A magical coming of age story, Feathertide by Beth Cartwright is the beautifully told story of Marea, a young girl born with a secret. Living a hidden life because of the feathers that partially cover her body , she grows up in the cellar of the brothel , only allowed out one day a year,as a birthday treat. Her mother enlists the help of a professor to educate her, and his stories of distant lands spark her imagination and fire her desire to seek out her father, a man whose name she does not even know. On her eighteenth birthday she sets off on a quest to the City of Murmurs , the place where her parents met, determined to learn more about her heritage. The city is just as magical as she ever imagined, and soon she makes some new and unusual friends, including a soothsayer, a former mermaid and a man who studied the mysterious island of bird people that her father came from, and as she continues her search for her father, she learns more about herself and those who care for her.
I rarely enjoy books written in the first person as much as I did this one, and I think having the narrator be a child that grows up with the reader as the book progresses works exceptionally well.. The characters are all well drawn, and it made a pleasant change to read a fantasy book without a villain, instead the focus is solely on Marea and her quest. There is a love triangle within the book, but it is so well handled that I did not know which of her loves I wanted Marea to end up with, both offered different attributes that made them a good potential match. The world building is excellent, and the descriptive writing so vivid that I felt I could really see the the City in my imagination. While some might consider the story a little on the simple side, I say a simple story so well told is a beautiful thing, and though I rarely re- read books these days, I could absolutely see myself revisiting this one.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I fell in love with this book from first sight. The cover is lovely and caught my eye immediately, and I am delighted that I was able to get the e-arc. The writing blew me away from the start, it is beautifully evocative and carried me along from start to finish. I found the world quirky and magical, and the entire book is discovery both for the main character Marea but also for the reader, and I felt very much as though I was coming of age with the character.

"He brings me such happiness, but love after loss is always a little bit more fragile-like a bird with a broken wing trying to fly again. There should be a word for that kind of love"

I received an online copy from Netgally, thank you.
The cover of this novel caught my eye, and I'm so glad it did.

This story is about a girl who has feathers, but has always been hidden from the world because she is too beautiful.
As she grows, she starts to question the world she lives in and wants answers.

This is a beautiful and very magical journey we are invited to join. The imagery is so magical. The writing is very descriptive, and really brings the story to life. It was just so pleasurable to read.

The characters were interesting and some mysterious, which kept me reading. For me, there was no dullness to be part of this story. I just don't think my review can do it justice. Just read it.

Feathertide,  Beth Cartwright

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy

I love quirky, unusual reads and this book promised that.
It is both those things but...somehow I felt the story it told was a little flat.
The writing was beautiful, the world unusual and the characters wonderful but for me it just didn't add up to a great story.
I wasn't convinced by the romances, didn't feel there was any real depth to the plots. It was just things that happened to Marea on the route of her journey to find her father, and to discover herself, a kind of coming of age read. A lot of words, lots of things going on but nothing of any gripping interest to me.
I'm sure others will love it but for me it needed more depth, more emotion, more feeling. I felt the end was kind of ambiguous too, and in general that doesn't work for me, though it does let me imagine my own HEA ending...

Stars: Three, it had the potential for five stars from the beautiful writing, but the lack of depth let it down for me.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

Sadly the book offered nothing new or memorable .



* I received an e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review via netgalley

This is a beautiful fantasy novel, with a great cast of characters, but the thing I loved most about it was the City of Murmurs itself - a fantastical Venice, complete with carnival, mystery, romance and mermaids. It's a coming of age novel, I guess, in which our feathered heroine, Marea, has to discover her own origins, and find a way of loving and being loved - which she can only do by accepting herself completely.

This is a wonderful book, took me sailing off into an enchanting world. Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read it. I'll be looking out for Beth Cartwright.

Rarely there comes a book that makes you go wow. When it does you want to treasure every word, savour the book, never let it end. This is that book. It’s a wonderful story accompanied by the most wonderful vocabulary that makes you feel you’re experiencing the journey of Marea.

Marea is born into a brothel, a girl different from all the rest. She’s kept away from the world and brought up by her mother, who obviously love her. Marea is different from everyone else as she has feathers on her back. She learns that her father had feathers and sets out to find him.

This is a tale of discovery, of wonderment, of fables. Mermaids live in the oceans, birdmen fill the skies. It mixes Japanese culture with Italian style. Marea’s journey is not an easy one as she heads for the City of Murmurs. It’s a coming of age tale told with the most exquisite language possible.

Each page is full of what I would call prose-poetry. Each scene carefully constructed so that at times you live and breath Marea’s journey. The story is excellent, the world seems far from the one we know, yet it’s rooted in real places that keeps the book from being too fanciful.

As you can see I really enjoyed the book. It had everything I love woven into a story that is timeless. The writer has produced something very rare, a literary work that’s worth the re-read.

I didn’t hate the book, it was an easy read however it’s a safe little story, no real tension even if there is a hint at adventure. I suspect that a younger audience will identify more with the main character and storyline.

