Tale of Three Ships

by Darcia G. Laucerica

In a world under the thumb of an empire, pirates sail away searching for a breath of freedom. But even the ocean is tainted by the powerful nation that has spread lies about women being bad luck at sea.
Glenlivet has never cared about the fear-mongering. Her ship welcomes those who are rejected and need a home.
For all the sailor´s superstitions and “codes” of piracy the captain mocks every day, not leaving the docks when it’s dark is a personal boundary she swears by ever since acquiring The Outsider about eight years ago.
She just might have to break her own rules to protect her crew, escape the claws of a king who wants her dead, and murder the man who raised her.

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Queer, Pirates, LGBT, Science Fiction Fantasy, Gay

411 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2023

Reviews

[Jade Finzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

happy pride month to nona. you deserved better queen. 
really fun book, there were so many characters but i actually caught on really quickly to who was who and what was going on! super easy world and plot to understand, so much going on so it was incredibly fast paced, had a blast reading this!! i WISH we got more backstory about the cursed eel and specifically tavia, they were definitely the most interesting characters! was super invested in everyone’s story, really enjoyed it, was incredibly gay. 

[Inaffablejames · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to love it that much. I cried when it ended, didn't expect anything. And there was so much going on I could barely lay it down, I did finish it in two days to be fair. Thank you I had a blast. Hope there will be more

[Leah Corckran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ADORE this book. No, really. The ensemble characters are so interesting and dynamic and their relationships with each other and the side characters are so rich. The overarching plot gets tied up in a fantastic way, but not one that’s clear from the start. I’m left wanting more of these crews (in a good way) and this world.

[Faodail · Rating 2 out of 5]

(j’avoue que je l’ai pas terminé mais je ne pense pas le terminer un jour, j’ai pas accroché)

[Honk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start by saying that i bought a physical copy of the book to support the author as much as i can. The formatting of the book is quite odd, the font too big, words cut off at the end of a page and end in the next page but the whole page is blank save fot that syllabus. The chapters only start on the right side of the page, which is an odd choice not to use all the space in the book. There were a few graphis in the book with really low quality and really pixelated which made it hard to read. There were two mistakes i found (repeated words example: Julian's room Julian).

Formatting aside, the plot is not bad, just a bit underwhelming. What i found most irritating was the repetitive language used. "First mate" was used a total of 68 times in the whole book, 22 of those ONLY on the first 3 chapters.

[Muffin Walloper · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was not what I expected of this book, the ending is a bit abrupt to me? And I can't quite grasp the characters' relationships, not a bad read but not a good one either

[Anariel · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars
This book seems like it wants to be something between Our Flag means Death and Six of Crows, which is fun in theory, but sadly the execution is not living up to the potential.
But let me start with the positives: the characters are fun, diverse and lovable (or appropriately despicable), and the idea of a queer found family pirate story about a quest for freedom and revenge is very appealing to me.
However, the messy pacing that felt both rushed and constantly lagging behind, the shallow world building, and the chaotic and very confusing timeline made the reading experience incredibly frustrating. Not to mention the typos, the stupidity of the decisions every character seems to be making, misspelled names or a character suddenly having a crew mates last name which also happens to be the name of a crew member on another ship.
There are a number of queer characters and relationships on board, as well as disabled crew members, but that diversity is never really given the attention it deserves.
While a sapphic relationship may be central to the story, the disabilities of characters barely get more than a passing mention.
Especially in the case of Augie, the navigator of Captain Glenlivets ship The Outsider, whose lack of eyes is mentioned and recognised by other characters, but barely seems impacted by his blindness, be it in his duties, running around various cities and ports, or in a storm at sea.
And as far as I can tell, if every mention of his blindness was erased from the book, the story wouldn't change a bit.
Similarly, the autistic character, Gale, is mentioned to have had a meltdown at one point in the story, and is nonverbal for much of the book, communicating via notebook instead (which doesn't just seem impractical considering their life at sea, but is also, notably, a way of communicating that is not accessible to their crew mate Augie). This also does not seem to have an impact on the story.
This is only one example of how the world building is lacking, but in my opinion it is one of the biggest losses, because the exploration of disabilities in fantasy worlds has a lot of potential, but is too often done poorly.
I would have loved to some sort of accomodations or tools that are available in the world, or made by the characters themselves to help them manage their adventuring life with their disabilities, or even find some benefit in them.
It would have been brilliant to see, for example, a service parrot on Augies shoulder, helping him navigate the world, or a sign language the crew started to develop to communicate with Gale in situations where it's too hectic or dangerous to write in a journal. That language could also benefit them in any situation where they need to be quiet to avoid detection and could even be tactical, so Gale and Augie can communicate with each other without the help of other crew mates.
There are a myriad of ways to explore the experiences of people with disabilities and their needs, as well as unique perspectives and talents, and this book, sadly, barely scratches the surface of that.
And while the queer identities of the characters get a little more limelight, the book also fails to explore and depict in any depth the role of queerness and the perception of queer people and relationships in this world and it's cultures.
Different cultures and peoples of the world are also not really explored.

