Captain Liana Foley knows a thing or two about fights. She fights the King’s Navy. She fights to balance power in oppressive Vioria. She fights for respect as a female, bisexual, pirate captain. But she’s losing her biggest fight: to escape her secret past as a lost Princess.
I was granted eARC access to Windfall by Shawna Barnett via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to whoever handles approvals on behalf of Hansen House! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
Windfall
Legends of Vioria Book One
by Shawna Barnett
Published 12 August 2021
Hansen House
Genre: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+
Page Count: 362
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Captain Liana Foley knows a thing or two about fights. She fights the King’s Navy. She fights to balance power in oppressive Vioria. She fights for respect as a female, bisexual, pirate captain. But she’s losing her biggest fight: to escape her secret past as a lost Princess.
With a mysterious letter and a stranger threatening to expose her, Liana is blackmailed into attending a royal ball and protecting her counterpart, sheltered Princess Rhian. The pretenses are suspicious enough, but Liana takes the risk in hopes to finally unveil the magic plot that killed her parents and forced her into hiding.
When Liana encounters Rhian’s own lightning-wielding powers, the ball erupts in violence. The sheltered princess falls into the care of Liana—and her band of pirates. On the run, the only safe haven for the Windfall crew to hide is the most-dangerous place of all: under the thumb of Liana’s narcissistic, abusive brother-in-law.
In order to protect her crew, her family, and naïve Rhian, Liana must demand sacrifices from herself and the people she loves. Her choices will make powerful enemies; good thing Liana Foley knows a thing or two about fighting those.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Content warnings: Attempted rape, Domestic violence, Torture, Murder
Representation: Own voices, Bisexual main character, Asexual
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads
Wow. That’s seriously all I can think to say immediately after finishing this, just wow. I loved it, but at times I also hated it and felt every other emotion toward it in between. It could be tighter, it could have started off without the attempted rape, and there were so many moments of characters who had given their hearts to others lusting after each other that kept rubbing me the wrong way… but at the same time this book has so much awesome about it. I think I’m going to call it a 4 out of 5. The awesome outweighs those negatives many times over and none of those negatives were too egregious, so it’s definitely not a 3 or less, but there are also definitely choices made in here that the editor in me would have suggestions changes for, so it’s not a perfect 5.
Let’s start with the awesome. Liana Foley is a prime example of what a selfless, strong badass of a heroine in a fantasy action-adventure needs to be, and I loved just about every minute of her on the page. The world is well built, the politics are easy to understand, and we get enough information about the magic system to understand why Liana fears it without knowing too much to sympathize with Liana’s limited knowledge and fear. The pirate crew and land gang supporting cast are also all pretty darn great! I love all of the loud and proud LGBTQIA+ representation in here, too, with bisexual Liana and Rhiann, asexual Adeem, and others cropping up as well. I also really love the fact that although Adeem is asexual, it’s acknowledged and address that he’s not aro/ace and he does get a romantic relationship, with a definitively not ace character to boot and the personal issues and reservations that come up in a mixed attraction relationship are actually addressed.
And pirates. Can’t forget to mention pirates. Did I mention Liana is both a runaway princess AND a pirate captain? Elizabeth Swan who?
Now for the not-so-awesome. This book has what feels like roughly a baker’s dozen different plot lines and a healthy-sized cast for each, not all of whom overlap directly but all of whom are intertwined by politics and familial relations. It’s a delicately crafted web and not every strand has survived unscathed. On top of that, and besides the attempted rapes and unfaithful lusting mentioned previously, the last third of the book has at least 10 different possible endings. I kept checking my percentage remaining to see if this was the end or not, because it could have been, and then it kept going. So many twist and turns and flip-flops. So many near-deaths and near-misses. At least one deus ex machina saving of a doomed character. I was both so sure this book is getting a sequel at points and so sure it was going to end as a stand-alone at others. By the last 10% I just wanted it to end, one way or another.
Overall, strong start to a series with brilliant ideas, a few minor fumbles in execution, still absolutely a book I would recommend.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments on “Windfall by Shawna Barnett – 4 Star Book Review”