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Pirates of Wefrivain #1
The Guild of the Cowry Catchers
A tortured prince. A snarky assassin. An assignment that's about to land them in a world of trouble.
Gerard lost his birthright in his small island kingdom when he married the court minstrel. He fled to the only place that offered protection from his father and his vengeful local deity—the service of the High Priestess.
Unfortunately, his superior officer, Silveo, takes an instant disliking to Gerard. Silveo has a reputation for cruelty, cunning, and a biting wit. Rumors claim that he was once an assassin, who clawed his way to power from a childhood of poverty and abuse.
In spite of their differences, the Priestess insists that Gerard and Silveo cooperate to destroy the charismatic pirate, Gwain, and his mysterious organization, the Guild of the Cowry Catchers. Gwain has been killing off the Temple Police for years, and he seems likely to make a swift end of Gerard...if Silveo doesn't do it first.
Pirates of Wefrivain is an epic fantasy saga that includes LGBT+ themes, polyamory, dragons, sassy anti-heroes, characters overcoming a history of abuse, true love, talking cats, and outrageous clothing. Mature audiences only.
NOTE: This book was originally published as Books 1-3 of the Cowry Catchers series. This new edition includes bonus stories that were originally sold separately.
Gerard lost his birthright in his small island kingdom when he married the court minstrel. He fled to the only place that offered protection from his father and his vengeful local deity—the service of the High Priestess.
Unfortunately, his superior officer, Silveo, takes an instant disliking to Gerard. Silveo has a reputation for cruelty, cunning, and a biting wit. Rumors claim that he was once an assassin, who clawed his way to power from a childhood of poverty and abuse.
In spite of their differences, the Priestess insists that Gerard and Silveo cooperate to destroy the charismatic pirate, Gwain, and his mysterious organization, the Guild of the Cowry Catchers. Gwain has been killing off the Temple Police for years, and he seems likely to make a swift end of Gerard...if Silveo doesn't do it first.
Pirates of Wefrivain is an epic fantasy saga that includes LGBT+ themes, polyamory, dragons, sassy anti-heroes, characters overcoming a history of abuse, true love, talking cats, and outrageous clothing. Mature audiences only.
NOTE: This book was originally published as Books 1-3 of the Cowry Catchers series. This new edition includes bonus stories that were originally sold separately.
652 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2021
10 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Abigail Hilton
66 books172 followersAbigail Hilton writes fantasy books, including Hunters Universe, Pirates of Wefrivain, The Prophet of Panamindorah, and the Eve and Malachi Series.
She also publishes under A. H. Lee, including The Incubus Series and The Knight and the Necromancer.
She also publishes under A. H. Lee, including The Incubus Series and The Knight and the Necromancer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 31, 2024
Reread for me from 12 years ago to buddy read with server friends. This is not a standalone. I frankly missed the illustrations. I forgot how perfect this series is. It's so hard to have incredible world building *and* incredible characters *and* a grand storyline *and* an amazing romance *and also* have good, easy to read writing. SWOON.
July 26, 2022
Per Ms. Abigail Hilton:
Rating: 4.5
Reading this edition is technically a reread for me as I read the original stories some years ago. Funnily enough, I only read the first three, as the fourth book had not yet been released at the time.
The The Guild of the Cowry Catchers has wonderful world-building and captivating characters. They are unique, layered, and perfectly flawed - lol.
Be prepared to experience a myriad of emotions (often within a few minutes of each other). The story will draw you in and not let you go! My heart aches for a few who were lost; they will stay with me throughout this journey.
Interestingly, I don't remember Dakar from my original readings, but I was happy to be (re)introduced to her, and I look forward to seeing her progression.
I borrowed the novel from Kindle Unlimited but opted to purchase the audiobook. Audiobooks are a relatively new media for me. Where I listened to a few short stories in the past, I have started including longer works this year.
Hearing the voice actors, background music, or ambient noises added such richness to the experience! However, I'm wondering if the audio was recorded before the book was released? The spoken words do not always match the text. There are quite a few times where one word is used instead of another. The most common difference is the use of "girl" or "boy" (audio) vs "woman" or "man"(written). Additionally, fragments or even whole sentences are skipped. I found this discrepancy quite frustrating. I would pause the audio and go back and reread the text.
Despite the audio hiccups, The Guild of the Cowry Catchers has been a fascinating tale so far and I am excited to see what happens next!
NOTE: This book was originally published as Books 1-3 of the Guild of the Cowry Catchers series. This new edition includes bonus stories that were originally sold separately.
Rating: 4.5
Reading this edition is technically a reread for me as I read the original stories some years ago. Funnily enough, I only read the first three, as the fourth book had not yet been released at the time.
The The Guild of the Cowry Catchers has wonderful world-building and captivating characters. They are unique, layered, and perfectly flawed - lol.
Be prepared to experience a myriad of emotions (often within a few minutes of each other). The story will draw you in and not let you go! My heart aches for a few who were lost; they will stay with me throughout this journey.
Interestingly, I don't remember Dakar from my original readings, but I was happy to be (re)introduced to her, and I look forward to seeing her progression.
