Pasha the Storm

by Linda H. Codega

Moby-Dick meets The Bone Shard Daughter in this swashbuckling queer fantasy adventure packed with piracy, political intrigue, and the eternal souls of the drowned, for fans of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi and Black Sun. 

An exiled pirate queen hunts a killer whale on the high seas, while caught between a power-hungry empress and a revolutionary conspiring to end her reign . . .

Pasha the Northern Storm was once the most infamous Meridian pirate who ever sailed the sister oceans. Now, a decade into her exile, Pasha’s afterlife is being held hostage by Atle, an absurdly attractive noble who knows far too much about pirate magic—but not enough about sailing to realize how dangerous Pasha really is.

Minister Atle Itaavar is duty-bound to serve the Kingdom of Garda, but as Queen Thivaldís gathers support for her ambitions of empire, Atle turns to treason to stop her. In order to destroy the Queen’s new necromantic navy, Atle plans to steal the Queen’s flagship, kidnap a washed-up pirate to sail it, and track down a legendary killer whale to bring it down. 

But the hunt for the great undying whale drags Pasha, Atle, and the crew of the Dog into a cosmic reckoning as they face threats from ghosts and gods alike—and the Queen of Garda is close behind.

Genres: Fantasy, Queer, Adult, Lesbian, Pirates, LGBT

560 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication June 30, 2026

Reviews

[Ashley]

This is SUCH a pivot from her first book, I'm interested for that alone. But also, pirates.

[Venneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I love pirates and pirate stories, there's been a tendency the last decade or so to have them be a bit sanitized. Pasha, our dirtbag dyke auntie of a main character, spits in the face of that, and takes us for a hell of a ride while she's at it. We get a noble lady (Atle) who uses her approximate knowledge of pirates and their magic to bind Pasha to her cause, but has no sense of how dangerous she really is, as we discover through the story. We have the larger threat of an empress building an navy based on necromancy as Atle tries to use Pasha to stop her, but they end up being dragged into a wider cosmological reckoning as they try to hunt an undying whale and bring down a budding empire while they're at it. Codega mentioned on Bluesky that they very specifically did anti-tropes (in the sense that they looked up common tropes from the last decade or so of pirate media and made very deliberate choices in opposition to them) in her characterization of the pirates in this, and it's incredibly well done. I'm impressed by the ballsiness of the ending, also. Pirates, politics, dirtbag horned up lesbians, gods, there's so much here, and you'll love all of it. This comes out at the end of June; pre order it now!

[BookishKB]

🌊⚓ Pasha the Storm

Thank you to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy. I’ll be sharing my full review closer to publication date.

📅 Pub Date: June 30, 2026

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcoholism
Dismemberment
Emesis
Colonization

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A high fantasy pirate adventure, Pasha the Storm is a hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, romp through icy Norse inspired seas as the eponymous hero attempts to hunt a legendary magical sea monster. I particularly liked the author’s facility with language and attention to detail (the archaicisms support the setting and I was pleased I wasn’t being “written down to”) as well as the way gender is presented, which is still sadly rare in traditional publishing. The latter, along with the fantasy intrigue reminded me very positively of Alexandra Rowland’ A Taste of Gold and Iron which I think fans will appreciate. Fans may also recognize the same streak of dizzyingly swoony fucked up romance as in Interview with the Vampire (after all the author is in the writer’s room). Overall an excellent read with the narrative turns of a Norse saga.

[Ladz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content warnings: dismemberment, death, colonization and related violence and prejudices, emetophobia, alcoholism explicit sexual content

This fucking ruled. Are you someone who watched adventure films growing up and wished the smarmy rogue or pirate was a MILF? Then this book is for you. There is such care and attention taken into which tropes get subverted, making for a fantasy story that is equal parts fresh and new. It's like you added sexy political intrigue to a Moby Dick-inspired quest. And it is so, so queer, with care given to fitting neopronouns in the text and world-building.

Also the bone magic was really cool. The layers and implications within the magic system made me giddy.

[Friday Strout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to netgalley for the arc.

Easily my favorite book of the year. I read this over the span of a few weeks and I found myself drawn back to its siren call whenever I had a quiet moment in my schedule. This book is charming, funny, and exciting.

The magic is incredibly interesting. There are so many elements of the worldbuilding that I loved and I felt like I continuously wanted to know more. The POV characters are all interesting in their own ways. It's just a perfect fantasy read to me and I am really hoping Lin writes a sequel.

This is the type of book I'm gonna tell all of my friends about.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent excellent. Female pirate adventure with magic queer romance and very funny. Laugh out loud funny and lots of twists and turns. Really enjoyed this. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.