Title: Dark Shores
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Genre: YA Fantasy, Romance
Page Count: 368
Published by: Tor Teen
Date Published: May 7, 2019
You can find it here: Bookshop.org
Synopsis
Teriana, second mate to the pirate ship Quincense and heir to the Maarin Triumvirate, breaks her people’s ultimate mandate and exposes their greatest secret after her best friend is forced into an unwanted marriage. The results of her decision are tragic and propel her into a nightmare adventure with her enemy.
Marcus, commander of the 37th league of the ruling empire of Celendor, is harbouring a grave secret. When the Empire’s Senator discovers their secrets he captures Teriana’s crew and threatens to expose Marcus unless they team together on the seemingly impossible mission of discovering Xenthier veins (one directional, fast paths) to the unchartered Dark Shores and expand his rule.
Enemies paired together under the thumb of a vicious ruler, Marcus and Teriana must ally to protect those they hold most dear.
Discussion
This is YA fantasy done right. Harkening my favourite “classic” YA titans – Sarah J Maas, Leigh Bardugo, and Kendare Blake this had me gripped from page one.
Fantastic, memorable characters, Teriana and Marcus are an excellently matched sparring pair and I thoroughly enjoyed their dynamic and slow burn enemies to lovers romance. Each character is flawed, intelligent, strong, haunted by their past wrong choices and constantly propelled forward by their need to atone. This story whisks along at a great pace, while still providing us with a very detailed, fully fleshed out world … even at times a bit overwhelming and complex (thankfully there is a glossary in the back)!
This is a fresh, gripping, excellently mapped, and very inclusive (of colour and sexual orientation) story. While the ending was a bit rushed and cut off quickly, it wasn’t enough to fault the whole.
Inclusive, captivating, and propelling, overall this is classic YA Fantasy at its perfect best. Teriana is the fabulous, smart, headstrong leading lady that I love to cheer for and Marcus is the wonderful male counterpart – equally smart, equally headstrong. A true pirate adventure, with an amazingly complex, detailed, magical world, this story is easy to sink into. If you love enemies to lovers, if you love pirates, if you love a gritty story with heart and memorable characters, you are going to want to pick this one up. For fans of Bardugo, Maas, Brigid Kemmerer and Kendare Blake, this is such a fun fantasy!
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