I really wanted to like this book. I was super excited about the synopsis and after reading a few non spoiler reviews i was hyped. Pirates, queer positive characters, and a comparison to Six of Crows sign me up!!! Unfortunately this was not my cup of tea. I enjoy a good character driven novel and felt that this definitely did that well. The comedy i feel would have been put to much better use if it were not the same joke over and over and over. At some point it went from being adult humor to something that i would liken to a teenager learning his first dirty word and then proceeding to use it every chance he had to talk. At one point i started counting the number of times that the phrase "dirty little slut" was used in the beginning of the book and quickly lost count. The characters i didn't understand at all. Avra is like a toddler that just word vomits any thought he has and often repeatedly. I think that the all the dirty jokes and constant expression of horniness would have worked at some point had the novel had any depth or actual spice to it. Alas it did not. I think that for those that enjoy a good slap stick queer comedy with horny pirates and a queer positive crew than this is definitely a book that will be enjoyed. but if you're looking to connect with characters, have any semblance of world building or an actual development then this won't be the book for you.

I sadly had to DNF this audiobook as I simply didn't like the narrator.

I was lucky enough to get to read an eARC of Running Close to the Wind last year, and thought it was absolutely hilarious. I was super excited for the audiobook, in particular to hear all of Avra's weird little mouth noises, and I was expecting to laugh at least as much as I did reading the eARC.

Unfortunately, the narrator doesn't work for me at all. I listened to the first few chapters and didn't laugh once, and then skipped around a bit to some of my favourite scenes and they just didn't hit like they had with the ebook. In particular, the way Avra was embodied didn't sound good to me. I'm honestly so bummed that this narrator doesn't work for me, as I'd been really looking forward to the audiobook.

I'm including my previous review for the eARC, as I feel it would be a shame if anyone gave this book a miss based on reading my experience here. My recommendation would be to try the ebook instead of the audiobook, but tastes vary so obviously it could just be my issue.

E-ARC REVIEW:

Running Close to the Wind delivers queer pirates and mayhem in a hilariously funny, incredibly unhinged, and supremely horny way, set in the same queer-normative world as A Taste of Gold and Iron.

The book is full of adventure, hijinks, the most chaotic characters, a smidge of romance, and it's so funny I nearly strained something laughing.

We follow Avra, a self-professed silly little slut and former Arasti spy, after he steals something very valuable from the Shipbuilder's Guild (remember the break-in in A Taste of Gold and Iron?) and goes running to his on again/off again beau pirate captain Teveri to share his ill-gotten gains. Teveri and the rest of the crew of The Running Sun, including newly added crew member Julian The Hot Monk, have to decide if it's worth putting up with Avra and his antics to possibly make the biggest bounty of their lives.
Throw in sea serpents, a pirate island, colourful side characters, Avra's weird mouth-noises, anti-capitalist sentiments, an impossibly hot monk with a mysterious background who both Tev and Avra lust after, and you got yourself one of the funniest books I've read.

Running Close to the Wind's also given me a new favourite chaos gremlin in Avra. He's a suspiciously lucky, somewhat pathetic disaster of a human who's constantly horny and annoys everyone around him. I fell madly in love with him almost immediately!

Because the book's so nonstop funny it left me wanting more moments of seriousness and depth in order to truly connect with the characters. It sometimes felt like the book didn't know what it wanted to be and the ending left me kind of frustrated. That could partially be related to expecting a different book going in? It's not a romance, it's more of a cozy fantasy pirate adventure with great characters. We drop into Avra's life for a few weeks of chaotic fun and then leave him, Tev, and Julian right when things heat up between them which was a bit of a bummer. And for a book this horny, there's surprisingly, and unfortunately, no sex scenes.
There's lots still left to explore and so much more I want from this story - I could easily imagine a trilogy in this universe and I'd eat it right up!