I also think the publishers should not have specifically recommended this for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale and Night Circus. It created unfair expectations that unfortunately was not met. And then there are the overabundance of similes. It became very distracting and completely unnecessary.

I think the author has talent and with time she will hone her craft as she certainly has the imagination for this genre.

I was looking forward to Feathertide, as I'm on a run of speculative / gothic / fantasy-tinged novels (The Starless Sea, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow etc), and the description and cover made this book seem right up my street.

There was a lot that I liked about it. There's a lot of kindness in Feathertide's world: the whores (the book's wording) who bring up Marea; the professor who educates her; Sybel when she gets to the City of Murmurs; and Leo. It's not that this world is without cruelty, but – particularly given all the things going on in the real world right now – Feathertide felt like a necessary reminder of warmth and kindness.

I also liked the fact that (spoilers ahead) the author swerved some of the obvious plot points. The boat / circus of freaks, for example - you can imagine a bleaker, more obvious story where Marea ended up captured and on display there, and I fully expected that, and was happily disproved. It would also have been easy to have the happy ending as Marea discovering how to fly and zipping off into the sunset, so I'm glad that was avoided in favour of something more subtle and real.

The writing has some lovely turns of phrase, but one thing I struggled with were the constant similes: a kiss is like a drop of warm rain; eyes skitter like sun-drenched lizards; love after loss is like a bird with a broken wing trying to fly again; evening unfolds like a newly discovered love letter; hair spreads over a pillow like spilled marmalade... It's not that they're bad similes individually, at all, but there were so many of them - it was a bit tiring to read.

I didn't really enjoy the romance aspects that much: with Elver and Leo alike, they felt a bit... rushed rather than slow-burning. Or perhaps I just didn't quite get the sense from Marea of *why* they developed so quickly. In fairness, I'm probably comparing it to something like The Priory of the Orange Tree, which is a much longer book (so has time for the romances to play out more slowly).

Although I've given Feathertide 3/5, which feels middling, I did really enjoy the imagination that went into the world. Particularly the idea of The Scatterings - lots of little islands, each potentially with their own magical elements. It feels like a world ripe with future stories, so if Beth Cartwright returns to it, I'll definitely be reading.

I was approved for an ARC of this book but it's in a protected pdf format that I can't read on kindle. I would love to read it if the publisher can provide me with a file compatible with Kindle.

The plot started off very well. I liked the writing and the way the story was narrated. As the story progressed it was hard for me to keep attention to all that was happening because the characters or the plot did not sit well in my mind. I wanted more of character and world building and lack of that disappointed me. I struggled to finish the book and having read so many fantasy novels and series, this was just not for me. I am writing this review in a hurry because I am not sure if I'll remember half of it tomorrow.

Right from the start Cartwright's writing is truly magical. The descriptive world building had me falling head over heels instantly and I was elated to discover this is consistent throughout the novel. The imagery written into each page is beautiful and had me returning to Feathertide at every given opportunity.

Written in the past tense from first person POV we follow Marea's life from the day she was born. Using a child as the narrator gives the book an innocent, naive tone which heightened the wonder I felt as a reader when discovering such a fantastical world.

Feathertide revolves around themes of motherhood, self discovery and individuality. As Marea searches for her father and the origin of her feathers she encounters the varying attitudes of curiosity, acceptance and cruelty dealt by others when confronted with diversity; a fitting topic for the world of today.

I adored every single character in this book. It was a refreshing escape to read about a world full of love and compassion. The women in Feathertide are all kind and supportive, even Sorren who we are led to fear at first. This gave the book a comforting quality I don't often find in my usual choice of reads.

Packed with magic, mermaids, birds and dreams, Feathertide is a fantastic debut from Cartwright. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future work. I highly recommend this book for fantasy lovers, bisexual rep, and strong female characters.
A real feel-good story.

This was an enjoyable read and it was entertaining, but at the same time nothing really stood out for me and I don’t think wow that was great or I loved that bit and that as I would with others, it was full of potential but I think just missed the mark.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

First of all the cover is a ppealing. Once you've read it I think the cover favours more to a side charascter then the main but I wouldn't say it put me off.
the story is interesting and well thought out. A girl hidden away from the world for being different takes the courage to leave and seek out family she has never meet and answers to why she is who she is. There are choices that she needs to make that are current, and I think YA readers today will and can relate. A typical coming of age story with a twist. There is a nice balance of evryday teenage life and thoughts mixed with the fantasy and fairytale element. I liked the characters, normally I find there's at least one who annoys me, but the characters in this story work well together. I think there could have been a little more description about the characrters as it was brief and focused on one feature, but it didnt interfere with story. I was intrigued to find out what happened next and it was enjoyable to read. There is a good twist. It leaves you feeling dissatisfyied with the ending at first and makes you realise you wanted it to end a certain way all along, however it all works out in the end.