Burn the Sea

Burn the Sea is a very interesting historical fantasy retelling of the story of Abbakka Chowta and her resistance against the Portuguese invasions in the 15th century. I really loved how rich the cultural references were regarding food, clothing, nature, instruments etc and how this created a very immersive and atmospheric reading experience. I also liked the main character and her (mostly female) supporting circle a lot - she is badass and very clear about what she wants and doesn't let no man tell her otherwise. One detail I specifically want to mention is how there are women fighters and guards throughout the whole book - this is something we don't often get, most of the time it's just this special badass protagonist plus maybe 1-2 other women who fight and all other guards and warriors are male, this is not the case here and I loved it. Plot-wise the book unfortunately dragged a little in my opinion because it had a lot of scheming and plotting and strategizing and general explaining of the characters' motivations, which was a bit redundant at times. I also wasn't a fan of the whole "ooh, but he's so pretty, too bad he has no spine" stuff, it made the book feel very YA, but as I'm not YA anymore myself, I don't necessarily have to identify with that anyway.. also, I'm personally not a big fan of love triangles, although it made sense in this case and was executed well. In general I kind of expected more fantasy elements and was a bit disappointed in that regard - it's more of a mythology retelling than historical fantasy, which is fine, I was just expecting something else somehow, probably because it was listed under the SFF section. I also think this could have a standalone, I was definitely surprised when I learned that the story would be continued in further parts of a series. All in all a nice book and a worthwhile read, I'm not 100% sure I will continue the series, but we'll see! Thanks to Netgalley and Bindery Books for the e-arc!