Kestrel, the King's Privateer, is preparing to wait out the annual storm season when she receives an unexpected royal order to capture and deliver a rare creature for the king’s menagerie. Before she can weigh anchor, news reaches Kestrel of a long-ago friend in desperate need of help—in the opposite direction of her assigned voyage. In addition, her ship may be haunted by something big, loud, and terrifying. Before Kestrel can plot a course, she crosses paths with an enigmatic dancer who offers an enticing bargain: sail her home to the Continent, an ocean away, and she'll reveal the mysteries of magic Kestrel has longed all her life to know. The temptation of answers endangers her crew and might ruin her privateer status. Worse, taking on this passenger could thrust her into the clutches of the ever-watchful Danisoban mages who lie in wait for her to make the perfect mistake. Every decision is fraught with danger. Each wrong turn may mean her death or the death of her crew. And Captain Kestrel can walk away from none of them. Kestrel, the pirate who can whistle up the wind, returns in book two of the Mad Kestrel Series. Captain Kes will defy the king, gamble with her friends' lives, and run the risk of capture by evil mages to get her hands on the magical knowledge so long denied to her. ASIN: B09YC8JSP5 Publisher: Lore Seekers Press (June 24, 2022) Publication date: June 24, 2022 Language: English Print length: 319 pages Check it out on Amazon: http://mybook.to/KestrelsDance Check out Book One: http://mybook.to/MadKestrel Love the Mad Kestrel series and want to stay up to date on Misty Massey's next release? Follow Misty on Amazon here: author.to/MistyMassey or check out her website: https://www.mistymassey.com/
Review from Booklist for The Mad Kestrel Series: Massey debuts with a colorful romp through strange lands and stranger seas. In a world in which magic is a monopoly of the Danisobans, and all children showing signs of power are taken from their parents and raised by that order, young Kestrel had hidden her talent and eventually escaped to sea, where magic is cancelled by water. Now risen to the post of quartermaster of a pirate ship, she loves her life. But to keep it, she must never let anyone know that she can magically control the wind. When her captain is entrapped and arrested, the young quartermaster must gather and command the crew for a rescue. That takes all the strength and wit Kestrel can command—and guarded use of her magic. This Errol Flynn–ish swashbuckler features loads of action and larger-than-life characters, plausibly grounded in the realities of life at sea. A real page-turner, and a successor is in the works.
Excerpt:
The rhythmic creaking of the ship rising and falling over the water was hypnotic. For now, she could forget her worries and just sail, the wheel under her hands and the wind keening through the lines. “Captain!”
The cry startled her from her reverie. Shadd was running toward her as if his life depended on it. “Get down!”
“Are we under attack?” She scanned the water. No ships were in sight, at least not within the range of her naked eye.
He flung himself up the quarterdeck steps, yanking his scarf from around his neck. “Ye’re on fire!”
“What?”
“Yer shirt’s on bloody fire!” Shadd nearly knocked her off her feet, patting at her chest with his scarf. Fire? Kestrel pushed Shadd away, and glanced down at her body. Redness was beaming from under her shirt, flickering like an ember. But no heat, no burning. If it wasn’t fire… Slowly she pulled open the neck of her shirt, and drew out McAvery’s amulet. A light was shining from deep inside it, casting scarlet onto Shadd’s surprised face.
“Why’s it doin’ that?” he asked, dropping his scarf and backing away.
“I don’t know,” she said. She lifted the gem up higher. The light inside it danced off the facets, glittering. Kestrel tilted her head. A dark spot moved in the heart of the gem. A flaw, perhaps. But it moved. Of all the jewels she’d ever seen, not a one had moving parts inside it. She brought it closer to her face, staring intently. The spot grew, changed shape. A fuzzy star. No, a person. Arms, legs and head. As she watched, the figure became more distinct; a man, handsome, with a face she knew all too well.
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