Review: Viper

Viper
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: BUY! 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

He will make me a killer.
Or he will have me killed.
That is my destiny.

Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles.

But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake.

He's the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne's father.

She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves - and perhaps even her life?

A brave heroine. An impossible dilemma. An epic new fantasy trilogy set on the high seas. 

Okay, I'm going to be straight with you guys. I figured I'd love this...but I didn't think I'd love this as much as I actually did, like it kind of blew me away!? I couldn't put this down, but I forced myself to so I could savour it and make the book last longer, and it's fast become one of my favourites of the year! We've got assassin pirates with hints of magic woven in and lost royalty...in other words it was right up my street! 

We've got a bloody and intriguing start that kicks off the world building, with little bits of information scattered throughout and it's not long before we have a plot twist. Setting the tone for the rest of the book and pulling us in to the vividly atmospheric world. I was intrigued by the world and the strange creatures that were mentioned as well as the brief history we got, and what the Viper is. I mean...hello crew of assassins! Plus we even had a prince thrown in at the beginning too, it was like a recipe of story components that I love. 

I really liked Marianne, she gave me a moment of pause at the start and I was like "woah, okay...she's daaaaaark" but then it was revealed what she was really up to and I wasn't quite sure what to make of her. I immediately empathised with her because of how she was being treated and was outraged as much as she was. She's secretly a badass, she can fight and hold her own but she hides those skills to keep her father from knowing and bides her time. Marianne wants to heal people and she wants to save them but she's destined to be the next Viper,  and her father is forever disappointed with her lack of brutality because of that. However she also seeks his approval because after all, he is her father, but at the same time she's sick of being used like an object, and she struggles with all of this and I empathised with her so much because of it and I feel mean saying it but...her struggle with all of this made her such an interesting character. 

Don't be fooled though she's sassy, and I wheezed when she said, "Only a man would think saying you've grown a pair of balls is a compliment" and then pointed out their weakness. Marianne's strong both physically and mentally, she's endured so much cruelty and pain but it's the realisation that her father doesn't protect the innocent like he's supposed to that finally breaks her and sends her off down her own path. It's when she's on her own path that we get to see some other sides of her....she definitely has a dark side, but she's always underestimated and misjudged. The strength, resolve and steel within her come out more and more as the book goes on and I loved her character more and more. 

As for her father...he's wild. One minute he's calm and collected, the next he's throwing things and whacking her head in to a wall. He's like what I'd imagine Joffrey would be like if he'd grown up...but a lot scarier than Joffrey. He thinks Marianne is useless and basically wishes he'd had a son instead. He's a lovely man, as I'm sure you can tell. *eye roll*. I just loved how he wanted the arranged marriage so he can have a spy on the Kind...not suspicious at all my man. 

Then we have Bronn, he's the childhood friend of Marianne, except after his initiation he became a bit of a douche, ignoring her...avoiding her...and revealing secret in front of a group of the crew. Charming. It was kind of hard to trust him although I sort of figured he had a reason, but he's cold for most of the book before doing a 180 and being kind with sprinkles of being an a-hole. Hot and Cold should be dedicated to this guy. I get it, he's got torn loyalties, he feels he owes his life to the Viper because the ship gave him a better life and so on, but still. He had the audacity to get pissy that he came to save her like...no-one made you do that dude, literally no-one, that's all on you. However, I did like watching them open back up to each other and become closer again....of course even that brings something new to be angsty about. 

There's some brilliant supporting characters. Grace, alongside Marianne, is literally the only sane person aboard that ship. She has a secret that's quite intriguing, and I did want to like her but she was still low-key suspicious and it took me a while to be convinced that she was trustworthy. I did love the girl power vibe the two of them gave off as they teamed up! We also have Prince Torin. I wanted to like him from the start but I was quite wary. Although I was pleased that my and Marianne's initial instinct proved to be correct, and he's actually willing to fight. My one gripe with him is that he's a bit of an idiot when it comes to his insistence on listening to his advisors, I got the logic behind it and fair play...but I was screaming at him more than once. I'm actually quite excited to hopefully get to see more of him and get to know him better in the next book! 

When it comes to the romance we have a bit of a situation. Marianne is betrothed to Torin, and they do intend to follow through on it for Peace's sake, but she's in love with Bronn and he's in love with someone else. I'm sure you'll be able to tell who, *wink wink*. The romance itself is sprinkled in, meaning that we barely glimpse it for like 200 pages, just a few subtle hints, and then there's a possibility...and then a second possibility. Of course one of the possibilities had only met her once so it was a case of wait and see when it came to him. I did appreciate that subtle focus to start as there was rather a lot else going on, but it builds up more in the last part towards the end. Another thing that I appreciated is that Torin admired and respected her, but doesn't actually have romantic feelings for her so we're not going to be dealing with the typical love triangle. 

There's never a dull moment with this book from the start, we've got bloody pirate battles on the high seas, the mystery of what went down between Marianne and Bronn, what her father is up to and he's so obviously up to something. We have a crew of killers so they do love a bit of torture and murder, there's even an actual torturer disguised as a medic who'd rather chop off a broken limb than heal it. Viper has so clearly been researched, there's lots of piratey detail from the ship to general pirate practices...the crew so kindly provides us a vivid description of keelhauling *shudder*. There's also a viciousness to this book in how she's treated by her father and others, there's no holds barred in the battles, obviously, but even the names of some characters threaten violence in some cases. Like Choke for instance. 

I was so curious about the Twelve Isles and the history of it, and the Viper and we get a good chunk of it all woven in to this. I had a nice, clear picture of each of the islands, even the ones we didn't get to explore and could clearly picture the scenes that are set. Like I said, it's vivid and atmospheric, with a splash of cinematic thrown in too. We've got six islands in the East and six in the West, but not much is known about the West whereas we get to grips with the Eastern Isles a lot. Four for example, is all about flowers and plants, another is known for its mists, there's one for farming and so on. It's definitely an imaginative world, and it's also a fantastically intriguing one too. 

There's so much action too, so many fights on land and sea! It's fast paced and the end builds up with some shock plot twists and a high seas chase with some magical monsters before a life or death battle that shakes things up and changes the order of things. I feel like the first 100 pages are like a storm at sea, battles, violence and intrigue all melding in to one....then things quiet. The calm after the storm, and we relax a little bit, but there's some tension because...how long can this last? Then the tides turn for Marianne and her heart is changed and we're back in the midst of the storm again as things kick off. It's like Hogan gave us a breather and a chance to relax and chill out before ramping up the tension and action again! 

Everything is wrapped up so nicely, and thank you Bex Hogan for not making me endure a cliffhanger because I can't take any more of them! Of course, as nicely wrapped up as everything was there's a couple of threads left to bring us over to the next book, and some hints as to what may be to come in the sequel leaving us excited to see what's going to happen next! 

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading Viper, I got more and more pulled in, there was so much about it I loved, the magic, the pirates, the sea battles and various other elements. We don't have the standard love triangle, our female lead is a badass and has multiple layers to her, and there's some excellent and rich world building along with a nice pace. Viper has some Pirates of the Caribbean vibes...but with the savageness of Game of Thrones, it has to be said!