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A Song of Silver and Gold by Melissa Karibian

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adventurous dark lighthearted fast-paced
Sapphic Little Mermaid meets Pirates of the Caribbean? Bam, you’ve got A Song of Silver and Gold!

Content Warnings: magic healing trope, murder, sibling death, family death, parental abuse, death of children (on-page), vomiting (on-page), blood (on-page, graphic), alcohol consumption (on-page, graphic), alcohol-induced hangover, emotional abuse, refusing to eat, sexism, sexual assault, being drugged (the characters’ drinks were spiked), kidnapping, torture, confinement, sex scene (fade-to-black), death from childbirth (mention), broken bones, injury to eyes, mutilation (threatened), homophobia

 For the past year, Princess Kaelyn of Avalon shortened her name to “Kae” and disguised herself as a man. After Kae’s brother was murdered in a siren attack, she sets out to avenge his death. Consequently, she puts together a crew and captains the Mar Daemon, a pirate vessel that hunts sirens. After a fatal siren attack on Avalon’s harbor, Kae resumes her authority as Captain Kae and sets out to destroy the sea demons once and for all.

 Aqueara is a siren warrior of Meyrial, the underwater kingdom of sirens. When an attack on Avalon’s harbor goes terribly wrong and costs the life of her youngest cousin, she is exiled. However, a sea witch offers her cousin’s life in exchange for Captain Kae’s heart. Aqueara is given a human body and a month to carve out Captain Kae’s heart before her cousin can no longer be brought back. 

 When Aqueara joins Kae’s crew in an attempt to get close to her, her objective is complicated by her attraction to the pirate captain. 



The plot of A Song of Silver and Gold doesn’t pick up until around a quarter into the book- but once it does, it was wonderful. The story feels light and fast-paced, filled with drinking, banter, and swashbuckling. While some aspects of the story feel unrealistic (perhaps intentionally so, to keep the story light), I appreciated that Aqueara and Kae had a genuine reason to hate each other. 

At some points, the reader witnesses events through one character’s perspective. The next chapter, the other character would retell the same events in full. This only happened once or twice, but it was noticeable enough to disrupt the flow of the story. 

Aqueara and Kae were good narrators, but Aqueara feels underdeveloped in comparison to Kae. I liked Aqueara as a character, but I wish her chapters were more fleshed out. In addition, I wish both of their character arcs were drawn out more. the characters changing their minds seemed to happen very suddenly. It makes more sense for Aqueara, who is surrounded by humans who hate sirens and is better able to put herself in their shoes, and therefore would most likely be quicker to stop hating humans. Kae’s beliefs changing, however, felt abrupt and forced.

Regardless, I loved both main characters and I’m excited to continue their story in the sequel to A Song of Silver and Gold. I also particularly enjoyed the side characters, especially Dalton. 

This book provides easter eggs for fans of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Little Mermaid. They were subtle enough to not be overwhelming while still providing readers with a treat. 

Finally, my biggest gripe with this book was the use of the magical healing trope. (Spoilers ahead! I don’t use character names.)
It was used to heal a character after they died from their throat being slit; then it was used to heal a character’s broken leg. The first character dying was only for shock value. They were only dead for a few pages, and in my opinion, could easily be taken out. I think the other character’s broken leg could easily be changed- it doesn’t need to be healed.
In both cases, the characters are restored to fully able and it’s like their injuries never happened. 

Thank you to Hansen House Publishing, Melissa Karibian and BookFunnel for an advance review copy!


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