Devil bureaucrat Essimore Darkenchyl barely made it out of the jungle alive, but next she’s going straight to hell—aka her hometown. When she finds out about a dark and desperate plan for immortality originating from her own people, her family ties, her sense of right and wrong, and her silly sense of humor will all be put to the test.
A strong and geeky female lead
A doomed romance
A dark but hopeful storyline
Llamas!
In the second book of The Saltwater Chronicles, the stakes are higher, the villains are scarier, and the jokes about cannibalism are more common.
Review
Cargo of Bones is a fast paced fantasy novel. It’s the second install to The Saltwater Chronicles. Essie is basically just trying to stay alive while traveling through her hometown with her crew. It’s a lot of witty comedy and magical experience throughout the story. Overall I enjoyed the story following Essie and her adventures. The writing is different than what I’m used to but didn’t take away from the story. The story was easy to follow and understand. I found the characters enjoyable to read and some even likable. I’ll definitely recommend this book to others.
Rating
4🌟
Excerpt One:
“What’s happening now?” Two Rabbit shouted.
“Looks like some kind of sheep,” Merritt said.
Essie’s eyes shot open.
“Sheep?” Two Rabbit asked.
She still couldn’t move. She was staring at the sky again. Purple storm clouds.
“Essie?” the doctor asked. “Are you awake? You hear me? You’re bleeding to death! For Aro’s sake, let down that shield or aura or whatever you’re projecting.”
He was just out of sight. They were all out of sight. Essie desperately tried to sit, but it only made the storm clouds choke in on her faster.
“Whoa!” Connie said. “Those are some mean sheep.”
“Sand sheep?” Boon asked.
Their voices made her head throb. She tried to follow, but couldn’t. It sounded like nonsense.
“By Aro—the sheep stepped on that guy’s crotch!” Merritt shouted. “Please don’t say we’re being rescued by sheep.”
“That’s if they don’t attack us, too,” Boon said.
“Holy Mother,” Two Rabbit said. “I’ve never seen a sheep spit like that.”
“Ohhhh.” Essie smiled as much as she could. “Llamas.”
Then she passed out.
Z. Lindsey will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon/BN gift card + a digital copy of the book via Rafflecopter.
Some heroes have swords. Essimore Darkenchyl has a pen. But it’s a magic pen. Some wizards have spellbooks. Essie has Gossen’s Guide to Shipping Law. But it’s a current edition. Some sailors have . . . experience. Essie has a new diploma and a year-long contract, and her people have won wars with less. And that’s good, because between stolen weapons, a coup, and a strange disease creeping in around her and the crew, she might need to win a war. In a world that blends traditional fantasy with the Age of Exploration, Essie knows a pen is mightier than a sword, especially since hers sometimes shoots lightning. But what she thinks is a routine political dispute turns out to be something much, much more, and she may have finally met the one problem she can’t talk her way out of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Essie cleared her throat. From her backpack, she removed the letter of service that granted her travel permission to sail on the ship. It was folded neatly into thirds, with a glittering blue wax seal on it.
“Essimore Darkenchyl at your service, sir. I’m your new fully licensed shipping coordinator with Power of the Pen. It’s an honor to be aboard.”
The captain took the letter without opening it, folded it in half with no regard for the beautiful wax seal, folded it messily again, and jammed it into his pocket. The whole time, Essie winced.
“Right-o.” As he smiled, the older man’s cheeks dimpled and his white teeth shined in the sun. “Well, I thought we were leaving without you, but here you are. Good on you. Great. Yeah.” The captain turned to the teenager at his side. “Grab her bag and get her stuff to her room. She can hang out there til dinner.”
As the teenager shouldered her bag and grunted, she and the captain looked at each other, the captain with his beaming smile. Once the teenager left, she said, “Thanks for welcoming me onto your ship.”
“Yeah. Fully licensed, you say?”
“Absolutely!”
“Okay. Have a nice one. See you at dinner.”
“Don’t we need to . . . uh . . . onboard?”
“You’re already on board. You managed that just fine.”
The captain’s smile faded, but reappeared so fast she wasn’t sure if she’d seen it go.
“Okay, fine. Let’s talk in my cabin.”
About Author:
Zac Lindsey is an anthropologist and a linguist who focuses on the Maya people of Quintana Roo. Since childhood, he’s had a not-so-secret love of weird, silly, and well-structured fantasy. When other people’s parents were reading them picture books, his mom was reading him Terry Brooks. He typically writes hopeful and character-driven fantasy.
Today, he lives in Quintana Roo, Mexico with his wife, daughter, and various stray cats.
How did you come up with the concept of your book?
The book started off as an idea my wife had for a Dungeons and Dragons character. She never got to play the character, though. So when we had our kid, I told my wife stories about the character to entertain her while we had to be quiet and keep the baby sleeping. Since you also do beauty blogging, I thought you’d enjoy knowing that the main character, Essie Darkenchyl, is named for the nail polish brand! She’s from a fantasy world, but if she lived in our world, she’d rock Ella&Mila’s Drippin’ Gold.
While fashion and beauty aren’t a huge part of the book, I had a lot of fun describing the clothing and makeup of the island chain Essie goes to. Though the clothes Essie wears are bland as is expected for her job as a bureaucrat, her ally Two Rabbit wears some pretty intense makeup and magic earrings.
I like there is a magic pen in your story. How did you come up with this idea?
One of the jokes of the book is that there is magic, but for most people it’s pretty boring. Instead of doing cool things with it like summoning great winds or lightning storms, they usually just use it to weigh boxes and finalize contracts. So a pen seemed to make more sense than a wand (although Essie ends up using her pen more like a wand anyway). I was also inspired by the scene in The Secret of NIMH where the rat writes these beautiful cursive letters as magic sparks fly from his pen.
How long have you been writing?
I wrote a short story that made absolutely no sense when I was in fourth grade and I haven’t stopped since then. For a while, I wrote journalism, then academic works, but now I’m back to fiction.
Z. Lindsey will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
