Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the ALC of Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long. The audiobook narration is excellent. The story is a dual POV and there were two narrators. I love when audiobooks have more than one narrator as it makes the story feel more realistic and it is easier to follow. The story itself was really good. I haven't read a pirate based fantasy novel before and it certainly won't be my last. It had Pirates of the Caribbean vibes but it was still its own unique story. I really loved the magical world H.M. Long created. It had singers that could control the winter storms and other mythical creatures. I cannot wait for the second book in this series.

Let me start by saying that the audiobook was SO engaging and well done. The narrators were incredible. 5 stars for them. But moving on to the actual book…

I went into this knowing it was a fantasy with some romance elements, not a romantasy, and I was more than ok with that! As long as the characters delivered, I was here for it. Pirates, magic, mythical creatures—sign me up! But I couldn’t connect to the characters and that is where the book fell. The plot seemed to drag because I couldn’t feel for Mary. And Samuel was even worse! The writing and worldbuilding was good, I will give the author that, but it was something I dreaded having to pick up again. And because of that, I don’t see myself finishing the series.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Moira Quirk and Samuel Roukin and it was perfection! I love the way they put you in the story, making you feel every emotion and taking you on the ride with them! Pirates, military, stormsingers - this book has something for everyone and I cannot wait to see what comes next!!

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long (audio ARC – DNF @ 23%)

I was super excited for a fun pirate fantasy, but what started out as a very exciting tale with Pirates of the Caribbean vibes quickly simmered down to a lot of characters on a lot of different boats or in a lot of different locations, with not much happening. I couldn’t connect with the two main characters because I had no idea who they were and what made them who they were. Finally, the narrators are good individually, but their voices were not complimentary of one another. I had a hard time remembering which characters were which because the male narrator’s voice for some characters were so different than the female narrator’s voice for those same characters.

Thank you SO MUCH NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books for this FANTASTIC arc!!

4.5 /5 stars rounded up!!

This book was AMAZING!! And the audiobook made it just so so so much better!! Moira Quirk and Samuel Roukin were so perfect as Mary and Sam!!

From the setting of the cold, wintry sea and the mystical forests, to the pirate adventures, to Mary and Sam and how they kept coming together and drifting apart - AHH SO GOOD!! The magic system really reminded me of Robin Hobb and her Liveship trilogy, which I also loved! There was just one point at the end I'm confused about, it didn't really describe how something came to be, but what I'm assuming happened makes sense I think? I'm going to reread the end to see if I understand it better a second time lol! I really love as well that this is the first in a series but doesn't end on a huge heartbreaking cliffhanger - I'm super excited to read the next book but I don't feel like my life is on hold waiting, which is such a good feeling!

But this is absolutely on my favourite books shelf, and I'm shoving it into every customer's face I come across that's looking for a good fantasy read! :D I can't wait for the next book!!

If you are looking for an exciting fantasy adventure that will grab your attention on page 1 and never let it go, pick up Dark Water Daughter! It has strong Pirates of the Caribbean vibes, but with lots more cool magic.

Seriously, this book has everything!

*The characters are incredibly well-drawn and easy to care about. I enjoyed both POV characters so much that I didn’t struggle switching back and forth between them, even at exciting plot points.

*The world-building was outstanding, and really accessible. This world is dark, magical, and complex, but the writing never felt info-dumpy. We were introduced to new elements gradually and in ways that didn’t take away from the characters or story.

*The plot was PHENOMENAL! I was invested from beginning to end, and there was a great mix of internal and external tension facing the characters.

The audiobook was also a great way to read this, as the narrators did an incredible job with this performance.

I cannot recommend this highly enough!

I’ve had my eye on Long since her debut but somehow I didn’t pick up any of her books until I saw this one was narrated by Moira Quirk; now I definitely need to go back and dive into her Norse-inspired fantasy world.

There’s a lot of action and a lot of movement; the one downside of this is that it makes it hard to keep track of the passage of time, since it takes weeks to sail from one port to another (which is briefly mentioned but not reinforced with the sense of boredom and sameness one might expect from being subjected to the same views and tasks day after day). Mary and Samuel were both very compelling characters, but it was obvious that Mary was driving the plot and Samuel was filling in the blanks, which made his sections feel less important than hers.

