Captain Torius Vin has given up the pirate life in order to bring freedom to others. Along with his loyal crew and Celeste, the ship's snake-bodied navigator and Torius's one true love, the captain of the Stargazer uses a lifetime of piratical tricks to capture slave galleys and set the prisoners free. But when the crew's old friend and secret agent Vreva Jhafe uncovers rumors of a terrifying new magical weapon in devil-ruled Cheliax—one capable of wiping the abolitionist nation of Andoran off the map—will even their combined forces be enough to stop a navy backed by Hell itself?
From award-winning novelist Chris A. Jackson comes a tale of magic, mayhem, and nautical adventure, set in the vibrant world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Like don't get me wrong, writing was engaging, spy drama was interesting and characters were interesting. I finished this book ins single days in couple hours since I was eating it up. But umm, at the end I felt kinda anti-climactic. "Okay, heroes succeeded at original mission, but failed at the new one. None of them have went through any new character development in this one and they don't seem TOO particularly shaken up by the failure. I think this is supposed to be bittersweet but it feels off."
To be more specific:
I think it was mistake to kill Yami off few chapters before the climactic escape. When that happened I felt pretty confused and I kinda discovered that I didn't find the "ah s%@$ went awol, now let's try rest of us to survive" to be that of an exciting ending. And in the end it just raises questions: So why DID Yami have ability to summon sea monsters when harmed? Why did bad guys think teleporting him might trigger it? Why DID Desna grant Celeste Oracle powers, clearly not for purpose of rescuing Yami :p It kinda feels like Yami was killed off because writer didn't think losing Star Gazer was bittersweet enough or because they weren't sure how to deal with them safely(I mean if their power is just summoning sea monsters, move them to inland).
Like in the end Vreva isn't too shaken up either, she just gets cold blooded revenge on the admiral behind the scheme. Celeste and Torius just seem happy they don't need to be cuckolded anymore for sake of spying. That's it, Yami's death didn't really affect any of them badly enough. There was also aspect of "We must kill him to ensure Augustana is safe, oh no I can't do this so let's try to save him an- oh crap I failed, well I guess monster did the job for us" aspect to it that just felt unsatisfying :p Like either Yami's death should somehow have been more meaningful or whether through scene being less abruptly fast and ignored or through one of them actually going through it and being haunted by it.
Another great entry in this series, and like the previous book, it builds logically on that which came before. The stakes continue to rise, as does the tension (though the 2nd book had that in spades!). It's not just the main (3) characters that are interesting, though, but the supporting cast is pretty cool too (who wouldn't love Snick?!). Plenty of intrigue, espionage, and high-seas drama.
An interesting development was w/ Celeste, who became an unwitting (won't spoil it)...let's just say her capabilities grew w/ her newfound abilities. But the fact that it was unwitting and even unwanted was a cool twist.
Editing the same as the last 2 novels in the series.
This novel was better than any action movie. Pirate's Honor pulled me into the relationships, Pirates Honor had me worried about the character's fates, and Pirates Prophecy had me jumping out of my seat and hoping everything would be ok. This book was amazing and I have to give the author credit for doing such a good job integrating game mechanics into the novel without it feeling forced. I loved it!
Pirate's Honor had been sitting on my shelf for several months and after finishing it a week ago I feel foolish for waiting that long. Definitely a cast of characters I can't wait to see in another adventure.
Just finished Pirates Promise this week. Looking forward to the next one. Reading these novels reminds me of how much fun the Skull and Shackles adventure path was!
Pirate's Honor had been sitting on my shelf for several months and after finishing it a week ago I feel foolish for waiting that long. Definitely a cast of characters I can't wait to see in another adventure.
Thanks everyone! Just so everyone knows, the amazing cover is by Remko Troost. If you want to see the whole thing, front, spine, back, without text, I posted it with permission on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/chris.a.jackson.967
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I hope I finish Bloodbound before this arrives or I might have to switch over. This series has been enjoyable. Definitely on par with Dave Gross and Howard Andrew Jones entries.
Hmm I do kinda wonder if I missed something since I accidentally skipped Pirate's Promise, but either way yeah this doesn't really feel like "end of story" book so I assume this is last one of these character's stories just because there aren't pathfinder tales books being released anymore :'D