I borrowed the novel from Kindle Unlimited but opted to purchase the audiobook. Audiobooks are a relatively new media for me. Where I listened to a few short stories in the past, I have started including longer works this year.
Hearing the voice actors, background music, or ambient noises added such richness to the experience! However, I'm wondering if the audio was recorded before the book was released? The spoken words do not always match the text. There are quite a few times where one word is used instead of another. The most common difference is the use of "girl" or "boy" (audio) vs "woman" or "man"(written). Additionally, fragments or even whole sentences are skipped. I found this discrepancy quite frustrating. I would pause the audio and go back and reread the text.
Despite the audio hiccups, The Guild of the Cowry Catchers has been a fascinating tale so far and I am excited to see what happens next!
December 28, 2021
Thrilling plot and lovely characters
I fell in love with this world and its characters. I was a little afraid to start on the next installment for fear it too will keep me awake until early morning. Extremely addicting!
12/2022 addendum: this version now comes with a couple of Hilton's excellent short stories. While I love the main novels, the short stories is where Hilton truly shines as an author, in my opinion. It's a pity they were overlooked for so long due to being published separately before.
Don't skip them; they're both plot relevant and delightful reads.
I fell in love with this world and its characters. I was a little afraid to start on the next installment for fear it too will keep me awake until early morning. Extremely addicting!
12/2022 addendum: this version now comes with a couple of Hilton's excellent short stories. While I love the main novels, the short stories is where Hilton truly shines as an author, in my opinion. It's a pity they were overlooked for so long due to being published separately before.
Don't skip them; they're both plot relevant and delightful reads.
September 28, 2024
Absolutely obsessed with this novel and this series. This is a fantasy series that is just full of EVERYTHING. It has adventures, trauma, revenge, plot twists, redemption, romance, tragedy - I feel so lucky to have found this.
I am still in the middle of book 2, but for now I wanted to say this book has three of my favorite elements in fictions:
1) Show don't tell
2) Characters who did bad things actually DID do them, it was not a misunderstanding
3) Every element is introduced for a reason
1) The novel, especially the first part, does not tell you who or what the characters are thinking. Everything you see in the description is there to define what the character is doing/thinking. Gerard is the main pov and sometimes the reader can easily see the discrepancy between what Gerard thinks and how he interprets the characters around him, and what the characters are actually thinking because the reader might interpret their actions and reactions differently. Chef kiss.
2) One of my least favorite things in fictional works that introduce villains or morally grey people is this attempt to immediately sanitize them, as if the author is afraid that the readers might not enjoy the character. This book trusts the reader to make their own decision and presents morally grey characters left and right. Is there redemption? Yes, but the bad actions still remain and are still presented in all their horror.
3) I am in the middle of book two when I realized that so many elements from book 1 are still relevant. I won't spoil which ones, but it really makes the story feel like it was masterfully and elegantly organized.
I am still in the middle of book 2, but for now I wanted to say this book has three of my favorite elements in fictions:
1) Show don't tell
2) Characters who did bad things actually DID do them, it was not a misunderstanding
3) Every element is introduced for a reason
1) The novel, especially the first part, does not tell you who or what the characters are thinking. Everything you see in the description is there to define what the character is doing/thinking. Gerard is the main pov and sometimes the reader can easily see the discrepancy between what Gerard thinks and how he interprets the characters around him, and what the characters are actually thinking because the reader might interpret their actions and reactions differently. Chef kiss.
2) One of my least favorite things in fictional works that introduce villains or morally grey people is this attempt to immediately sanitize them, as if the author is afraid that the readers might not enjoy the character. This book trusts the reader to make their own decision and presents morally grey characters left and right. Is there redemption? Yes, but the bad actions still remain and are still presented in all their horror.
3) I am in the middle of book two when I realized that so many elements from book 1 are still relevant. I won't spoil which ones, but it really makes the story feel like it was masterfully and elegantly organized.
Read
February 20, 2023I don't even know how to rate this book. I went into thinking it was for pre-teens/ teenagers and that was not the case! For some reason I had a lot of preconceived ideas about this book that turned out to be incorrect. I'm going to read the rest of the series and then go back and rate it. This was not a very happy book like I thought it was going to be though lol.
I will say though that the writing is amazing and the world is fully created and immersive.
I will say though that the writing is amazing and the world is fully created and immersive.
April 26, 2022
my favorite book series and pretty much the only series where i want to buy the text versions in addition to listening to the audio, really love it! the first two books of this series can be read on their own and they were originally published as 5 books in total
heavily relate to the trauma that silvio goes through and how he acts and the love story in the book is beautiful : )
heavily relate to the trauma that silvio goes through and how he acts and the love story in the book is beautiful : )
November 15, 2021
Fascinating
Well written, engaging, sucks the reader right in. Good character development and excellent world building. I'm so glad this is a series!
Well written, engaging, sucks the reader right in. Good character development and excellent world building. I'm so glad this is a series!
October 5, 2024
The full review is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MM_RomanceBo...
October 23, 2021
I feel in love with these books many years ago, and have reread them all many times. Fantasy pirates with magic, dragons and a unique populace make this a stand out series and great opening book. Author is also great with reader interaction. Join her patreon also!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews