman was likely to suffer from in that time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Violence, Death, Murder, and Drug use