Overall I think the writing was generally quite clumsy, and whatever editing was done was not sufficient at all.
Considering the origin of this project as a collaborative effort, I think the story, characters and the world they exist in would have benefitted from a different medium. Maybe a tiktok series or a podcast, with filler episodes devoted to exploring the characters and the world as well as side stories and the adventures of the other ships.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off this is a solid debut project!

Finding out at the end that this started out as a group project on TikTok perhaps explains why there’s SO many characters and I felt there was very uneven character development for them. Several characters felt like set dressing and I had a few moments of “who are you, again?” when they’d disappear for chapters at a time only to reappear for a handful of paragraphs. This is very much Glen’s story in terms of development and backstory, which is fine but it made me all the more aware how two dimensional some of the crew were. One of the antagonists is almost cartoonishly evil, killing off competent underlings and children because er he’s a bad guy, which also left me going “oh” because he didn’t feel especially convincing as an actual person. I guess fear is a strong motivator but I don’t see why he’d really encourage any loyalty in his crew, given his situation. The first sign of mustache twirling villainy made me expect a mutiny honestly, if he’s going to kill during a temper tantrum why deal with him?

I will fully admit this sounds like it’s leading to a negative review but this was my one major gripe and I did enjoy reading this. While I’d have liked for a bit more well rounded character development (or pruning down the cast if doing that wasn’t in the scope of the book so this stood out less), Tale of Three Ships is a fun pirate adventure and I’d breeze through the chapters wanting to see where the story was going. The action scenes flow nicely and there’s enough tension in Glen’s crew being pursued that I was curious how they’d resolve that, as well as some supernatural elements adding an extra wrinkle into the narrative. I enjoyed it page to page and I think part of why I feel so harshly about the characterisation is that the characters who DO get that treatment were interesting (the development of Glen’s relationship with Nona for example) so I wanted more of it!

Lastly we do love casual representation of both queerness (orientation and identity) and disability. Not flawless representation as the author (or original creator?) forgets the character with no eyes can’t see in one part by referring to “showing” him something, but it’s good otherwise! Would have loved to see more of Blue and Augie, which again goes back to “I want MORE good characterisation”.

Sticking with 4/5. If fantasy piracy appeals to you, definitely give it a look. Just go into it expecting an uneven depth of character writing and the plot is abrupt at times. “Oh the Conviction has a supernatural compulsion (?) for the captain to protect it” felt like it came out of left field honestly, I went back and flicked through the chapters to see if I missed that being foreshadowed and…no, not really.

[Jet Tump · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note: I got a pdf file of the book for free in exchange for a review, so while I'm not a professional or anything I did try my best to write down things I noticed.)
The book itself has such an interesting read, I really enjoyed it. It's different from what I usually read and not in a bad way. The characters have such an compelling story, when the book ended I wanted to read more. Ofcourse there were some things I liked less. There were some characters that were mentioned in the beginning, their name and story explained a bit, and then not mentioned for a while. This caused me to forget who was who.


