By Sea and Sky: An Esowon Story

The Sky Pirate Chronicles, Book 1

By: Antoine Bandele

Narrated by: John Rogers

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

With no magic, no brawn, and no pirate crew, Zala seeks to steal back the one treasure that matters to her most: Her husband.

To succeed she needs a ship - and not just any ship, but the latest, secret invention by the Vaaji Empire. An airship.

Zala will have to use her wits to overcome scoundrels and nobles alike on her journey through the clouds.

But if she's smart enough, she may just have what it takes to save her husband - and go down in history as the first sky pirate.

Delve into a pirate fantasy inspired by the West Indies, The Swahili Coast, and Arabia, where Zala will encounter ruthless raiders, arrogant aristocrats, and imperial secrets.

©2020 Antoine Bandele (P)2020 Antoine Bandele

Bet you can't put it down

I love a good book. To be able to write a story so well is a definite talent that is never lost on me, I recognize it right away. This story grabs you and will not let you go until it's finished. The fabric of the the story intertwines on so many levels. I love the subtle way the fantasy is included without being too overkill. Each person's ability is a believable one. I enjoyed the depth of each character, they each had layers to them that forced me to want to know more. Even if you are not in to Sci-Fi/Fantasy I promise you will be after reading this book. I would've never thought I'd be so captivated by a a story about Pirates! But, the story makes them relatable. Come join Zala as she learns how to use her Black Girl Magic. You will also be intrigued by Jelani, Fon, Shamari and a slew of others will become your favorites. So, come on, cop a squat and Read it!!!!

An exciting pirate adventure

A fantasy pirate adventure with magic and airships a whole cast of diverse characters? Yes please!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's very fast paced from start to finish, and there's always some new conflict the characters have to deal with in addition to the bigger, overarching conflict of the story. Zala and Karim are our main POV characters, and while they are on opposing sides, I sympathized with both of them and was eager to learn more about each of them. I did wish that some of the characters' backgrounds and the magic had been fleshed out a little more or explained more. The focus is definitely more on the plot and the excitement of everything that's happening, which is fine, but there are lots of hints of a wider, complex fantasy world and I wanted to see more of that. Hopefully we'll get to explore those things in greater depth in the next book.

The audiobook is fantastic, with atmospheric sound effects that help you feel more immersed in the story and an excellent performance in narration by John Rogers.

A Good Starting Point in the Afro-Fantasy Space

It took me a long time to finish this book. I love the world of Esowon, But some parts of the plot felt very odd in that the characters are portrayed as being clever or intelligent but make very let's say silly choices or things that aren't necessarily a big deal are treated as such. It means some of the dialogue feel very unnatural and almost the cartoony and some of the dialogue felt more like the author was trying to get to the next thing rather than let the story unfold. besides some of the awkward dialogue, I love the prose most of the time though the ending did feel a little bit rushed. In fact, it felt so rushed that when I reached the end it felt as if I had kept running off the edge of a cliff with nothing underneath me when the book abruptly ended. took me a long time to finish this book. I had to set it down and pick it back up several times so that it didn't end up on my dnf like the kishi. My friend has said that is orisha series is really good so I'll give that a try as well. fan of the YouTube channel fan of the world and your ideas and I can definitely say that I would recommend this book to anyone looking to dabble in or jump into evergrowing world of African inspired fantasy. looking forward to the next book and the final book in the trilogy. Hope those come soon
-Justin