By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story (The Sky Pirate Chronicles #1) by Antoine Bandele

I am reading and following manga since 2008. And my most favorite is "One Piece" a Japanese comic based on a fantasy world where Pirates rule the world. So when I saw "By Sea & Sky: An Esowon Story" I was very excited. I am happy that I got its copy in exchange for an honest review.

"By Sea & Sky" is my second audiobook from Netgalley honest review copies. I was glad that I waited for app updates because, by the time I started this book, the forward/backward option started working.

The book belongs to "The Sky Pirate Chronicles", a fantasy world. Our two major characters are  Karim and Zala. Karim was from the Vaji empire and was stationed on the first-ever sky Shop built by Vaji Empire. They were given tasks to prove the ability of the ship. On their voyage, they apprehended some notorious pirates, one of the key prisoner was Zalani, Zala's husband. Zala and her husband joined pirates to make some quick money so that they can buy the required ingredients for remedies for Zalani's cursed disease. But in that process, they got separated. Zala with 3-4 other members from her crew was stranded on a lone island. Read the book to know whether she was able to reunite with her husband or not.

The plot and storyline have good potential but the portrayal was shallow. The author had sprinkled every bit of things he had in mind for this fantasy. Many of those bits were used or referred to just one time. For the first book in the series, it would be too much for a reader to attach so deeply. I was expecting more details if possible for a few topics. 

Coming to characters, though Zala might be the protagonist of the story, I found Karim more interesting. Zala's character was part selfish and filled with folly. Usually, in this kind of book, the author portrays such that the reader gets attached to one side either pirate or marine. But here the author has used an unbiased approach, when I was listening to Karim's part I wanted marine to win, and when I was listening to Zala I wanted pirate to outsmart.

Coming to the audio book, the narrator has done a good job, voice modulation and tone were proper. In many places, background music is also given.

Overall an okay book still deserves 3 out 5.