Here are some things that I made note of, some might make more sense than others but it's just things I noticed. Some however are things I like very much and would like to thank the author for.
- How did Glenlivet know that danielles had bandages around her chest to pretend to be a boy? It was explained that Glen knew she was a boy because she pretended to be one for a long while too, but that doesnt mean she alse has bandages around her chest? Idk but it feels like it was a wierd turn of events.
- The battle on the ship the fiona was a bit confusing because you didn't know where everyone was, and the were also running around but I didn't catch to where on the ship they were running. But maybe thats just me.
- One thing I kept thinking about was how did Micah catch up to the outsider and even get ahead of them so easily?? Especially to the dust market, they were I believe about a day/half a day behind, but were there at the same time it felt like. Perhaps show/tell that the outsider took their sweet time getting there and it would make more sense.
- On page 81 it stated that Danielle has told the crew why Micah her husband is a dick, and while I understand that the reader is shown why he's a dick by his actions in the book, I would like some more backstory assholeness.
- Jona's tattoos are mentioned a lot but they're not really explained, what do they look like?
- I would like to thank the author for giving Micah the big injury that hindered him.
- The introduction of the new characters on the cursed eel was great, I really loved them and their role in the story. However the fact that Derya is Laura was given away I think a bit too quickly and too easily with the passage about the letters and the temple. I personally think it would've been better if we found out at the same time as Nona.
- My heart really broke for Nona in this story, her storyline with Glen was heartbreaking
- We love markl
- Even though we knew derya was laura the reveal to glenlivet was perfect and dramatic

[k. · Rating 5 out of 5]

the way i loved, loved, loved this book—oh my goddess.

at the beginning, i wasn’t expecting much because there were too many characters introduced in the very first chapter, and i usually struggle to focus with books like that. but this book? definitely an exception.

the characters and the relationships between them were so, so easy to follow, and at the same time, each character felt like such an individual—interacting, alive, and distinct. what sold it for me was how natural and unique each character’s story was. i must say: each of them found a special place in my heart. then there’s the incredible way these relationships between them were built. they’re so honest, pure, warm, caring and protective over each other—it broke my heart. i already knew i enjoyed the “found family” trope, but this book made me love it. this is the kind of book you read and cry over in “i-wish-i-could-be-a-part-of-your-crew” tears.

secondly: doomed yuri, sapphic angst—take all my money, i need more of glen and nona. even though their story is more of a side plot, every interaction between them made me hold my breath. i was mad at glen every time nona was, hurt every time she was, and, like her, i was still loving and understanding with glen. honestly, i need at least an epilogue where glen redeems herself and wins nona back because nona deserves the best, and we deserve to see her getting it.

i also have to say that the worldbuilding in this book was both fascinating and easy to grasp, which is rare in fantasy books. i loved how i could fully enjoy the magical abilities of the characters without being confused about how the world worked. it was the perfect setup for an adventurous pirate-themed plot. and hell yeah, i loved the plot.

so yes, this book is going straight to my comfort reads list. the amount of tears i cried while reading it, just because it was healing something in me—it’s unforgettable. my only complaint? i need a second part. i need more adventures with my little crew, and i need to see these sapphics grow old together.

[MG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about finding a home in the minority.
The cast of characters is what really got me: a group of "outsiders" who do not fit or reject the societal standards. It was hard not to adore absolutely every member of The Outsider (AND The Cursed Eel!!). And Elric... OMG (not gonna say anything here because of spoilers but OMG).

I also wasn't expecting but *reeeally* vibed with the creepy/ghostly elements going on in certain parts of the book.

Loved loved the ending as well.

I do wish the author had explored the backstories of more of the characters and deepened on the world setting a bit more, though. Why did they join crew? What was their life before? What are their motivations? What is happening with the empire and the islands? How and why do magic/spirits/gods work in this world? I also think the book had potential for exploring the topic of disabilities in a fantasy world, but in the end it was treated quite superficially (especially Augie's). I was left with a lot of questions which is what deterred me from rating it 5 stars.

