Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

An ethereal folklore re-telling, incandescent with female rage.

I loved this book. The prose, the soft world building, the deeply flawed, yet utterly compelling characters made it hard to put down.

As the book begins we are on an all-women pirate ship, following our main character Jaq. They've just found a man adrift at sea and have rescued him. The soft world building reveals parts of the characters and the story slowly, keeping the mystery of who these women are, how they got here, where they're going and why. The pacing was perfect, and the slow burn answering of these questions kept me turning the pages with the need to know.

The writing is beautiful. Here are a few of my favourite quotes:

"Long have I collected my anguish, stacked my rage into neat piles and sorted it. My list of grievances is written in blood. I shall grant them each their wishes, show them the trust nature of my unnatural predilections."

"Lily's love, too, is an unstable thing. Erratic like the flight path of a starling."

"'Tis an expansive world, full of many horrors and misdeeds. On this, men do not have a monopoly."

This is my first book by Rae Knowles, but I really look forward to more. Thank you to NetGalley and Brigids Gate Press for the advanced reader copy.

This book is best read in front of a fire, sitting in a circle with all your closest girlfriends, while offering sacrifices to the oldest gods.