The Winter Sea Trilogy by H.M. Long ~ a Review

by MK French

All week, we've been giving recommendations for books to get you through the hot dog days of summer. What better way to spend them than with a fantasy adventure? You can binge the whole trilogy now.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Dark Water Daughter 

July 2023; Titan Books; 978-1803362601
audio, ebook, print (464 pages); fantasy

Mary Firth has a voice that can control storms, and pirate lord Silvanus Lirr wants to force her into his servitude. Instead, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival for protection, but he has his own ideas for revenge. Her dreams are full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit forests and the figureheads of ships. Samuel Rosser is a disgraced naval officer serving aboard The Hart, an infamous privateer commissioned to bring Lirr to justice. He will stop at nothing to capture Lirr, restore his good name, and reclaim the talisman Mary stole, the only thing that would prevent madness. Both must choose their loyalties and battle forces older and more powerful than the pirates who would make them slaves.

We're introduced to Mary and her gift as a stormsinger, as well as the concept of ghistlings. From the start, Mary is kinder than she should be,  exposing her skill to save a life when they're both at the gallows. This gets her captured and put up for sale, with various captains intent on using her gift to control the weather around their ships. Most are pirates, though the Navy has its own trained storms, Ingersoll. Hers isn't the only magical skill in this world; Samuel, as a Sooth, is able to dive through the Astral plane to locate people or important things, and his talisman helps to suppress his gift as well as anchor him to his body so he can return. 

Of course, the story isn't a simple one. Lirr is dangerous, with more power than he should have. Mary throws in with his rival, a former confederate, because her mother is on his ship, and Mary's sure her mother is imprisoned there. Samuel meets Mary several times, with some sense of connection between them. His brother Benedict is dangerous in a different way, used to using his power to get what he wants; while it's kind of a spoiler to say so, it's Benedict's fault Samuel was disgraced. The details of the disgrace show just how little Benedict cares about others, even his own brother. It puts the pirates into stark contrast, because most actually have a code of honor. James Demery does, and strove to do the right thing by his crew and even Mary, though sometimes the ends justified the means. The different nations and factions that sail the seas are often in conflict, and we learn more and more about the world as we go.

The final third of the book is especially tense, when the chase continues and we find out exactly why Lirr wants Mary, and what his plans are. There are battles and betrayals, right until the very end, keeping me glued to the pages. This seafaring Age of Sail story is an intricate one, and will leave you eager for more.

Buy Dark Water Daughter at Amazon

Black Tide Son

July 2024; Titan Books; 978-1803362625
audio, ebook, print (448 pages); fantasy

Now thriving privateers on the Winter Seas, Samuel and Mary navigate their relationship. When they hear of Samuel's brother Benedict getting captured by Mereish forces, they have an impossible choice: free him or serve their nation. It's no contest, and the pair plan to break into the most secure prison on the Mereish Coast. As they sail into enemy territory, someone seems to know their every move and every secret, and is willing to kill to keep their own hidden.

Mere is an island nation at war with Aeadine, but Usti is neutral in the conflict. Samuel and Mary are sailing for Usti, and getting Benedict would break the directives they have to follow Usti law. Mary has a pirate streak in her, and Mere has a sort of secret police that not only kills Mereish mages who leave, but also abducts and experiments on others they capture. This allows them to find Benedict as well as other secrets while in Mere, which means one tension-filled event after another for the entire book. 

I don't want to give too much away, but it's successful in building on the first book, deepening the information we know about the different nations, the Rosser family, and the black tides themselves. This world has three moons and a sea that tends toward winter, but spectral versions of those moons have effects on the physical world and the powers that mages have. The book is engrossing, with cat and mouse chases, international secrets, spies, and revelations able to break political alliances. This is a great follow-up to the first book of the trilogy.

Buy Black Tide Son at Amazon

Red Tempest Brother

July 2025; Titan Books; 978-1835411377
audio, ebook, print (416 pages); fantasy

In the conclusion of the trilogy, the Hart shelters where former rogue James Demery and Anne Firth the Fleetbreaker rule. Mary and Samuel are reeling from the truth about the Mereish-Aeadine war, and must choose to stay silent and keep their good names or reveal this truth and risk a new war. Benedict is now the captain of The Red Tempest, manned by deserters and corrupted mages. He's determined to find the spy holding stolen documents and reveal the truth to the world, never mind the consequences.

In the aftermath of the Black Tide battle, Benedict really hasn't changed. He wants to prove that the Usti stirred up the war between Aead and Mere, and that he isn't the only villain in the Navy. He's bitter about being denied captaincy because of his prior actions that were initially blamed on Samuel. He cares even less that his piratical actions led to Samuel and Mary, as well as their crew, coming under threat to pay for his crimes. Mary's continually attacked and indentured because of her Stormsinger ability, and others throughout this world continue to get bartered and enslaved because of that skill.

Because of the time we've spent with Samuel and Mary, I was especially angry with Benedict and his actions. He truly doesn't care about anything but his own needs and wants, ignoring the advice of others who try to sway him from that destructive path. He's late in developing a conscience, with Mary and Sam chasing down the secret documents to try getting ahead of him; as tempted as Sam feels to simply turn over Benedict, they were thinking of helping him in some way as well. Of course, there are additional secrets, double crosses, and ship battles that must be fought. The consequences of the first novel's finale are still felt here, and no detail from prior novels is forgotten. It's intricately woven together and kept me enthralled the entire time. 

Buy Red Tempest Brother at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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