Liviania’s review of The Black Ship (Crosspointe, Book 2) by Diana Pharaoh Francis
Fantasy released by ROC 4 Nov 08
For some reason, I like reading about people on ships. Well, about sailors. I’ve been on a boat before and know just getting ferried around isn’t a particularly exciting experience. But something about the camaraderie and skill needed to safely sail captures my imagination. (Sea battles don’t hurt either. Nothing like a good battle to liven up a story.)
With these requirements, I really got into The Black Ship. Navigator Sylbrac refused to let people close due to his past. He realizes he needs to fix his attitude, but doesn’t get much of a chance before his guild betrays him. He’s taken by an unregistered ship and determined to keep his crew alive. Unfortunately, the captain only cares about finding his lost wife, sylveth in the water can turn men into monsters, and pirates raid to capture navigators. (Without a navigator and compass the ships can’t avoid the sylveth in the open sea.)
While this is a novel of Crosspointe, knowledge of the first entry (The Cipher) is not necessary. The main characters of The Black Ship are either new or tangentially related. The plot does build on events from the previous book, but the previous book’s events are succinctly summarized without being much of an info dump. In fact, The Black Ship might be better read without The Cipher.
Diana Pharaoh Francis starts the book strong and continues in that vein – the characters are well-done and the language has a good rhythm to it. The plot isn’t overly complex as it basically amounts to the ship needs to deliver its cargo so Sylbrac can find out who killed his brother and the captain can find his wife. There are hints of politics, which always pleases me, but not too much as Sylbrac is not an overly political man.
Then Francis drops the ball. The book ends with a total lack of climax. (Warning: The rest of this paragraph could be construed as a spoiler. I don’t really see it as such, but this is a just in case.) Sylbrac and Captain Plusby are simply told their answers before they deliver the goods. The book then ends while they go off on the last leg of the journey. Their HEAs are left hanging, the ship doesn’t reach its goal, and the answers (for the most part provided by The Cipher) are delivered in a speech rather than slowly revealed. No lie, as I closed the book I wondered where the last hundred pages were.
I absolutely want to read the next Crosspointe book. I love the world Francis developed and want to see the characters succeed in saving their home. However, the next one better have a real ending. The abrupt ending truly shocked me out of the groove the book at pulled me into and I’m not sure I can take repeated whiplash.
Grade: C+*
*Until I turned the last page and realized there wasn’t any more I was ready to give it a B+
Summary:
Thorn is a member of the Pilot’s Guild—those who possess the magical ability to navigate Crosspointe’s deadly seas. When a malevolent master within the Guild bans him from the sea, it seems his life is over. Then he is kidnapped and forced to serve aboard the rogue ship Eidolon—pitch black from bow to stern—and Thorn finds himself battling a mad captain, a mutinous crew, and the terrifying magic of the sea.But there is a saboteur on board, trying to make sure the Eidolon never arrives safely in port. Thorn begins to realize his kidnapping may have been no mere chance— and that the cargo the black ship carries may seal his doom…
Read an excerpt here.
Other books in the series:
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