What really held this story back, I think, is a lack of lore. Sure, there were the epigraphs at the beginning of every chapter that offered some definitions, but we don’t understand how the magic works, why certain people have it, what makes some people stronger in their magic than others, etc. I really wanted to understand more about Stormsingers, especially since Mary was untrained (though we all know I hate a training montage) - are there certain songs or notes or tempos or keys that have different weather impacts? Does using magic drain people / is there some other cost unless you’re “broken” like Samuel? It all felt a little hand-wavey to me.

Am I going to read the next book and also check out Long’s backlist? Yes.

Audiobook lovers will definitely want to hear this. It was narrated by Moira Quirk and Samuel Roukin and they were perfect. I was there! I felt everything.
This is book one of a series and I’m so excited for the next one. I really enjoyed it and thought it was uniquely told. I read a lot and I thought I’d seen/heard everything about SciFi-Fantasy but the author has wooed me again. She wrote a captivating story with 3 dimensional characters and world building. I loved the definitions at the beginning of every chapter.
This was my second novel by H. M. Long at it was grand.
On a side note I did not think this was a romance, at least not yet. And it was a clean romance.
Thanks Recorded Books via NetGalley.

dnf I'm not sure if it's because I've read my fill of these sorts of books, but nothing really gripped me as unique in the opening chapters, nor held my attention. Decent prose, just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am not a huge fan of Pirates but I'm very glad I gave this book a chance. The book is complex, rich, and well layered. It's also pretty dark. The story is set in dual POV between the FMC Mary and the MMC Samuel. However, the romance was pretty much non-existent. Maybe book 2?
The world building was well thought out. All of the powers and mythical creatures are unique to this book. I can't wait to read the next one.

I received an audiobook ARC for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am not really sure what made me enjoy the book so much. I think it's a mix of the world feeling very alive and the original magic and the mystery and character banter. All of that is amplified by the excellent narration.

The narration actually sold the book to me. I heard the sample and right away applied for the ARC. Moira Quirk's voice added so much feeling to the book and it was a perfect fit for the voice of the main character, Mary. The other narrator, Samuel Roukin, didn't maybe stand out as much, but still did an excellent job.

The other thing that sold me was the beauty of the prose. I normally don't notice that much, so just know that even prose barbarian like me appreciated it.

The setting was the only thing that made me hesitate, as I normally don't enjoy nautical fantasy that much. But there was so much more to this book than just sailing and sea fighting. I especially enjoyed that the characters had to deal with issues that wouldn't be solved by a fight. It gave this book a more realistic feeling.

The magic of this world is tied to the other world that certain people with power can connect to. We get Stormsingers that can control the weather with their voice, Magni who have control over human beings, and Sooths who can access this other world, which allows them glimpses beyond time and space. The other world also has its inhabitants, most noticeably the gistings who inhabit certain trees of the real world and can be made into living figureheads for ships.

As for the story itself, we follow Mary, who is looking for her mother, and Samuel, who is trying to capture the most dangerous of pirates and clear his name. Their paths and goals intervene and they both have to make some hard choices and join with unlikely allies.

As for the romance. I read one review that called it an insta love. I would argue that it wasn't an insta love as we never really got into the love territory. At most there was interest and infatuation and some hard-won respect. I expect we will get the actual romance part next book and this has been just a setup in that regard.

As for characters, both our main characters and side characters were all well written. Mary is the type of strong woman that you won't catch fighting off a bunch of enemies, but that shows us her strong will and tenacity in other ways. I would also give special mention to Lirr, the villain. He made for a properly chilling enemy and kept the stakes high.

And another thing that made the story interesting to follow was the mystery. It creeps in slowly and adds to the slightly chilling atmosphere. It had a great pay off too.

All in all, this was a very satisfying story. While I am definitely looking forward to see more of this world, this book can perfectly work as a standalone.

This was disappointing. I LOVE just about any pirate book. Always have. So I was really looking forward to this one. But... this didn't feel like a pirate book, even though most of the story takes place onboard some ship or other and the characters are pirates, pirate hunters, and magical women enslaved by pirates. I also didn't get the winter vibes everyone talks about. For me, it was incredibly bland and completely lacking in vibes of any kind.

I also could not bring myself to care about any of the characters. They all felt very flat and I couldn't keep any of them or their motivations straight.

