I enjoyed this installment a lot better than its precedent. We got a lot of adventure and more character development. I also enjoyed the deeper dive into the world building. I enjoyed the slow burn and seeing how Mary and Sam’s relationship developed.
The magic system was also really good and I really liked how we get to know more of it

I have enjoyed HM Long’s other titles, and the trend continues with this one! The book is a strong follow up to the first in the series, and I very much enjoyed it.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

BLACK TIDE SON was a highly anticipated sequel for me after enjoying so thoroughly the unique fantasy setting H.M. Long created in DARK WATER DAUGHTER. The world building and lore definitely continued to expand, which I really liked seeing, and our characters continue to become more layered and fleshed out.

I did feel like this book put a lot more emphasis on the romance between Mary and Samuel. And while I am absolutely rooting for them and love their slow burn, I felt like the romantic emphasis took away from the rest of the story that I was enjoying. I just don't think I anticipated it becoming more romance heavy as it did.

All that to say, the ending has me hungry for book three! I can't wait for its release!

3.75/5 stars

Another good novel in this exciting series: fast paced, full of adventures, entertaining.
I love the storytelling and the world building. Fleshed out and likeable characters
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read an ARC of Black Tide Son. As the sequel to Dark Water Daughter, I was excited about the premise of a pirate fantasy set on winter seas. While the book didn’t fully resonate with me personally, I can appreciate the world the author created. Unfortunately, I struggled to stay immersed in the story and found it hard to connect with the characters. That said, I know other readers may find the adventure and setting much more engaging, and I look forward to seeing how this series continues to develop.

I am so in love with this series. Black Tide Son was a phenomenal follow-up to Dark Water Daughter and I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Red Tempest Brother.

Black Tide Son deepens character relationships and world politics. I was a bit uncertain about a plot motivated by rescuing Benedict given his behavior in book one. But I loved how the story unfolded. Benedict’s character arc was incredible. I loved getting more insight into the complexity of the brothers’ relationship. I also loved Benedict’s snarky support of Mary and Sam’s relationship. I am so intrigued to see the future of his character and his potential role in the unfolding conflict.

I adore Mary and Sam’s relationship. It is a slower burn that takes up a bit more page time in this sequel as they have to decide the future of their relationship. I love that Mary was a bit more lawless, reckless, and assured in their relationship. Sam’s fixation on honor, duty, and the law was a touch ridiculous and insanely endearing. Mary and Sam are such incredible characters. They have so much depth, emotion, and personality to them.

I love how this sequel deepens the magic system. The time skip between books does bypass a good amount of growth—especially with Mary’s Stormsinger magic. But it was interesting to explore the Black Tide cult, amplification, the Dark Water, and other gifts. I also love how the book dives deeper into the political conflict that was lurking in the background of Dark Water Daughter. The ending conflict was so tense and well-written; I was losing my mind.

Once again HM Long’s Winter Sea trilogy will be at the top of my yearly favorites.

Return to wintry, blustery seas and high adventure in this follow up to Dark Water, Daughter.

Disclaimer: I did do a tandem read with the physical and audiobook. The physical book I purchased myself but the audiobook I did read through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I could not wait to dive back into the icy waters of the winter seas. This was absolutely spectacular from start to finish. It was high action. It was quickly paced, and the character development and political intrigue got even deeper and more interesting. I really loved the progression of the relationship between Sam and Ben. I feel like we got a lot of context through the few flashbacks into their childhood as well as their progression of relationship throughout the book. I was happy to see the relationship between Sam and Mary continue to develop as well and I'm really happy with the way that is heading. I do like that the romance is not the main focus of the book, but only a catalyst to further along the character development. I would call this more of a fantasy than a Romantasy.

I feel like they're political intrigue is definitely getting more interesting and more complex. I liked the introduction of other cult like entities within the novel. I feel like everything that is melting to create this amazing plotline is working really well together. I wish we had more of Grant and his character honestly. I feel like he's very interesting but what is going on with him is very much sub plot. I was thinking that will be accelerated in the third book.

