Blacksouls

by Nicole Castroman

First mate Teach is contemplating mutiny to protect his crew from Spanish attackers, while Anne makes it to Nassau only to be confronted by lawlessness and corruption.

• ISBN10: 1481491059
• ISBN13: 9781481491051
• Publish Date: 11 April 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[jeannamichel]

There's pirates, a gorgeous romance and a swashbuckling adventure!

Blacksouls by Nicole Castroman begins right where we left off in Blackhearts. Anne is sailing to a ruthless island in the Caribbean. And Teach is close behind her, intent on reaching her before anything dire happens. However when they arrive, Teach is charged with mutiny and the only way out is to make a deal with the governor. He must track down a notorious pirate and return him to the island. But all is not what they seem. Blacksouls continues Blackbeard’s origin story in this wild, action packed adventure.

It’s so good to return to the characters I adored in the first book. Anne, brave and wise, has just as much sass as the previous novel, if not more. Her character will make you laugh out loud at some of her thoughtless outbursts and unbelievable antics. However, whereas Anne seemed to run the show in Blackhearts, Teach's story seems to develop much further in this one. After all, the Blackhearts series is a retelling of Blackbeard's origins. Teach has always been a favorite of mine; he has a heart of gold and the obstacles he had to overcome pushed him to his limits. It was interesting to see what direction he chose.

Blacksouls is a superb sequel with a new setting and some new characters, it adds something fresh to the mix, as if starting the story again. Readers get a look at Nassau, the home of Anne's mother, and from the stories told in the previous book, you will be surprised to find—instead of beauty and community—there’s ruthlessness and piracy.

That’s right, there's pirates! I adore any book with pirates. And was a bit disappointed to find that Blackhearts didn't offer many pirates for a book promising just those types of scoundrels. To make up for it, Castroman definitely delivers in Blacksouls. We not only get awesome pirates but there's battles on the open seas and ruthless characters! Blacksouls has the perfect ingredients for a book to enjoy during the warmer months; it is a summer blockbuster, action packed with gorgeous imagery that will make you turn the pages faster.

The new cast of characters is incredibly diverse and as the story progresses, we get to know almost each and every one of their stories. My new favorite pair had to be the sibling duo, Coyle and Cara. Their easy banter back and forth, paired with their outgoing personalities made them so easy to love.

It was interesting how quick Anne made the parallels between her parents and Beth and Alistair. For I didn't really see their relationship for what it was until a little later in the book. Also, it irked me that not only Anne mentioned things I didn't notice until much later, Teach started noticing things that were not initially explained. These claims lacked introduction. How does he know more about this than I do, when I have been with Anne the whole time, and he only just showed up? It seemed that Castroman wanted her characters to be at a certain point without fully leading up to—or developing—such things.

I couldn't help but draw parallels between the ending and Blackhearts' ending. Both made me want to continue reading this story. It's not necessarily a cliff hanger but Castroman leaves you with a lead-in that makes you want to have the next book in your hands as soon as possible.

Nicole Castroman is a great storyteller and definitely raised the bar with this sequel. Blacksouls is sure to keep you on your toes with nonstop action and fantastic characters.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight I was pretty excited to get to this one, because I quite enjoyed Blackhearts. And while Blacksouls was definitely a very different sort of book, I still really liked it!

Anyway, let us discuss the things I liked about this book first! 

• The characters, both old and new. The characters were absolutely the strongest part of the first book, and this one is no different. Anne has already gone through so much in her life, and this just... wow, Anne has to deal with a lot. She goes through a pretty solid character growth, and I love how she adapts to challenges. The new characters, especially that we meet with Anne, are fabulous additions to the story. They make the stakes higher, because Anne has found people who she can consider real friends in Teach's absence. I liked Teach's story arc too, I just have always loved Anne a little bit more :)


• Changing it up from England to Nassau and the actual ocean sailing was really refreshing. Now, I adored the setting of the first book, but let's be real, we needed some pirate-y vibes, and this delivers. And the author does an amazing job of really making the reader feel the difference, not just in location, but overall atmosphere. It was quite well done, and I loved it.


• This book was grittier, but in a very realistic way. It dealt a lot with slavery, which was really hard to read about, but historically accurate, unfortunately. And Anne really got a look into this world, and the reader was able to see the horror from her point of view. There were also a lot of moral gray areas that the characters had to navigate in their new surroundings, and watching them grapple with these decisions was really gripping.


• I still ship (ha, ship in a book about ships, it never gets old) Anne and Teach so much! While we don't see as much of them together, I still adore them, and how much they care for each other.

So, what didn't work for me? Honestly, I am having a hard time pinpointing that! I think there were parts that were a little too much pirate-like action for me, and I was so much more invested in the characters' stories, that I kind of felt a little bored during some of the longer action sequences. Also, there is no announced third book yet, and there needs to be. Like, no question, I need a third book.

Bottom Line: If you enjoyed Blackhearts, you're going to need this sequel in your life. And if you wanted more pirate shenanigans, you'll love this one even more!