Title: A Jewel Bright Sea
Author: Claire O’Dell
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Anna Zhdanov is the daughter of a scholar. She’s also a bond servant. So when someone steals a jewel from the Emperor, her master tasks her with recovering it—and earning her freedom. But the wilds of Eddalyon are an island paradise, filled with enemies, pirates, and magic.
Soon Anna’s status as indolent noblewoman is called into question, and she finds herself held captive by the notorious pirate caption Andreas Koszenmarc, who’s also searching for the missing jewel. With the Emperor’s guard and another brigand at their heels, Anna must decide if she can trust Andreas—before both of them lose the jewel and their promised rewards.
I enjoyed A Jewel Bright Sea. Pirates and magic? I am definitely there for that. There was so much going on behind the scenes in this novel, and that sense of a bigger picture gave a lot of depth to the story. The reader just knew that there was an explanation for everything—even if they couldn’t figure out what that was just yet. Anna has lived a tough life, and she trusts no one, so deciding whether to trust Andreas is a big deal for her. I loved the worldbuilding here as well, as that made the story truly shine.
Claire O’Dell is an award-winning author. A Jewel Bright Sea is her newest novel, the first in the Mage and Empire series.
(Galley courtesy of Kensington Books/Rebel Base Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
Tomorrow Is Another Day 