This book was so tense and suspense fail. If you like high seeds, adventure, and tons of worships battling, then this is absolutely the sequel you wanna read. I really loved the development of the powers of each person and how they are integrated within the plot.

As good as the first one! She nailed it again! This series is my first foray into pirate adventures and I love them! I cannot wait to finish the story! Why do I have to wait so long?

Ah! What a phenomenal sequel to my favourite book of last year. I absolutely ate this up - and it just kept solidifying HM Long as one of my favourite fantasy authors ever. Her ability to write a connected series so far is super impressive; seeing as we've only seen her work as a collection of connected stand alone stories. The way this trilogy has been just stepping up the intensity and intrigue and building such a fantastic world that HM Long is dabbling in with INCREDIBLE characters.

I absolutely LOVED the way this story continued on from the previous book, having brought in our characters at roughly a year later from the events of the first; it offers up a new mystery, more political movements, and more intrigue on the high seas. The play with magic and HM Long's worldbuilding in these books is just amazing, and I cannot get enough of it.

Mary Firth and Samuel Rosser are some of my favourite characters that I've read in the past two years, and they have stuck with me so deeply since reading the first few pages of Dark Water Daughter last year, and I cannot wait to see where they end up in book three when that comes out.

For a book two, which are usually the worst books in series because they act like a bridge between the epicness of a book one and book three, this one blew me away. It amped up the stakes, it raised the intrigue and opened up the world even more, and stood very well on its own as a story while still leading into the next book's intrigue.

I LOVED dwd, but this one unfortunately really didn't work for me. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what the problem was, but here are some loose thoughts:

1) Mary and Samuel had a bunch of development happen off page in between books, so now what was a simmering will-they-won’t-they slowburn in the first book instead feels tensionless and inevitable and bland.
2) Samuel, in general, feels pretty bland in this one.
3) The plot feels incredibly disconnected from the plot in the first book, and I just simply don’t care about it nearly as much. I miss the folklore and the ghistings and the pirate lord and the nautical setting. We’ve spent way too much of this book on land, and I don’t care about the stuff they’re exploring and discovering - I just want them to get back out to sea.
4) More vaguely, the plot just feels… overly convenient. Too nebulously strung together. It’s like a random series of events that just happens to lead them into these grand discoveries, and something about it feels frictionless and too easy.

Anyways, this isn’t a “bad book,” it’s just missing too much of what I loved in the first one, and I feel completely apathetic about it. I'll keep an eye on book 3 when it's announced and may still try continuing the series.

this is a phenomenal sequel. Top notch characters who have only gotten better and a really fantastic middle book that gives a clear indication of where the story is going from here without ever feeling like you’re just slogging through to get to the next one. Intentional and well crafted. This series continues to be absolutely buckets of fun.

You guys KNOW I love this series, like the first book was an instant five star read for me and one of my favourite books of 2023, so naturally I was not so patiently waiting for this sequel and WHAT a sequel it was.

10/10, I actually have no notes like this a strong sequel. Strong enough to stand on its own, honestly, and it never once felt like you were dragging yourself through a load of filler to get from A to B. Like yeah, things ARE set up for the next book and you can see where it’s headed with the Usti, but that’s not the main focus of the book. It doesn’t exist purely to bridge the gap between books until things get going again.

The plot was well structured, and while setting a few things up, it also had a clear direction of its own both tying it to the previous book and leading us towards the next like it kinda reminds me of the POTC movies honestly.

The world I loved so much in the first book only expands in this one and you get both see and explore more of it while tensions slowly rise and more discoveries and developments erupt throughout the book. There’s a great mix of humour, action and a splash of romance with some truly epic naval battles as well as prison break and plenty of intrigue with a focus on the magic of this world, specifically Benedict and Sam’s.

