Book Review | Voyage of the Lanternfish

Voyage of the Lanternfish captured my imagination a while ago. Thank you Sally Cronin; her review prompted me to pull it out of the lower levels of my TBR. And now I have yet another first in series under my belt. And at least two more books to go on with!

Voyage of the Lanternfish (The Lanternfish #1)

by C.S. Boyack

An honorable man is mistaken for his disreputable father. Now he’s pushed into a political scheme to start a war that will spread across multiple kingdoms. James Cuttler’s fiancé is being held captive to ensure he goes through with the plan. 

He soon decides his skills are at sea and procures a ship to wage war upon those who disrupted his simple life. He can’t do it alone, so he recruits a band of cutthroats to help him. But first, they need guns and munitions to outfit the ship properly. Deception and trickery will only get them so far. Eventually, they’re going to have to engage the enemy. 

James’ goals aren’t necessarily the same as his crew. It’s a delicate balancing act to collect enough loot to keep his crew happy, while guiding them back to rescue the girl. 

Voyage of the Lanternfish is filled with adventure, magic, and monsters. Lots of monsters. Hoist the colors and come along for the ride. (goodreads)

My Review

This is a really enjoyable read. I had to put it down for a while to fit in more urgent matters, but even going back for a couple of chapters left me wanting more, every time.

As with many series, it spends quite a while away from the main object (The Lanternfish, a ship) at the start, in order to set up the premise. The blurb covers that well enough, but fails to mention the incredibly inventive and gorgeous vegetable minions that emerge in this first land-based phase, all from an act of kindness along the way. Yes, I said vegetable minions. Some call them monsters. They’re essential to the plot, and add a creative element to all the pirating that makes this saga way out of the ordinary!

It really is a pirate story, even though Captain James has to remind himself that his pirate crew need to swash, buckle and plunder every now and then to keep them happy. There’s plenty of salt in the air (and other places). There are eye-patches, wooden legs, tricorns that get fought over, and weird islands that nobody has ever mapped. Talking of maps, those are pretty interesting too.

The adventure has enough twists, turns, seabattles and tempests to keep most fans of both pirates and navy happy. It has enough romance in the wider sense to keep most fantasy fans happy too. If fact, it has so much of everything good in it, so lovingly put together, that it is a cornucopia of everything I like in a great adventure story.

Yes, I loved it. Good thing I’ve already invested in book 2.

Book Review | Voyage of the Lanternfish by C.S. Boyack – Despicable Me 2 of the Caribbean, and I loved it. #fantasyseries #pirates @Virgilante Click To Tweet

Note: I withheld a fifth star. Wrong words (some not even homophones) make me finicky. A decent editor or even beta reader should have picked them up. I might even offer…