In Sea Wolf even more than in Compass Rose, who one chooses to be and who one chooses to be with is everything. Even though Rose didn’t really choose who ended up being part of her family, she now has one, for better or for worse. One of my favorite themes in lesfic – and not only there – is that of chosen family. It’s precisely crafted to break the reader’s heart while not giving a lot of opportunity to breathe as they, along with the characters, are put through the wringer again. Anna Burke’s writing is at once beautiful and efficient. With this book as with Anna Burke’s previous ones, each word feels as if it was carefully weighted, some put aside, discarded, so that only the exact right ones to tell this specific story remain.

The way she writes, through Compass Rose, about the currents, the ocean, its inhabitants turns them all into characters in their own right. I’d read the author’s bio but what “enjoys all things nautical” really meant didn’t register until now. I have loved every book by Anna Burke that I’ve read (I still have to read Thorn), and I realised while reading this one that my favourites have one thing in common: boats. Right from the start, the author puts the characters in a very precarious situation, and things will keep getting worse. The Man o’ War crew is still trying to navigate life in a world where the ocean is the least dangerous place, and that’s saying a lot since it’s filled with lethal creatures and the air above reeks of deadly gas. I strongly recommend reading them in order. Sea Wolf picks up three months after the end of Compass Rose. This book is much too complex and smart for a few words to be enough, and too many words would take the focus away from what really matters, ie the book itself.

This review is never going to do Sea Wolf justice.

Compass Rose by Anna Burke