Pinquickle's folly

Salvatore returns to his signature world of Corona with the beginning of the Buccaneers trilogy. The Xoconai are conquerors who regard other people in the region, even other humans, as goblins or monsters, and who violated a truce almost immediately after their failed war to conquer the entire area (see Song of the Risen God, 2020). Quauh is a rising star in the Xoconai's Tonoloya Armada, the youngest first mate and then captain on one of their ships, but she is warned against compassion by her great uncle. As she prepares to leave on her adventures, on the other side of the continent, Massayo Mantili escapes his Xoconai captors and joins Captain Wilkie Dogears's crew, bringing with him knowledge that will protect their ships from Xoconai magic, and bringing radically different ideas that cause him to rescue and recruit Quauh when her ship is sunk by other pirates. Salvatore's masterful world building will absorb readers into the various cultures, exploring the ethos of each through well-developed characters. Readers will eagerly return for the next book in this series.

Bestseller Salvatore (the Legend of Drizzt series) inaugurates a new trilogy with this exciting high-seas romp. Quauh lands her first commission as a captain in the Xoconai navy patrolling waters near a recently conquered rival nation--only to lose a hand, her ship, and her freedom in her first skirmish with pirates after being betrayed by her first mate. Massayo Mantili, a tinkerer who perfected important uses of rubber in seafaring and is a fugitive from the Xoconai, who want his expertise, spares Quauh's life to make her his first mate. As her time with the ship's diverse pirate crew, among them nonhuman dwarves and dark-skinned folk like Massayo, makes Quauh question her upbringing, which casts all races other than the Xoconai as inferior savages, word of the brutal Xoconai captain Aketz reaches the pirates--and they decide to take on his ship with a daring plan from Quauh. After a slightly sluggish start, the mix of battles and scheming keep the plot moving at an entertaining pace. The result feels like a classic pirate tale enhanced with a sprinkling of magic. Readers looking for swashbuckling adventure will be well-pleased. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)

Salvatore returns to his signature world of Corona with the beginning of the Buccaneers trilogy. The Xoconai are conquerors who regard other people in the region, even other humans, as goblins or monsters, and who violated a truce almost immediately after their failed war to conquer the entire area (see Song of the Risen God, 2020). Quauh is a rising star in the Xoconai's Tonoloya Armada, the youngest first mate and then captain on one of their ships, but she is warned against compassion by her great uncle. As she prepares to leave on her adventures, on the other side of the continent, Massayo Mantili escapes his Xoconai captors and joins Captain Wilkie Dogears's crew, bringing with him knowledge that will protect their ships from Xoconai magic, and bringing radically different ideas that cause him to rescue and recruit Quauh when her ship is sunk by other pirates. Salvatore's masterful world building will absorb readers into the various cultures, exploring the ethos of each through well-developed characters. Readers will eagerly return for the next book in this series. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

Bestseller Salvatore (the Legend of Drizzt series) inaugurates a new trilogy with this exciting high-seas romp. Quauh lands her first commission as a captain in the Xoconai navy patrolling waters near a recently conquered rival nation—only to lose a hand, her ship, and her freedom in her first skirmish with pirates after being betrayed by her first mate. Massayo Mantili, a tinkerer who perfected important uses of rubber in seafaring and is a fugitive from the Xoconai, who want his expertise, spares Quauh's life to make her his first mate. As her time with the ship's diverse pirate crew, among them nonhuman dwarves and dark-skinned folk like Massayo, makes Quauh question her upbringing, which casts all races other than the Xoconai as inferior savages, word of the brutal Xoconai captain Aketz reaches the pirates—and they decide to take on his ship with a daring plan from Quauh. After a slightly sluggish start, the mix of battles and scheming keep the plot moving at an entertaining pace. The result feels like a classic pirate tale enhanced with a sprinkling of magic. Readers looking for swashbuckling adventure will be well-pleased. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.)