Speaking of, imagine my surprise when I went from ‘must we rescue Benedict?’ to ‘damn, I kinda like him’ like the pure SHOCK when I actually chuckled at his antics!? The me reading Dark Water Daughter would NEVER have imagined such a shocking development but…I actually kinda like Benedict?!

I feel like he really did redeem himself, like he’s still not perfect but the complexity of the characters is honestly what I like about this series not to mention the occasional moral greyness to them. You know who else redeemed themselves? Charles!

I’m ngl, I was stoked that my favourite highwayman turned pirate made a reappearance, along with some other familiar faces from book 1, but Charles really made up for some of his more questionable actions in the previous book and honestly? I lowkey ship him with Benedict, like their friendship was such a highlight for me along with their banter! The epilogue didn’t help matters either, I’ll be honest!

There’s a lot of character development in this book, not just for Charles and Ben, but also for Sam and Mary and their super slow burn romance! Which I live for, by the way, but it truly is a wonderfully done slow burn romance! I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing how it as well as the characters, continue to develop throughout the next book!

The plot for this one is just as complex as the first book, with multiple threads woven throughout. Some of which tie into the next book and have laid the groundwork for what comes next but as I said, there’s a clear purpose to this book and while the world expands, so too does the magic system and lore alongside the characters who have their fair share of growth and development too.

They ‘level up’ as it were, which is a good thing considering things are set to ramp up and be even more explosive in the third book!

Genuinely, I love this series it’s like it was made for me specifically and the writing truly leaves me in awe, like the amount of plot threads woven throughout which all end up wrapped up by the end of each book with a handful left to lead us into the next book never fails to amaze me while the author has a particular knack for writing scenes that leave me with the chills.

I mean, Mary and the other stormsingers during the battle? Chills, truly.

Epic, brilliantly written and a hell of a lot of swashbuckling fun, I really can’t wait to see what happens next and I’m lowkey hoping for a Demry reappearance!

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for this arc!

4.5/5 stars rounded up!

I was soooooo excited for this book, and it did not disappoint! It was full of the magic and mystery like the first one, but the way the story went was a complete surprise - which I liked!! The only thing that annoyed me was how much Ben was in this, but thats a me problem lmao. I just don't like him and I know that like you're not supposed to, but dammit is don't like him 😤😤😤 😂 some things that happened at the end were a little confusing, but I feel like they'll be explained more in the next book as it feels like that's how the story is leading us. I can't wait for the next one!! Definitely going to read Long's other series this winter, yes yes

I rarely DNF books but I have been trying to read this for months and it unfortunately just isn't keeping my interest. I made it about 30% in and I haven't felt compelled to keep going which is a shame because I truly enjoyed the first book! I will revisit this at some point and try to push through, but unfortunately will be DNFing for now.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Titan Books for the eARC!

When I read Dark Water Daughter, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected to. I just did not connect to the story. But it was still very well created and written and so I gave it four stars. I found myself having the exact same problem with Black Tide Son.

The world Long has created is super detailed and fascinating with interesting magic and creatures and compelling characters. However, for most of the story, I could not care less about Samuel’s perspective. I was hopefully I would enjoy Samuel’s POV more in this book than I did in book one but that was not the case. He is just like cardboard for me. I do like the romantic. tension between him and Mary though, fighting their feelings for the good of society.

I felt the chapters in Samuel’s POV that jumped back in time to fill in the gaps very disjointed and they often took me out of the rhythm of the story. They didn’t seem to flow well with the rest of the narrative and the timing of them felt very abrupt. It was good to learn more about Sam’s backstory but I felt like these jumps in time didn’t actually fill in many of the blanks.

I feel like these books would make a great TV show. All the scenes and battles on ships, plus the politics and the intrigue and missions off of the ships. The characters are great and the story is always moving and shifting but for some reason I just cannot seem to connect to it.