Overall though, I enjoyed the book and will be reading more books from this author


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Nona literally getting her heart and breathing stopped and almost dying because Glen wasn't ready to fully love her. Sapphics are truly intense, huh?

[L.A. A. Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in a reading slump with my current book and I finally decided to put it down and pick up Darcia's debut novel. Wow! I couldn't stop reading, my slump was cured by the witty banter of her characters, their warm, open friendships and the culmination of a diverse group of outsiders who found family and love within each other. It was a fantastic read, and the breath of fresh air that I needed.

I loved the representation and diversity of the characters and their personalities, and it was done in such a seamless, natural way and didn't feel forced. I loved the ocean vibes, the ship, its crew and their adventure. Within the first chapter you feel like you're pulled right into their word, with subtle hints of foreboding and a dark past that follows at their heel. It had it all.

Overall, the book is a fast-paced action adventure on the high seas following a patchwork crew of outsiders turned pirates (adored the sirens too!), a family of misfits fighting their way through a dangerous world, things not being as they seem as they face a dark past together. Oh, and not forgetting the tension filled love between our two femme's Glenlivet and Nona... Oh, Nona <3

Thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel, excited to pick up more of this author's work!

[Angelina Gut · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, where do I even begin? The Novel Tale of Three Ships absolutely wrecked (ha) me—in the best possible way. The storytelling? Magnificent. I fell headfirst into the author’s writing style.
Now, let’s talk characters. There are… a lot of them. Like, a lot. Halfway through, I finally started recognizing who was who, but if you asked me to describe what half of them looked like, I’d just smile politely and change the subject. Still, they all felt so real, so complex, that it honestly didn’t matter. I was too busy being emotionally attached to people whose hair color I may never recall.
Were there tiny mistakes? Sure. My personal favorite was the line “Julian’s chair Julian,” which was almost charming because it reminded that, yes, a human made this.
And the inclusivity? Chef’s kiss. It was refreshing to read a fantasy world that actually felt like it was built for everyone, not just the same five character archetypes we’ve all seen before.
By the time I finished, I just sat there, blinking at the last page, unsure how to process the fact that it was over. Everything tied together beautifully.
In short: The Novel Tale of Three Ships is an absolute banger. Easily one of my favorite fantasy reads. If this author writes anything else, I’ll be first in line.

[J. McGrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting to the end and seeing the way it was written answered a lot of my questions about this book. There is a lot here to like, but that is the biggest overall problem, there is too much. Three ships worth of crew (plus a few from a fourth) all with at least one plot to go with them. There is just not enough time for everything to have the impact or time it needs. This is not to say there isn't some impressive world building pulled off, the book trusts the audience to figure things out by implication, but there are still enough plot and characters that the book could have been twice as long and still felt over stuffed. It is a shame because the plots are good and genuinely interested me. The characters though... learning that they were OCs from different people made the lack of character faults or arcs make sense. There is also the problem that the narrative randomly jumps heads paragraph to paragraph. I will say there are good things here, seeing pirates who actually pirate like the real life thing is quite thrilling, but more time or less stuffing was needed to make me rate this higher.

[Yveline Garnier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely tale about a queer, diverse crew. You can tell these characters were created with love and care, each of them with a rich backstory. It’s chosen family at its finest.
The plot is very much character driven, the prose is great, I very much wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next.

If I were to note any minor points, (tiny!), then perhaps the book suffers from just slightly too many characters, which almost feels like blasphemy to say, I wouldn’t want to scrap any of them! But it did make it slightly harder to get all of their individual stories wrapped up in the end.
Also in contrast, one of the villains felt slightly two-dimensional in comparison to all of the other characters. But then again who doesn’t love a villain they can hate?

All in all, had a blast, do recommend. If you love OFMD, definitely give this a go.

[nerdy.bookdragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book was a fun little read, I enjoyed parts of it a lot. I really liked and grew attached to the characters and it was really nice to discover their history, and wonder about their future.

