A review by artemine
Fated Winds and Promising Seas by Rose Black

Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.

a very bizarre read. i likely won't pick this up again but i want to say this wasn't a hard DNF, there was nothing unreadable or particularly outrageous or anything i feel passionate about disliking (which is usually the only reasons i DNF anything). rather this felt like a succession of good events with missing scenes: the characters were compelling and the vision/world building was very cool, but the narrative beats go so fast in ways so unearned with so little thread between them i was left both very confused and also slightly disappointed. reveals that feel like they should land/matter happen at the drop of a hat, and read more like spoilers than something that actually happens in the story. maybe this should have been a longer book, a series, or perhaps it would have gained from taking more time with what it set out to do. i really like the writing style, and i think there's great promise here, but i was forced out of it by the speed at which emotional/character development happens. just really felt like i had missed several chapters or some other key information i should have known going in. a shame, but i'm open to trying more by the author!

thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc 🫡