{Review+Giveaway} Death Island by @kelseyketch

Her family name tainted by her great-grandfather’s crimes of piracy, Meriden Cummings is far from the typical 18th century woman. A social outcast, she works in a carpentry shop in a small village, where the people barely tolerate unconventional behavior.

However, her life takes a turn after a gang of pirates attack her village and her blood reveals an ancient map adorned with Mayan glyphs leading to Death Island. An island legends say is ruled by the Mayan god of the underworld, Ah Puch. Her great-grandfather had sought after the island before he vanished without a trace. Now, Meriden is about to journey across the sea to understand her family history.

There are only a few problems: her growing feelings toward a mysterious stranger linked to her great-grandfather’s past; a greedy band of pirates after her great-grandfather’s legendary treasure; and a contract she has unwittingly signed in blood with Ah Puch himself.

Death Island is a new adult fantasy by author Kelsey Ketch. Death Island is a pirate adventure that is filled with intrigue and mythology. I enjoyed this novel overall. It was a lot of fun. I love a quest style adventure. I love pirates and I love mythology, so those elements of the story were right up my alley. I believe Death Island is slated to be a standalone, but the ending did leave open the possibility for some more exploration in this world that Kelsey Ketch has created.

There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about Death Island and a few things that held me back from totally falling in love with the story, but let’s start with all the elements that I really enjoyed. First, I loved the main character, Meriden. She is spunky and fiery and a great adventure heroine. She was always up for whatever was thrown her way, which was evidenced by the fact that right in her first chapter she went from waking up to immediately getting involved in a pirate fight. It was easy for me to root for Meriden for the whole time. Next, I really liked the fact that Death Island is told in multiple points of views. It helped me get to know the characters better and kept the story interesting. The romance was also good. It felt a little predictable at times and a little cliche, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The world that Kelsey Ketch created was also really cool. It is set in the 1800s, so it felt partially like a historical, partially like a fantasy with the mythology elements woven in and I really dug the mixture. And finally, I loved loved loved the mythology and the mystery of Death Island, Meriden and Gregory seek out to find. The characters and the mystery were what kept me interested in the book.

The list of what I did enjoy is so much longer than the list of issues I had with the novel, but the issue was enough to stop me from becoming fully obsessed with Death Island. This book was longggg and it felt even longer. Death Island clocks in at 726 pages, which makes it the longest single novel that I have read in a while. The length itself isn’t necessarily an issue, because I have read plenty of really long books that I have absolutely loved, but this one felt slow. And the sheer length plus the kind of dense and meandering plot lines got to me in parts. It got to be a little boring at times. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it were broken up into installments and the pacing was sped up a little bit. But overall, I did enjoy the characters and the story. If there were another novel in this world, I would likely read it as well because I really enjoyed the world that Kelsey created. Fans of long fantasy novels and of hidden mystery style quest stories should check out Death Island.

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