Ship of smoke and steel by Django Wexler

Paperback, 366 pages

Published January 7th 2020 by Tor Teen (first published January 22nd 2019)

Series: The Wells of Sorcery #1

YA FANTASY

Own

I liked this one, what a great way to start the year. With something good!

Isoka is not a nice person, she is a gang enforcer. She kills without remorse, she'd kill her best friend to save her sister, but then Isoka does not have friends. But still, she is great reading about.

I felt like the book did not start off any YAish, when she gets to the ship it gets a bit more YAish, but not that much. Not angsty, silly romance, silly drama, ok sorry YA, but so many have these issues! It feels strong and it stands on its own. No need to label it.

The story is great. She is sent to a creepy ship that comes to collect people of a certain age with powers, and they are given as tribute, cos else bad things happen. And the ship is untouchable, and no one knows anything about it. 

What a creepy ship, why does it collect people with power? Who sails it? Why are there creepy things attacking?

We do learn a bit, but not enough. I need answers! I need book 2 at once.

Great book, quite the thrilling ride. Wexler does not disappoint.

When Isoka's magic is discovered by the government, she's arrested and brought to the Emperor's spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship--a ship from which no one has ever returned. If she fails, her sister's life is forfeit.

On board Soliton, nothing is as simple as it seems. Isoka tries to get close to the ship's mysterious captain, but to do it she must become part of the brutal crew and join their endless battles against twisted creatures. She doesn't expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power.