Deeply human, quietly furious, and emotionally resonant.
Ellis offers a restrained yet emotionally charged portrayal of piracy’s dying gasp in this compelling saga. 1728. The pirate age is over. Left for dead after a brutal defeat, Casper Nait, naval officer turned pirate, wakes to find himself stranded and alone. Haunted by the loss of his captain and crew, he clings to survival on a desolate island. But when the very hunters who destroyed his world return, Casper is thrust into a relentless fight both for survival and vengeance.
Ellis handles the historical setting with quiet authority. His depiction of post–Golden Age piracy is neither romanticized nor overwritten. The world he sketches is sparse, raw, and psychologically grounded. Casper lives not for plunder but to bear witness to an ending no one else will mark. Fletch lends levity, but even he cannot evade the weight of history’s indifference. The arrival of Captain Avery’s all-female rebel crew reframes the narrative. These women are not inserted for novelty. They are complex, divided, and burdened with their own histories. Ellis avoids reductive characterization; Avery is neither hero nor villain. Her second-in-command, Bellamy, is sharper, more confrontational, while Zaria, a former enslaved girl, brings a gentler, more observant presence.
At its core, the novel is about loss—of identity, comradeship, and a place in history. Casper is a man hollowed out by change. He doesn’t fight because he believes in piracy anymore; he fights because it’s the only way to feel real. The novel also interrogates leadership and power in subtle, layered ways.
A bold, introspective reimagining of pirate fiction that trades clichés for complexity, this is a stunner.
Pub date May 4, 2023
ISBN 978-0645764109
Price $18.12 (USD) Paperback
