Beneath A Thousand Skies

Finally back with a review. January has been… a decade? Not helped by the delightful weather we’re having at the moment. But, today I am delighted to be reviewing The Curse of Dragon Tail Island by Jonathan Nevair. Now full disclosure, I was a very early reader for this one, and I had the honour of getting to write the sea shanty featured in the book; however, that first read left with me the very best of book hangovers and I love everything about this book.

“Life takes us in strange directions, lass. Wasn’t my first choice, but I’m making the best of it.”

A pirate’s life for me indeed.

I LOVE this book, and I have from the moment I first read it (yes, I also love Pirates of the Caribbean and Black Sails…and still need to watch Our Flag Means Death, but the pirate love was already there). And this is very much as it says on the tin a pirate fantasy – there is the hoisting of colour, heists for both treasure and people, sea battles and pirate lore.

But…

But what I think really hooks me about The Curse of Dragon Tail Island, is that it is more than just a swashbuckling pirate adventure. Now, don’t get me wrong, I can happily ramble for days about all the worldbuilding and little details about the pirate elements; and I will a bit later. However, what I loved most about this book is that every element is a tangled web of political intrigue, and societal plotting – and that Nevair keeps the twists on that coming right until the very end, with one of my favourite scenes happening in the mists, bringing the past crashing right into the present.

The Jewel Islands is a vividly realised world, with ties sailing off the edge of the maps to other kingdoms and lands, and of course the mists; giving us that wonderful feeling that the events we are witnessing which are complicated tower of cards, all waiting to topple with a dragon’s wing, are actually part of a much bigger whole even if we only get glimpses of it. And as always, I love that feeling that you could travel beyond the edge of the page and find more or this world, especially with the sheer swell of potential and the future opening out that the ending gives us. And we get not one, but two maps – so bonus points there, because I am always here for more maps.

The Curse of Dragon Tail Island covers quite a time period and distance, with island hopping and even braving unknown waters; and yet what Nevair has built with that tangled web is a story that is ever connected to itself, to the world, and to the characters. Especially, as we see consequences playing out, sometimes immediately, and sometimes across the years – for people on both sides of the schemes that are colliding in this story. One choice. One set-up. One connection. What might seem only major in a character’s personal story, has ripples, that can cast up both treasure and danger elsewhere. But what this book also captures, is that nothing is set in stone, again on either side of the divide – luck, trust, second chances, and the ability to change tack to sail with the wind – is evident throughout the book; there are always choices – from the moment Jack surrenders at the beginning, to him and Bonnie being able to work together for a shared love of another person.

“James Hawk, the farm boy who became a pirate. Like a character out of a fairy tale.”

Trusty Jack in some ways can sound like that character out of fairy tale, or for those familiar with some olde legends of Sherwood Forest, someone right out of those mythical trees. Yet, in Jack, Nevair has created a man very much shaped by his life experiences. We see the impact that betrayals and loss, and stagnation have had on him; but we also see a spirit that has the strength to look for the silver lining, and the horizon at the edge of stormy weather. You can see the impact that his crew have had on him, that the people he has helped have had on him, just as much as you can see the weight that those who have hunted and betrayed him have; and it creates a character that you are compelled to root for. Even at the beginning when we see him justifiably hesitating to get involved with a cause that once he would have immediately championed, and not just because of the risk involved, but because of time, and loss, a very real feeling that it can be hard to step back into a life that was stolen from you.

Marian I think is possibly my favourite character, especially on the reread. As with Jack, we can see how she has been shaped by many of the same events as he has, albeit from a different viewpoint.  With both direct and unknowing betrayal wrapped up in familial love and anger, both genuine and part wrapped up in intrigue. Her strength is similar to Jack’s but different, with a conviction rooted in a very down-to-earth clarity about herself, even while nursing the long hurt of her past with Jack, and about the world around her.

Even with the pirates doing what they can to help those impacted by the navy and the nobles, there is very much a sense of them and us; but with Marian, it’s like her presence knocks down those walls even if just for a moment, bringing everyone to the same level. We see it through her work as a healer, her stance against her family even before secrets are unveiled, and we see it in the chaos and catastrophe of the end game, when she is the one to unite opposing forces – not by absolving the past, but showing that everyone is on that level and that they need to be together whether friends and allies or enemies to protect what is more important. And that wouldn’t work as well coming from Jack, or any of the others, but is such an integral part of Marian that it works beautifully.

