Antonia Bernardin

The 61st book I read this year was In Deeper waters by F.T.Lukens, a book that I found through my rec list research for ‘20 Main character gets injured/sick and love interest takes care of them trope‘ list. I didn’t know much about it but when we read out the blurb on my podcast, The Lazy Book Lovers Podcast, it sounded too good not to read.

A plot summary attempt

Tal has been kept sheltered by his royal family his whole life, so that they can keep his powers a secret, thanks to the legacy of the last magical royal, his grandfather, who waged war with his power.

When Tal finally goes on his coming of age tour, it doesn’t go as he expects, as they soon come across a derelict ship, where they find Athlen abandoned in the hold. Tal feels immediately drawn to this strange boy who isn’t afraid of his power and takes pity on him by removing his chains and demanding for him to be allowed to stay on deck, only for Athlen to throw himself over-board. Imagine his shock when he finds Athlen days later in a market bargaining with a gem that he has no idea what it’s worth.

Through Athlen and his friends, Tal’s eyes are opened to some of the flaws of his family’s rule and some of his own privilege. Meanwhile, enemies of his family are gathering and their target is Tal. When he is kidnapped by pirates and held ransom, Tal must try to figure out who is threatening his family, whilst trying to reveal his terrible power and prove people’s beliefs about his magic right.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book! It’s cute, it’s sea- based adventures, there’s a merman, there’s magic and there’s deals with sea witch’s. It is YA but there’s plenty of angsty longing moments and the romance is so sweet. I thought it would be a bit more adventure-y from the blurb but that didn’t really take away from how nice of a story it was.

There’s a few more of the books by this author on Everand (Scribd) so I think I will have a listen to a few more of their books.

As for the rec list? I would say this one absolutely fulfilled the assignment.