ALL THE SEAS OF THE WORLD written by Guy Gavriel Kay is the third book in a disconnected-yet-in-the-same-universe trilogy. I did not know this going into this book since Goodreads does not mention that this book is a part of a series. Naturally, I felt that a lot of information was being thrown at me when I started reading it. I continued thinking it will follow suit with Dune for its world-building; the more you read, the more you understand the religion and political dynamics. So I stuck with it and liked the characters enough to finish the book.
Nadia/Lenia Serrana was sold into slavery when she was young and has not met her family or seen her homeland ever since. She joins a merchant ship after killing her master and is welcomed on by her now business partner, Rafel Ben Natan. These two take any job that pays well. The book starts with an assassination mission, causing a ripple effect into a full-fledged power struggle. The Ibn Tihon brothers hire Lenia and Ben for this mission, which catapults them into a series of adventures and life-changing events.
As mentioned before, I enjoyed the characters immensely to keep going with the story. I did have trouble comprehending the dynamics and the history of this world, but I did enough googling to understand the plot of the previous two books. The prose is exceptional. Guy Gavriel Kay knows to weave his dialogues in such a manner that will sweep you away. I was pleasantly surprised by the sexual fluidity the characters exhibit in this book and was thrilled with the author’s mellow and matter-of-fact way of delivering it.
I do still have some nitpicks. While it could pass as a standalone book, I hope the publishers market it as a part of the series as it makes more sense if the reader knows more about this world and its politics. Even though the characters have excellent depth and layers in their personality, I thought emotion is where they lacked the most. It was hard for me to connect and care for them, even though I was logically and reasonably on their side.
I recommend this book if you have read the previous two books (or at least one of them) set in this universe so that you get the most out of this one. It is a good book if you like fantasy stories with magic and supernatural elements dialed back to zero (almost)!
On a dark night along a lonely stretch of coast a small ship sends two people ashore. Their purpose is assassination. They have been hired by two of the most dangerous men alive to alter the balance of power in the world. If they succeed, the consequences will affect the destinies of empires, and lives both great and small. One of those arriving at that beach is a woman abducted by corsairs as a child and sold into years of servitude. Having escaped, she is trying to chart her own course—and is bent upon revenge. Another is a seafaring merchant who still remembers being exiled as a child with his family from their home, for their faith, a moment that never leaves him. In what follows, through a story both intimate and epic, unforgettable characters are immersed in the fierce and deadly struggles that define their time.
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