Book: A Broken Heart of Blackened Stone (The Pirate Queen Chronicles) by Gina Denny
Reviewed by Halliday in the Books
Rating: 4.5/5
Ida loves her family and the isles where she grew up as princess, but she had to get away. After her sister’s death, she needed adventure in her life, so she grabbed the opportunity when it arose. The son of a merchant asked her to sail away with him. How could she say no to that? Her shapeshifting ability helped her escape, but life on the seas is not what she expected. It’s far more dangerous. After a storm turns deadly, Ida is immediately thrust into a knife fight for the captaincy of the ship. The danger does not subside from there.
Now in charge of the ship, Ida will have to figure out how to not only keep her crew alive on the harsh seas, but also happy and/or subservient enough to keep mutinous thoughts at bay. Some days, there are no good options. It’s a balancing act of empathy and aggression that her political upbringing didn’t exactly train her for. Still, she knows she has enough relevant skills that she can pick up the rest along the way. After all, her advisors have been exceedingly helpful. Carrington especially is proving extremely dependable. The help of the other feels a bit more suspect…
The world setting is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s clear the author did a lot of research for her setting. Since I have a lot of sailing experience, I really appreciate when authors take the time to get details right about life at sea. This story gets all the terminology right, and goes the extra mile to make logistics a major part of the story without dragging down the pacing. Keeping enough food stores for everyone to stay fed was a major component in the narrative as it was on ships historically. Even so, this remained a rapid-paced read the whole way through. I tore through the story in only a couple days. When the characters make landfall, we also have stunning cities and jungle islands.
As beautiful as the world is, the characters are really what made this book for me. While the “magical princess pirate captain” FMC has become a bit of a trope, Denny found a way to keep it fresh. The different sides of Ida conflict with one another as much as they enhance, if not more. Combining all of these traits complicates her life rather than making her seem overpowered (at least in this first book of the trilogy). Additionally, we are seeing more than one version of a strong female character. Some are keen warriors while others love dresses and dancing. Others are all of the above. They are all powerful in their own right.
Along those same lines, there’s tons of great representation here. We’ve got characters with ADHD and panic attacks. There are also numerous examples of varied expressions of gender-nonconformity while still using historically-accurate garments. Different sexualities are also normalized here. Same-sex relationships are still less common in this world than hetero orientations, but there’s no relevant discrimination.
On top of all that, we’ve got some great yearning between our FMC and the MMC, who I have to describe as “dreamy.” Yes, he’s attractive, but more importantly he’s remarkably caring, even able to sense and soothe emotions. Even better, despite this skill, he’s incredibly consent-focused. There were a couple of moments where the obstacles between the two felt somewhat contrived, but they were also realistic. The tension between the two becomes electric, and is still building at the end of book one. I am already very excited for books two and three. I really want to see where this trilogy goes. I’m looking forward to more from Gina Denny.