Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Knopf Books for Young Readers for an arc of this book. Below is my honest review.

501 years ago …

To end a war, Anselm, a king and a magician, sacrificed himself on the Isle of Gods. His sacrifice gave the goddess Barrica the strength to bind her twin brother Macean, the god of risk, to sleep.

Now … Alinor and Mellacea are on the brink of war.

Selly wants nothing more than to be a sailor and see her father again. Leander, a spoiled prince, wants to put off the first of his sacrifices to Barrica to keep Macean bound. Keegan just wants to live his own life and study at the Bibliotek. Jude wants to help his mother. Laskia wants to prove herself to her older sister Ruby.

Kaufman truly shines writing books with multiple POVs and this one is no exception. Each character is well developed and has distinct personalities and quirks Characters that are meant to be likable actually are! The morally gray characters and villains each had clear motivations and readers knew why they made their choices.

The magic system is this book is pretty neat. It took a little while to learn the rules, but I actually like that. There wasn’t a big info dump, instead the world building and magic rules were mostly sprinkled throughout the first third of the book. I found myself excited and ready to learn more as I was reading.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Go out and read this as soon as you are able!

Brilliant fantasy/sci-fi author Amy Kaufman, known for creating unforgettable series such as the Illuminae Files and the Aurora Cycle with her writing partner Jay Kristoff, has made a solo return with a promising new action-packed adventure series. The story takes us on a journey to unknown lands as we follow Prince Leander of Alinor, who must make a sacrifice to prevent a dangerous war between two gods, just as King Anselm did five hundred years ago to strengthen his goddess and bind Macean, the God of Risk, the Gambler, in sleep so that he could never make war again. However, Lavender is not the only one whose life depends on this compelling journey that includes crossing the Crescent Sea to the Isle of the Gods.

Young sailor Selly receives a letter from her father that alarms her, and she plans to flee from the ship Lizabetta to risk her chance to climb into another ship that is heading in the direction of where her father's ship is sailing. But instead of heading to the North Seas to reunite with her famous captain father, she finds herself back on the Lisbeth as one of the six crew members, sailing with spoiled, partying, naive Prince Leander, who tries everything in his power to charm her. Keegan is also one of the reluctant passengers who planned to travel to Bibliotek to deepen his research in books. He is not happy to be traveling with his arch-enemy school friend, Leander.

Leander thinks that when they start their journey discreetly in the middle of the night with fewer crew members, he can stay under the radar and hide from the enemies of the kingdom, but he couldn't be more wrong. Laskia, a young woman coming from poverty, is trying to prove her importance to her sister Ruby. She hires a very powerful, intimidating magician, and a bloodthirsty, relentless dungeon fighter, Jude, who is also a betrayed school friend of Leander, to take care of his sick mother. The trio knows the secret trip of the prince, and they are determined to catch him before he makes his sacrifice and kill him.

As two dangerous gods stir after centuries to start the most destructive war, the cruise trip on the high seas turns into something more sinister, including betrayals, backstabbing, more casualties, brutal fights, and in the middle of the chaos, an unexpected romance blooms.

The story is narrated from multiple perspectives, with each of the flawed characters having unique, interesting, and original voices, including determined, risk-taking, and adventurous Selly, who wants to be a big sailor like her father, Leander, who carries the biggest burdens even though he is young and inexperienced but has a good, genuine heart, Keegan, who is extra intelligent, bookish, and finds his reality by burying his head into book pages and researches, Laskia, who is a vengeful power-seeker who slowly loses the thin line between reality and delusions, and finally Jude, who is trapped to be part of a suicide mission when all he wants is to save the life of his mother and suffers from the betrayal of his old friend Leander.

The cliffhanger at the end of the book made me absolutely excited to read the second installment. I hope Amy Kaufman doesn't make us wait too long for the second part of this epic adventure.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Knopf Books for Young Readers for sharing this unputdownable book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.