Hardened sailor Ytzak Anan is an outsider. The color of his skin holds him back in a brutal, post-colonial world. And now his dreams of captaining his own ship, along with all his savings, have been stolen by a faithless lover.
Up a mighty river and out to sea once again, Ytzak searches for meaning and a new start. But the cruelties of ruthless men dog his steps, and mysterious forces seem to be guiding his journey for purposes unknown…
In this explosive debut, author A. C. F. Crawford has created something new in the realm of fantasy.
From high-seas adventure to a climactic clash with a malevolent autocrat, from back alley brawls to arcane shamanic sorcery, Sailor of the Skysea explores a mythical world with a truly American feel. - from Amazon.com
Before I begin, I was contacted by this author, who gave me a free e-book copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
This is a novel set in an alternative history, circa later 1800's, along what I took to be the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the the U.S. Mostly what I read as parts of the Mississippi River, New Orleans, and the Eastern seaboard, with a few new add-ins (like islands, etc.). The story is about Ytzak Anan, raised as a sailor/fisherman in what I took to be the swampy delta, who learned to be a prize-fighter. After accidentally killing a man in a bout and losing interest in 'brawling', he turned to sailing and leading ships through the miles of meandering waterways around the area. Having saved almost enough of his own ship, then being robbed of his savings by one he thought as his love, Ytzak joins a crew taking a shipment upriver. From this point on, the story moves along fairly well, bringing the main character into situation after situation where he does his best to make the best decision, and the results of said decision. In resolving each conflict, he travels much of the area I mentioned, and meets several people.
Though the title is a bit misleading, the picture is not. There is no 'sailing in the sky' or other mechanical means of flying, but it does center around pre-industrial boating in that the use of poling, rowing, and physically pulling boats along a waterway, or sailing, are used. I felt the mechanics involved were acceptable to the timeline being written. I did get lost a bit when the author would delve off into the political and/or religious background whether it was in a conversation, or just background description. Not because it was written badly, just I find those topics to be a bit boring, and I didn't feel I needed as much description as was provided. Also I was a bit put off about the choice of character names. Some, like Ytzak, would throw me out of a 'reading rhythym' due to the spelling, and would take a few minutes trying to decide how to pronounce a name before I could continue on.
All that being said, overall it was not a bad read, though I would not advise it for the younger YA crowd due to some of the bit more graphic scenes. I was a bit leery, as I don't regularly read this style of fantasy fiction, but leaving a bit of my disinterest out of the rating, I would say it was worth a good liking.
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