Overall I liked this book, but there were things that weren't exactly to my liking. The chapters came after like little short stories, and less like a continous tale, at least that is how I felt for me. So many parts were not detailed or written in a way, that I felt like would have made this book a lot better. It could have gone into more detailed descriptions about certain events.

Even with everything in consideration I can recommend this book, it was really an adorable book with some of the most fun pirates you'll have the chance to meet!

[Yannic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering this was the author's very first published book and a group project which simply started out as a fun little cosplay story, "Tale Of Three Ships" was a blast!
Lots of loveable characters, representation all around, found family trope, engaging world-building, a well-crafted plot and an entertaining writing style...
Here and there I noticed some very minor plot holes or thought that the amount of different characters were making the story a bit hard to follow, but again, first book, and it only leaves room for improvement in future works -- which I sure am excited about. Definitely keep an eye out for Darcia G. Laucerica!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book!

I discovered the author through TikTok and needing a break from the current series of books I am reading, I wanted to give an indie author book a try so I bought this for my kindle off of Amazon.

It's a fantasy/adventure style story that gives real big Pirates of the Caribbean vibes with a family element to it. I adored the main characters of The Outsider and found myself attached very quickly to them. I also loved reading a pirate book with trans and queer representation! This is why I want to read more indie authors in 2025.

I'd have loved to have read a more in depth backstory on some of the other characters such as Danielle and the rest of the crew.

[liss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely incredible. The way the author creates such a beautiful and vivid world and such a clear view of these diverse characters is unbelievable. Such a talented writer. And such a lovely person. They listened to me ranting to them about the book with open ears and I could not devour this book quickly enough. Absolutely incredible characters with even better character development. Demanding book 2,3,4,5 and the rest. Definitely my book of the year so far❤️ Thankyou so much for writing this book!

[Fefe · Rating 3 out of 5]

no me gustó tanto, pero tiene más que ver con el espacio mental mío que en el libro perse, los cambios de narradores no son tan precisos a veces y hace difícil la lectura pero me encantó la historia y los personajes, en algún punto del libro tres siento que trataron de resolver todo y fue demasiado de golpe.
definitivamente le daré una oportunidad de relectura el próximo año y a los otros libros de la autora ya están en mi btr❣️

[Clef · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tale of the three ships comes together beautifully, and very quickly, with a colourful cast I fell in love with. My only frustration is the ellipses skipped ahead parts i would've loved to know more about, and parts I think would've helped connect more with some of the characters. Still, they're all so charming, I had a blast.

[Melody Bowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, action-packed read. I liked how each character had their own role to play on the ship, but the story comes back to revolve around their captain. Skipping between so many different characters viewpoints isn't done commonly in modern books, but it worked for me here.

I loved Nona and Glenlivet together!

[Befany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this book! The plot, the world building, and the characters and the dynamics between them were all fun to read — I would generally love to read more stories about this cast of characters and how they came to be apart of their respective crews.

[Lea Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished and oh my god I loved it so much!
The ending made me think maybe there's an opening for a sequel👀 fingers crossed

[Cleo ✨✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pls give me more emotionally constipated lesbians!! This book completely entranced me from start to finish🥰

[Valdoesittoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing, I didn't want it to end.

[nobody you know · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nona does deserve better

[Donna Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tale of Three Ships was a very nice fantasy and pirate book. I definitely enjoyed the varying characters and storylines. The pacing was honestly everywhere in this book and I felt like it could have been split into more books to get a better understanding of the setting and characters. The story itself was pretty good and I did enjoy all of the characters as well. The story left me wanting more and I hope to perhaps get more of Glen and her crew.

[Morgan Golias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will have to come back in a little while when I fully compose my thoughts but this is now one of my favorite books and I love it so much. The amount of representation in this book is absolutely amazing, the found family just *chef's kiss*.

[Lotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it!! Got into the world very easily and got to know the characters pretty fast. The story got me hooked from the beginning and could not put it down. Would love to see more of these characters because there is a lot more to unpack :)