Magic! Pirates! Fate! // REVIEW: Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser

Title: Song of the Current (Song of the Current #1) 
Author: Sarah Tolscer
Publication Date: July 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/2 of the Song of the Current Duology
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
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Blurb Description: Caroline Oresteia has always been destined for the river. Her father is a wherryman, as was her grandmother. All Caro needs is for the river god to whisper her name, and her fate is sealed. But at seventeen, Caro may be too late.
So when pirates burn ships and her father is arrested, Caro volunteers to transport a dangerous cargo in exchange for his release. Secretly, Caro hopes that by piloting her own wherry, the river god will finally speak her name.
But when the cargo becomes more than Caro expected, she finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies. With much more than her father’s life at stake, Caro must choose between the future she knows, and the one she never could have imagined
Before I begin my review, I had the opportunity to interview the LOVELY Sarah Tolcser on my Meet The Authors Feature, which you can read here. There's also an INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY you can enter!
Before I begin, can we PLEASE have some SERIOUS COVER APPRECIATION FOR THIS BOOK? I know we aren’t supposed to judge books by their covers, but honestly, if a book has a good cover, it makes me was to OWN AND READ it THAT MUCH MORE!

Saying this book looks beautiful is an understatement because the Cover Gods in the Shiny Book Tower have TRULY outdone themselves this time. Combine a beautiful book with a FEMALE PIRATE AND MAGIC and this was a book ALL OF MY BOOKDRAGON TINGLY SENSES WERE TELLING ME I HAD TO READ IT.

I buddy read this book with the lovely Anisha who blogs (tweets and bookstagrams over at Sprinkled Pages) but she was so much faster than me at reading it.

Let’s break this book down:

IDEA:

Female Pirates, Destiny, Magic, Gods and Empires in the balance? It was a no-brainer that I needed to read Song of the Current because EVERYTHING about it sounded so good. Moreover, I heard BRILLIANT things about this book before I began and it had me even more excited.

PLOT:

I’ll be honest, it took a while to get used to the world this was set in. As Anisha and I spoke about while we read the book:

a)      The world-building could have been better. We were thrown names of countries and cities, titles and sailing terms with little to no explanation which resulted in a LOT of flipping to the front where the map what and trying to figure out WHAT WAS GOING ON.

b)      A glossary for this book would HONESTLY have been much appreciated. It would have really helped in understanding everything.

Since the world building was a little rough, it took me a while to get used to the story. I hoped that Tarquin wouldn’t be the love interest and I hoped that the Black Dogs would be some serious opponents but I was slightly let down on both counts.

At the same time, there were also a lot of things I LOVED, including how Caro was the PERFECT BADA*S HEROINE. As she says, she isn’t someone waiting to be rescued like a princess in a tower and moved towards something better. (YES! A FIRST! GO SARAH TOLSCER!) She made decisions on her own and her parents respected them instead of trying to mould her to fit their expectations. (ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU SARAH.)

Image result for song of the current
Image created by Brittany's Book Rambles 
I also LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED that ending. If I was unsure about the book for the first two thirds, the BRILLIANT ending made up for it. (No spoilers)

WRITING:

I’m mostly going to tie this to the world building that could’ve been better and hence by default, the writing could have been too. I loved how the concepts of the Gods and Destiny and Fate were written about, but I just wish the world building had been better.

CONCLUSION:

Be true to yourself, could you TRULY pass up a book with FEMALE PIRATES, MAGIC AND A SPECTACULAR COVER? Song of the Current is definitely worth your time, and your heart! 4 stars. 
Displaying File-Feb-01-9-54-44-AM-400x400.jpeg Sarah Tolcser lives in New Orleans, where she writes young adult fantasy and science fiction. A graduate of St. Lawrence University, she double majored in writing and philosophy. She enjoys video games, NBA basketball, and books about girls who blow stuff up. She is married, with three cats. The C in Tolcser is silent.
Twitter: @sarahtolcser
Instagram: @sarahtolcser
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Have you read Song of the Current yet? What did you think of it (AAND the cover)?
Who are some of your favourite pirates - female or male? Do you think we should have more books about Female pirates out there?
I can't wait to hear from y'all!

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