A review by floofymoosereads
The Sea of Zemira by D.L. Blade

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Sea of Zemira by DL Blade is the first book of The Zemira Chronicles. This is a pirate fairy tale fantasy with magic and magical creatures, complete with romance and betrayal. King Matthias has outlawed magic and siren Nola has watched this act destroy her kingdom. She leaves her homeland, in search of the fae and elven kingdom she believes can help her, and finds love along her journey. This is a book intended for mature audiences, contain explicit content and other trigger warnings. Tropes include banter, found family and enemies to lovers.

The Lovely: I loved many of the characters, especially those on the pirate crew, and Nola. The relationship between Nola and her love interest was spicy yet sweet and Nola was a fun character, especially when she stepped up to defend those she cared about. I also loved the found family aspect of the crew.

The Mundane: Despite definitely being an adult book (as evidenced by the explicit scenes), the storytelling had a YA feel to it. I think it felt this way because several plot points seemed superficial and simple. For example, there are a LOT of different magical creatures in this book but they’re only explained from a high level and the reader knows next to nothing about them.

The Dreadful: The skipped scenes and inconsistent tensioning of the plot ultimately is what hurt this book for me. There were several points where the story jumped ahead, skipping what happened in between. And these were not minor scenes. I actually thought pages were missing.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Recommendation: I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I did enjoy the story and the ending, as well as the characters. That said, I won’t be reading the sequel right away as it doesn’t appear to involve the characters I loved in this book. I will probably pick up the sequel in the future for the plot and to see what happens next.