Mary is completely blank and (somewhat ironically) the most Mary Sue character I've come across in a while. She seems to exist solely for the plot and men to drag her around. She follows a random unscrupulous man in an escape from the gallows only to be betrayed by him. She is then sold to a pirate. And then another pirate steals her. And then another pirate rescues? steals? her. And then she's running away from him only to decide to stop and have dinner with a pirate hunter. She wants to rescue her mother and not be enslaved and... that's about all that I've gathered about her character. She has stormsinger magic and seems to have some other special magical connection to the wood wights that is teased. And all of this makes all the men want her I guess?

Meanwhile Samuel is just about as much of a blank wall as she is. He wants to gain back his lost reputation. And he's afraid of his magic. And he wants to save Mary because? No idea.

Mary doesn't spend enough time with any one group of people long enough to maybe learn a name or two and get a sense that this one is a bit dull and this one is maybe sympathetic. and then she's off again with a whole new group of people. I found it incredibly unsatisfying.

It has Moira Quirk narrating, which almost guarantees it's gonna be a great listen, but even she can't inject a personality into Mary. And Samuel's narrator just seems wooden.

*Thanks to NetGalley and RB media for providing an early copy of the audiobook for review.

I had the pleasure of listening to this audio arc alongside a visual reading of the standard e arc .

All of the points of my e arc review remain true for the audio offering in addition to the review offered here .

I adored the plot writing style and narration of this masterfully done dark adult fantasy .

This was an awesome book! I love it! Great story unique magic. So meany great carters!! The audio narration was wonderful!! They did such a good job with giving voices to so meany characters. I will definitely be reading the next book.

I completely enjoyed this book! The narrators are perfect! Thank you so much for the arc. I loved the characters and plot. There is nothing negative to say, I purely enjoy listening to the story.

• Adult / NA dark Gunpowder Fantasy
• Witches and mages
• Weather Sirens
• Pirates / Highwayman
• War / battles
• A spark of romance / No romance
• Adventure
• Storms / Wintery setting
• Dual POV

What an adventure!!!! From the elements of witches and mages, the creatures, weather sirens, pirates and highwaymen, war and battles, magic in this world and with just a touch of romance. I love how the lore and world building was put in as bits of a story was fun. I loved the audiobook for this!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I saw "pirates" and immediately wanted to give this a shot. This is an adult fantasy about Mary, a stormsinger who can can control the skies and seas, and Samuel, a disgraced navel officer who's thown in with pirates. The two end up entangled together in their bid to stop a common enemy - infamous pirate Silvanus Lirr.

This was one of those books that started and ended well, but got a little muddled/lost in the middle. The world-building and magic system were well thought out, well written, and I loved the concept of stormsingers and ghistings. But I felt disconnected from the main characters and their emotions for most of the book, and I think this was due to the writing style. Some of the actions scenes were great (and some quite graphic), but there were definitely moments when the narrative didn't hold my attention and I felt my mind wandering.

Dark Water Daughter is a story about stormsingers, pirates, and pirate hunters. It is full of betrayal, love, mystery, badass women and magic. To me this sounded like a recipe for a wonderful book, and I was not disappointed.

Contained within these pages is a lot of action and twisting plots. Between watching Mary embrace her stormsinger abilities and fight for her freedom, and seeing Samuel try to reclaim his name and reputation, this book will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. It is the kind of book where you go, "Just one more chapter." over and over again.

This is a dark book and the author is an excellent writer, so it is not for the faint of heart. There are some hard topics that come up, so I would advise checking the triggers. The only other thing that I can complain about with this book is that since it is a series it is left open-ended. I was left wanting to know what was next, but now have to wait for the next book. This isn't much of a complaint though.

I think all fantasy lovers will enjoy this book. The audio in particular was very enjoyable and the narrators really gave the story a voice. Overall, I really liked this book and cannot wait for the next one!

Pirates and sirens! What more can you ask for! I really enjoyed this. The story pulled me in from the start. I loved the world building and the magic of this world. The action was awesome. I cannot wait to read the next book. Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the audiobook ARC of this anticipated release.

This was a very fun pirate fantasy listen. It kept me interested and the plot was interesting with some cool twists and turns.

It did miss the “wow” factor for me where a story grabs me and drags me into the depths where it becomes all I can think about. I love a good pirate story, I think I just didn’t get to know enough about the magic systems, the world, and the characters weren’t quite dynamic enough for me.

That being said, this was still what I would consider great. The pacing was lovely, it was interesting the entire time, and it was clearly well written. The narrators did a great job and it flowed very smoothly.

Glad I read it and I did enjoy every minute of it!