"Compass Rose" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Some questions to get us started!

What did you think of the world? The conflicts between the different groups?
What did you think of the characters?
Did you think the author made good use of Compass Rose's special abilities?
Did you find any of the battles particularly fraught?
What are your overall thoughts?
Will you continue the series?

Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I have a major disappointment here. It won an (albeit, small) award! Pirates! Clifi elements! flooded cities! It should have been, if nothing else, fun!

[Mel]

Disappointment is right. I had high expectations for the directional-sense hook, but within the first few pages I realized I'd have to amend those. Still, being on an Our Flag Means Death piratey kick, I was inclined to be entertained. Underwater cities! Lesbian pirates! My initial hopes kept me reading along in good faith for quite some time, before realizing that it wasn't delivering.

[Meredith]

Agreed. Still pushing on, but grumpy.

[Anna]

This tale o' "adventure" be so borin' I wanted t' walk the plank meself.

[Ben]

I'm so glad that everyone else is on the same page, after seeing a lot of people absolutely rave about this I felt like I was going crazy!

[Ellen]

I would have liked a bit more swashbuckling.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

You mean the protagonist getting beaten to a pulp and then the next day finding herself in the sea trying to swim back to the ship didn't blow your mind? I thought that was more remarkable than her sense of direction.

[Casey Friedmann]

I wasn't very fond of this one. The relationship between the protagonist and captain seemed VERY forced and way too physical-based to elicit that kind of loyalty. Rose saw Miranda engaged in the beating and killing of shipmates; this unsettled her, but evidently not enough to stop her from sleeping with the woman. I thought Rose's ability could be very interesting, but it just seems to be a hook - it gets shown off here and there, but there wasn't really any point to it. The book seemed much more scifi than fantasy to me.

[Travis]

Chiming in to agree. There were parts I liked, but I never could make sense of how the parts fit. It's like she shoved together elements and characters without bothering to understand how they relate to one another.

[Marie]

I am still not done (53%) but I kinda peeked here because I am getting annoyed and felt like ranting😛Thankfully no spoilers here. I enjoy the setting but like can Rose stop thinking about the captain for one second. Like is this actually romance/erotica with everything else just being a background. And that by itself would be fine but the way she just thinks all the time omg she is so dangerous and I am in so deep omg omg I am so screwed but I really want her omg she looking at me... Like to the point she doesn't care about the mission just so they can get it on? Hello? I guess I just expected something else 🤷‍♀️

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

totally agree, Marie!

[Nelle]

Was kind of bummed by every comment being mostly negative, but just highlights that not all books are for all audiences. I mentioned in the non-spoiler thread that though Compass Rose is SF, it's published by a small lesbian press. Some of what is being complained about is a feature, not a bug, as it's aimed for a wlw (sapphic) romance-reader audience, not a general SF audience. Which I thought was why it was chosen for June. Also, this was Burke's first published book.

I enjoyed the book overall. Really enjoyed the setting, with people living mostly under the water, and it being dangerous to surface at times. Sounds pretty claustrophobic. Rose's internal navigation was interesting, and I'd like to know more about where it comes from. I might end up reading the sequel at some point, as I would like more info about the hinted-at Sea Wolves. I'll wait for a good sale. Don't think I enjoyed this one quite as much as another of the author's books I read a couple months ago (though that wasn't SF).

[Marie]

Nelle wrote: "Was kind of bummed by every comment being mostly negative, but just highlights that not all books are for all audiences. I mentioned in the non-spoiler thread that though Compass Rose is SF, it's p..."

I get that, that’s why I said that it wasn’t what I expected from the synopsis. Also, I don’t mind lesbian relationship even if I don’t search it out. I loved the one in The Priory of the Orange Tree for example just because it was so well done, I didn’t care about their genders, just saw two human beings in love, while here that is just not it, it’s just very blunt I am horny for her since I first saw her. Just yeah basically written for certain audience. But I am still interested in the story and will finish the book. Maybe even the second one as audiobook if I feel interested enough at the end.

[Casey Friedmann]

I think maybe there's a difference between having a romance within a scifi book and having scifi within a romance book. I'm not a big fan of the romance genre as a whole, gay, straight, or other, but I don't mind there being well-built romances of any kind within books I'm reading. I don't feel like this was well-built, though. Almost as if the author were trying to force queer sexuality on us. That's maybe it, I think. There is no romance in it, it's just a visceral display of sexuality without real emotion. I think that's what bothered me about it.

[Mel]

Nelle, I'm glad that you enjoyed the book at least. Sorry can't be on the same page to enjoy it with you.

I love reading queer romance, but for me... this ain't it. I wouldn't mind a ratio of mostly romance with a splash of fantasy, provided it's done well. More interactions beyond immediate lust. Admittedly, I've found good FF hard to find. This Is How You Lose the Time War, The Raven and the Reindeer, and The Cybernetic Tea Shop are more along the lines of what I've enjoyed.

If you know of some good sapphic SFF, be sure to suggest it for future reads! :)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I think romance is always "hit or miss" for the individual reading it. What about the other bits? What did we think of the aquatic setting?

[Mindy]

I am only 20% in (but don't mind spoilers) but all the comments about how the book wasn't fun made me wonder if the tone is supposed to be more "serious". Is this supposed to be a story about overcoming adversity?

[Mindy]

Allison wrote: "I think romance is always "hit or miss" for the individual reading it. What about the other bits? What did we think of the aquatic setting?"

I am really enjoying it.

[Elaine]

Don't know what happened to my comment, but I did read this and agree with much of what's been said.

[Chris]

I rather enjoyed this one personally. Like, it's not the pinnacle of written works or anything, but at least in the second half of the book I found it engaging both in terms of 'swashbuckling' (I'm actually a bit more fond of the way this story handled conflicts than of a generic board-the-ship-with-swords-swinging style) and the politics and state of the world. I'm rather inclined to pick up the sequel once I have a bit more time this summer.

If the book is guilty of anything, it's that it was a bit of a slow-roll early on, and the romance in the first third to maybe half of the book... it did that thing where a character is internally shocked to realise they think someone is attractive. I think I mentally associate that with bad fanfiction these days. Around the part where Rose insisted on being on the trawler with Orca, from roughly there on I enjoyed the story quite a lot.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

Late to the party and agree with the detractors. The promise of the concept was good enough that the delivery disappointed more than it would have otherwise.