1001 Islands by K.T. MunsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I quite enjoyed this tale of pirates and adventure on the high seas, together with its touch of insurrection and rebellion. The general narrative was quite simply told and, unfortunately, there were many sections of the tale that I found somewhat repetitive, even verbose. However, it had a lot going for it with its many interesting characters. There was a captive princess, Roxana, a dashing but honourable villain, Morgan, and the despicably evil Darius amongst them. The author even manages to cleverly mix romance with mystery and magic.
The story romps along at a fair pace, in some parts, with a quite satisfying denouement at the end. But I did wonder whether the verbosity that I mentioned above made the book feel too long because that tended to slow it down intermittently, while you tried to get your head round what the author was trying to say.
There was a great sense of intrigue through the events around two particular characters. One was known as Caliel, who is a spy sent by the King of one of the islands, to rescue the princess. The other was the mysterious woman known as Emelia who had a great deal of power over many of the lesser characters.
The dialogue between them all was pretty good, mostly, but the occasional more contemporary term did spoil the authenticity sometimes. Clichés like ‘not on my watch’ or ‘dolled up’ or ‘if push came to shove’ jarred with this reader as too modern. Maybe a rethink would help? This and the odd misspelling or typo meant it just failed to get a higher rating. But a great adventure with lots of excitement and interest to engage you.
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