Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert

This is my first Katee Robert book and it won’t be my last. I’m already desperate for the next in the series!

Evelyn is a witch with a penchant for theft. Raised by Bunny, her grandmother, she learnt a very particular worldview and the morals that go with it. Those morals include allowing theft if someone is rich, or rude, or has just hurt your feelings, which Lizzie, her situationship, just did. Evelyn spends the night at Lizzie’s house as she is drunk and sad because it is the anniversary of Bunny’s death. Lizzie’s folks arrive and as bloodline vampires (of which Lizzie is also one) they are incredibly dangerous so Evelyn needs to get out of there stat.

Lizzie doesn’t appear too interested in helping Evelyn escape with her life so in a fit of ‘you hurt me, I hurt you back’, she steals Lizzie’s jewellery and makes a dash for it only to be forced to leap through a portal in the house. This portal lands her in the Threshold – the space between realms. Specifically, in the sea of Threshold. Bowen and his ship scoop her out the sea some time later and she’s presented with a choice: Join the Cŵn Annwn – a kind of corrupt ‘monster-hunting’ pirate army – or go back into the sea. Not much of a choice.

Their first interactions are understandably antagonistic. And with Evelyn’s incessant questions of why, the scales fall from Bowen’s eyes and he begins to see more clearly what’s wrong with the pirate army he has been a part of (albeit an honourable, law-abiding part of) for thirty years. Bowen himself has the power of telekinesis and is super magical. He’s been captain for a while now but his days were already numbered when the book opens with his quartermaster gunning for his job (captain is a position decided by vote).

Evelyn wants to run away but to run away from Cŵn Annwn is treason and she will be hunted and killed. Oh, and Lizzie is not above travelling to Threshold to get her jewels back. Evelyn and Bowen are both in a tough spot, but nothing that a little light making out against a tree wouldn’t help. That’s right, these two have ferocious sexual chemistry and act on it pretty soon in the book.

Clearly they’re heading for disaster here and what a disaster it turns out to be! One of my absolute favourite parts of reading a pirate adventure is that the story can literally go anywhere. I cannot tell from one page to the next what their next move will be. I gasped repeatedly while reading this book. The romance plot is more standard with a slow building of trust between the two (along with some explosive magical sex), but the adventure plot? All bets are off. This is a magical space and anything is possible. I loved it.

Something that really tugged at my heart was how well-described Bowen’s coming to terms with reality was. He has lived for thirty years as a loyal member of Cŵn Annwn. He takes no pleasure in killing monsters, but he’s never doubted his orders before. But no one has prompted him to ask questions quite like Evelyn has.

Why are the townspeople living on islands dotting the sea scared of him if he’s protecting them from monsters?

Why do you need to kill a monster if all they’re doing is protecting their young?

If being part of Cŵn Annwn is such an honour why do you need to force people into joining its ranks?

These are questions that Bowen can’t answer and his unlearning of a lifetime of lessons makes for some uncomfortable (in a good way) reading because it made me reflect on how uncomfortable it is for me personally to unlearn things.

The narration of the book is fantastic. Both Bowen’s and Evelyn’s voices were so easy to collapse into. They’re immersive and effortless to read. Soon the words disappeared and I saw the action playing out in front of me in rich detail. Both Bowen and Evelyn use first person present narration (not usually something I love unless it’s Murderbot), but I slipped into this story much like I slip into a pool in summer; it was all-consuming, smooth and refreshing.

Much of this book contains my catnip: pirates, deep self-reflection, adventure, hot sex, powerful magic and an abiding love for the humanity in us all. It’s as though this book was written with me in mind, but I know there are millions of readers out there with interests like my own so I won’t be alone. I loved everything about this book: I loved how smoothly the book was written, how I learned about the world bit by bit, and how the characters and their actions grew and changed as they learned and unlearned. It’s a masterclass in immersive storytelling.

Side note: This is very much going to be an integrated series, so our main characters in this book get a HFN with the promise of a lot more adventure ahead.