Their relationship is also handled beautifully, from past grievances and ‘betrayal’, to that wonderfully awkward well here we are together with years and choices between us, to nostalgia and longing and a rebuilding. To finally a second chance built on truth and understanding, and experience together; and what is even better is that they both have to adjust their views, their wants, and the people they were and are now. Nevair very much captures that delicate dance of old and new and second chances, and some of the moments between them are my favourites in the entire book.

Nevair’s characterisation though really shines through with the secondary cast. Big Rig and Lana are wonderful, and while they waltz with some of the stereotypes of robin hood myths and pirates, they are also very uniquely themselves, and in some ways a balance and a ballast to Jack himself. It is impossible to see Jack as the man he was at the beginning, and the man fourteen years later sailing into impossible odds, without seeing their influence and they are such a brilliant pair together, both spark and flint, and steadying force. Lana for me was such a fun take on a half-orc, but my favourite part is that we get to see so many of the hints, and little details of her past, and what happened to her while Jack was on Mayrotten Island get their moment to shine in the darkest moment.

Sian was a character that I had mixed feelings about at the beginning, I think more because her nature and mine would be at odds in some ways; and yet by the end I was so invested in her and of course that’s where the gut punch comes from – and there is a scene towards the very end that is both beautiful and painful in equal measures. Also, I love the nosci as a people, and again there’s that added element both to the worldbuilding but also that intrigue and genre blurring, because the environmental edge is most prominent through her and her people, even though Nevair sows seeds of it elsewhere, again building up that feel of interconnectedness.

Again, Scarlett and Doni were really well written. Both together and as individuals. Scarlett I find interesting because in some ways she was the outsider, but also the pebble that set the avalanche rolling, and we see how as with the main characters, loss and betrayal and found family and friendship, shape her and pull her very firmly into the events. Investing her in a way that gold never could. The relationship between those two had me both in stitches and rooting for them at the same time; and broke my heart entirely at one point.

These are all characters that we spend a considerable amount of time with; yet even the characters that are more fleeting leave such an impact thanks to how they are written. Even at the end I found myself wondering about those we had met briefly in the fight at Mayrotten island, Ashana is one of my favourites and the impact she had on the story was momentous in so many ways.

What I find fascinating as I write this review, was that briefly I was going to say we didn’t see perhaps enough of the Regent. Yet, I won’t say that – because there is power in being the source of the rot seeping beneath the surface and not being at the forefront of the confrontations. We had Rin and Bonnie, and Captain Pitch and the warden as some of the many faces of his reach through the islands; and it’s interesting that what we see of him is a personal scene dressed in performance. Fitting for the intrigue that he is the centre of, but also for how interconnected the characters, and the islands and the story are; and it adds weight to Marian and Bonnies’ actions.

I also loved that the stakes are very real throughout the book, from a death right near the beginning, to losses along the way. There is the swashbuckling element of the adventure continues, a boulder gathering speed as it moves downhill, but as with everything we get to see the impact of those losses – both personal, and wider impacting, play out not just in the immediate moment but throughout the story. And Nevair really cranks the handle on the stakes in the final part of the book; but in that way that makes people – and getting to see how the different characters, the different sides and viewpoints, have to react and choose in that pressure cooker adds a very human tension to a very fantastical catastrophe; and that entire final collision of characters and choices, and fate, is one that I couldn’t put down and had me on the edge of my seat all the way through.

I was onboard with this book from the moment I first heard Pirate Fantasy, especially with the influence of robin hood and D&D in the mix; and it was one of my most anticipated reads, and one of my top reads of 2025 as I got to read it early and has been a fantastic start to 2026 for fantasy books. It’s Nevair’s first foray into fantasy, but hopefully not the last, because he has taken the fantastic worldbuilding and multi-layered issues and genres we’ve seen across his previous body of work and really brought it to life in the fantastical here. The Curse of Dragon Tail Island was one of those books that wouldn’t get out of my head for a couple of weeks after I first read it, and there were so many little moments I found myself lingering on; and returning to it now in its final form I have fallen in love with it all over again. So, if you want a swashbuckling adventure, that is a lot more, with intrigue and found family and politics, and second chance love, and magic and dragons and a bad ass ship called R.I.P. Tide then I can’t recommend The Curse of Dragon Tail Island highly enough.