I was thoroughly excited by the premise of this book--tall ships in space!--and the author did not disappoint. Radford uses a unique and believable (in the context of the book) magic system to make this possible, and I loved the fantastic vision of this type of transportation. There was a nice mix of magical elements and practical considerations that made it all work.

With a motley crew of misfits running the Tantamount, there were bound to be some characters I liked more than others--somewhat surprisingly, I wasn't all that keen on the book's main protagonist and second-in-command, Nel. She kept making me angry for some reason. LOL She was tough and gruff, although she certainly cared about her crew--I'm not really sure why she rubbed me the wrong way. *Too* gruff, maybe. I loved Violet, the kitsune cabin girl, though, and Quill, the irascible navigator. All the characters definitely came to life on the pages. I did find that sometimes they beat around the bush in their dialogue, which left me confused about what was really going on. However, the dialogue was realistic and believable, and each character had a unique voice and viewpoint.

The story was a bit slow to get going, but the second half of the book simply flies. If you find the beginning slow, I advise you to stick with it, because it turns into a can't-put-it-down page turner that you won't want to miss!

There are still a few questions left at the end of the story--nothing unresolved in the plot--just enough to make it possible that the author is not yet finished with these characters. I'd definitely pick up a second book to see what happens to the Tantamount and her crew next! ( )