Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Sea of Ruin

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Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin

2 reviews

gougoulf's review against another edition

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dark

4.0

The plot at the end ahjahja

Content Warnings

friends2lovers's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

Author: Pam Godwin
Series: None, this is a standalone. (There is a prequel short story called King of Libertines, but it's not necessary to read it at all. If you do, it can be read before or after Sea of Ruin.)
Genre: dark historical romance
Setting: mostly 1721 (early Georgian era) in the West Indies
Main Characters: Bennett Sharp, Priest Farrell, Ashley Cutler
Tropes: pirates, adventure, estranged marriage, captor/captive, ménage (MMF)
Format: Kindle ebook (own), published April 28, 2020, © 2020
Length: 555 pages, 151k words
Steam Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥(5 out of 5) - High Steam
Sexual Content:

There were 5 full, explicit sex scenes plus at least 6 additional scenes that I wouldn't count as flames/full scenes. A lot of explicit descriptions and mentions throughout of sexual attraction and arousal. Includes anal (noncon/dubcon), spanking as discipline (dubcon), voyeurism, ménage à trois (MMF with minimal on-page MM interactions), and forced exhibitionism

Spoiler Warning!
I was having trouble with the spoiler tags, so I'm just giving a warning upfront that this entire review contains spoilers!

I can see why this is a 5-star read for a lot of people. For me, there were moments and aspects of this that were worthy of 5-stars. But, I like to reserve a 5-star rating for my absolute favorite books, the ones that I wouldn’t change a thing about. And Sea of Ruin doesn’t quite meet that standard. Overall, I found it a compelling, interesting read that I couldn’t put down once I got to the good stuff around a quarter of the way in. I would recommend it with caveats. This is a dark historical romance. Check the content warnings at the bottom of this review. Rest assured there is an HEA but it's not a traditional one - The book ends with the heroine in a polyamorous MMF relationship with two men.

He was, quite unfortunately, a handsome son of a bitch. Inarguably handsome, but in a rigid, chillingly regal manner.

Hands down, my favorite part of this book is the character of Ashley Cutler. I didn’t truly become engrossed in the story until Bennet is held captive on his ship. There’s just something about a buttoned up, seemingly cold/unfeeling hero bottling up his emotions, hiding secrets, and on the edge of losing control. I also really loved all the adventure! The only other historical pirate romances I’ve read have been low on sea-faring action. This was not at all lacking in that regard! Surprisingly, I also really dug the darker content and themes, if only because it raised the stakes. I’ve said many, many times before that I prefer historical romance to contemporary because it’s usually higher stakes. I think I need to delve into some other subgenres like dark romance or romantic suspense to get the higher stakes that I want. I definitely plan to try more of Pam Godwin’s backlist.

A lot of what I didn’t like about Sea of Ruin is related to being in the heroine’s first person point of view for the entire narrative. The focus on the heroine was probably the best choice for the story Godwin was telling, but it did not work for me on several levels. The suspense is magnified, but there were many times I would have liked to see what was happening with other characters or get inside their heads. Despite being in Bennett's head the whole time, I didn’t get a good sense of her characterization beyond a surface level archetype - beautiful and badass. Since the heroine is a hoydenish type, I didn’t always like her perspective and could have used a break.

Typically, a first-person POV would be effective at conveying the emotional depth of the main character. While Bennett is obviously distressed and in pain while these things are happening to her, the violence and torture she endures throughout the book do not traumatize, change, or otherwise affect her long-term in a profoundly meaningful way. Without those plot points being a catalyst for dynamic character growth, the constant violence just seems over the top and gratuitous. Perhaps Godwin deliberately chose not to dwell on the trauma so as not to bog down the narrative or create too morbid of a mood. To me, it kind of felt like a repetitive loop where Bennett is abused and violated, she escapes or is rescued, she does a reset to normal, then is thrown back into a dire situation. Violence, escape, return to normal, repeat.

Most importantly, the centrality of the heroine and her POV detracted from the most compelling relationship in the story: Priest/Ashley. I quite honestly would not give a fig if the ending of this had excluded Bennett from the picture. I guess I just love a forbidden romance between characters with a history. (I had a similar affinity for Val and Peter in Kate Pearce’s House of Pleasure series, whose relationship has parallels to Priest/Ashley) All the good romantic angst in this book is happening between Priest and Ashley, but since they’re only shown through Bennett’s limited perspective, their connection within the MMF triad is somewhat diminished.

I hated that we aren’t privy to any of their private conversations or interactions, especially between the time when Priest rescues them from Madwulf’s ship and Bennett wakes after her fever. In the single on-page MMF sex scene, Ashley and Priest kiss, but that’s it. And when summarizing their sexual encounters thereafter, Bennett’s narrative says Priest and Ashley “[...] never showed an inclination to fuck each other. I was their one and only focus.” This was extremely disappointing considering the build up to the reveal that Ashley was the secret lover that Priest cheated on Bennett with. To my disappointment, up until this point the romance was MFM, not MMF. Thankfully, things turn around and the way Godwin wrote their relationship actually serves a purpose and makes sense; the why of it just didn’t dawn on me until later. The last time they had seen each other, Ashley rejected Priest and they’ve been estranged ever since. It’s only after Ashley gives up everything and returns to them that Ashley and Priest finally have sex. It’s recounted after the fact from Bennet’s POV, but it does happen! So, my interpretation of all this is that Priest would not want to resume relations with Ashley unless he knew that Ashley was in it for the long haul and no longer in denial about his feelings.

“I don’t know what to call it…this invisible thing that wraps so tightly around us. All I know is that I want to protect it, guard it with my life, and never let it go. This isn’t something that needs mending or burying. It’s raw and honest and perfect, and you damn well know it.” Priest leaned back enough to hold Ashley’s gaze. “I love you.”
Ashley’s chest hitched, his expression so unguarded I felt his longing in my bones.
“You like hearing me say that to you?” Priest tangled his hands in Ashley’s hair, holding their faces together. “I love you, and I will keep fighting for us."

The longing! I’m glad the relationship moving forward will be a true MMF one. I just…sigh…would have loved to see more of Priest/Ashley untangling all their complicated feelings on-page in their own POVs, not through someone else’s.

Finally, I would like to know if the reader is meant to be completely in the dark about Priest/Ashley just like Bennett was. I read a spoiler review of this before starting it, so I knew that Ashley was the person that Priest cheated with. So perhaps that's why I picked up on all the breadcrumbs throughout and it seemed so obvious to me. I couldn't tell if the reveal was supposed to be shocking or not.

Content Warnings

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