It’s nice to see the male character (Sam) be so rigid in his desire to do what’s honourable and follow the rules. It is often the female character who these traits fall to. Mary is a more selfish character, still willing to be selfless at times but always looking out for her own self interests. Mary was the shining beacon of both books in the series to me and I wish we’d spent more time with her in this entry.

The climax of this one is just as action packed as book one but for me, I am finding the frustrating more than anything else. Why was the rest of the story always so frightfully dull for me until this point? The end always draws me in and leaves me thinking I could pick up the next book in the series right away. Here’s hoping book 3 is more captivating for me.

HM Long never disappoints. The world building was deliciously layered throughout with the politics, magic. It is atmospheric and the perfect read for when you want a certain "eery" vibe filled with adventurous moments! The Sam/Mary moments is where it fell a little flat for me...I would have liked that to have been explored a little differently but overall didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book overall!

Dark Water Daughter was one of my favourite books I read last year, so when I received an early copy from the publisher, I can confirm I squealed with excitement. I absolutely adore this series and think this was an excellent instalment. The fantastic worldbuilding and set up in the first book was really well continued into the sequel. In this book the world expands, the politics become more complex and the characters are pushed into new and challenging situations. H.M.Long's writing is so engaging that even in slow parts of the narrative I was never bored or wanting to put the book down. My one and only criticism is that occasionally I found there to be a convenient solution to plot points, but this wasn't enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

I love these characters so much, their motives and flaws are so well established that they are interesting and engaging to read from. This book continues to be atmospheric and exciting with one of the best fantasy settings I have read. I cannot wait for the next book, but in the meantime I intend to read all of this author's backlist.

It took me a while to finish this book but that's not really the books fault. Not nearly as good as the first one, the pacing a bit slow but overall still an interesting read. I had thought this was a duology but the plot twist ending left me hanging. Curious to see where the world takes Benedict, Sam, and Mary next. Maybe Sam will finally stop being a prude.

Thank you Titan books and NetGalley for the ARC!

Blurb: Samuel and Mary are thriving as privateers on the Winter Seas. As they navigate the complexities of their growing bond, in a world that would see Mary as chattel to be traded, the pair are forging a new, better way to live, under the sails of Hart.

But when their latest prize brings tales of Benedict’s capture by Mereish forces, they must make an impossible choice: to serve their nation or save Sam’s brother.

Thrust into a mission of intrigue and infiltration, they seek to break into the most secure prison on the Mereish Coast. But as they sail deep into enemy territory, they find themselves hunted by a cunning and mysterious new foe—an enemy who seems to know their every secret, and who will kill to keep their own.

As the Black Tide rises, and fleets take to the water, Samuel, Mary and Benedict are on a desperate race for survival—both their own, and the free nations of the Winter Seas.

So if you’ve followed me on here or on Instagram for a while, you will know that I am always talking about the work of H.M. Long. Hannah is one of my favourite fantasy authors and I have adored every single one of her books. Dark Water Daughter (book one of The Winter Seas) was one of my most anticipated reads in 2023. I loved the bones out of that book and Dark Tide Son is the perfect sequel to it. Unlike many second books in series which struggle with middle book syndrome, Dark Tide Son stands strong in terms of the development of the storyline, the evolution of the characters and the expansion of the world they inhabit.

This book focuses on Sam and Benedict, how their magic was corrupted by the Black Tide cult, their complicated relationship as brothers and how they will deal with this in the face of epic battles and the threat of the Mereish. The development of these two characters was the standout element for me. Mary’s story still has a prominent place within the story but I love how Hannah’s focus on the two brothers brings more richness and depth to the overall story.

There are epic battles, heartbreaking moments and struggles as well as the developing romance between Sam and Mary. The inclusion of new creatures, magical elements and characters work perfectly within Dark Tide Son to create a fast-paced, addictive read.

I can’t wait for book three to see how this story concludes because it’s going to be even more epic than books one and two I can promise you! (Red Tempest Brother will be released in July 2025). Black Tide Son is out now- thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the arc. 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️