reeeeeeeeee (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

I adored this book. It's another queer normative world, but this time we're adventuring on the high seas! Well, actually, a little more around an island, and actually, a lot of it we're just hiding on top of a wardrobe attempting to stab people who are trying to get us down. Sorry, silly sluts can't help themselves! (Honestly, I'm sorry to all who are reading this review, in honour of Avra I'm letting my chaos gremlin out to play and smattering this review with references to the book!)

Avra is kind of a disaster, he's fairly obtuse, perpetually horny, and rarely thinks things through. But he's ineffably polite, and, oh, probably blessed by a luck goddess so everything always seems to work in his favour... in the end. The getting there can be pretty hair-raising tho!

Don't expect anything too serious in this book, it's just queer fun meant to amuse and entertain, and in my mind that's exactly was it did.

NB captain, slutty queer chaos gremlin, and, well, Julian. I don't want to spoil anything there. Probably a thruple by the end of the book. Maybe.

Honestly, it was a great little adventure, losing half a star because the ending feels a *tiny* bit rushed.

This is a comedy, explicit but not smutty. The world building is great and didn't feel too heavy. The characters were amazing, they really drove the book. Avra is hilariously annoying, Tev is a whole mood, and Julian is a tease. I love this trio and how their relationships evolve throughout the book. The captain notes from Tev's point of vue were great to read, and added an interesting insight as to what goes on in Tev's head. The plot was good, although the book ended before I thought it would. I understand why but I think I would have liked if it had gone to the end of the resolution? The whole mood of the book is funny and witty. I really liked it overall.

Admitting their debt to Terry Pratchett, this is the sex positive, fantasy fuelled, sequel-of-a-sorts to Rowland's breakout hit A Taste of Gold and Iron, and infused with the same queer but quotidian sensibility.

Running Close to the Wind introduces the glib, unblessed-in-the-height-department, huckster of an anti-hero in Avra, supernaturally lucky but not the cleverest person the room—and as sexually precocious as a rabbit on the first day of Spring; his one-time paramour and nemesis, the ungendered and mysterious Captain Teveri; and the perfectly handsome and imperfectly celibate monk Julian, looming over them both like the holy love child of Ryans Reynold and Gosling.

If you wanted to know what might have happened on a queer version of Dread Pirate Roberts' very own ship, you've come to the right place. This is a riotous, sex positive wonder of a fantasy romp, and fully indebted to Terry Pratchett's irreverent reverence for the genre. It lands full-blown with three fascinating characters who just won't shut up and keep getting under each other's collars in the worst and sexiest of ways.

And what's more, this novel features (no spoiler) the most effed-up GLORIOUS cake competition ever committed to literature, that is, a PIRATE cake competition and all that that implies. Imagine Drag Race with cake. And knobs on. And sprinkles. (Multiple entendres very much meant, thank you very much.)

Look: come for the unabashed polysexual shenanigans of a pirate ship's crew; and stay for the world-building, the genuine laugh-out-loud humour, and a cake competition to top all cake competitions anywhere, in any era.

Cake.

This was possibly one of the most fun books I have ever read! I was absolutely delighted the whole way though, and I loved seeing the world of Rowlands' books from a very different perspective. I can't wait to tell regular customers about these terrible gremlin characters

I am so incredibly worried that people will DNF this after 100 pages, and it breaks my heart. Listen--I've been there. I had doubt, and I'm on my knees begging for forgiveness. All the silliness and frankly outrageous character decisions in the beginning of this book will make the final pay-off so ridiculously sweet you'll be in tears. There's an unspecified amount of crime I'd commit for Avra Helvaçi. Please--if you're on the fence about this one, or have started reading and are ready to slam the pages shut after one or ten jokes too many: stick with it. You've got the whole range of human emotion to experience, sometimes all at the same time!
TL;DR: KEEP READING! Pirate adventures, heartbreaking character revelations, cake competitions, laugh-out-loud humour and the OT3 of a lifetime are waiting in your future!

Review contains mild spoilers!

Genuinely had started to enjoy this book despite all the criticisms I had, then the ending just happened kind of suddenly, kind of like a door being slammed in your face. I was sitting at somewhere between a 3 and 4 star until this point.

The book takes almost nothing seriously, but for the occasional beats with the characters which I really appreciated as someone who loves a character-driven story. I spent a significant amount of time worrying that there wasn't going to be much more to Avra's character other than being a "silly little slut". Turns out he does have hidden depths, and I think the way these came across was very in keeping with the tone of the story - which is a compliment I can definitely give, because the tone and general vibes are very consistent throughout.

I will say, I'm not a person who deliberately seeks out smut or spice in books, I tend to avoid it whether on purpose or by accident. However in this case, it felt extremely odd for Avra to spend the entire book being silly-horny and making a big deal out of getting laid only for these scenes to fade-to-black. And one of the biggest things that Avra, the main character, constantly whines about is Julian's vow of celibacy. Only when Julian finally decides to break that vow, that's when the book ends? So there isn't even a satisfying conclusion to that whole debacle. We also hear a lot about Avra's supposed "luck" and it's made to be a big deal mentioned a lot, but we never explore that. Which leads me into my next criticism: I felt like there was a lot of lore or context I was missing at times. This could be because the book is set in a fantasy world that has already been established in Rowland's other books, or maybe Rowland just didn't feel it was needed considering this book is just Avra's horny shenanigans with plot being kind of a secondary thing.

In one of my notes, I described this book as being like that weird uncle you meet for the first time at a family gathering and he says the most out-of-pocket weird stuff. And at first you're like "what the hell is this guy on?" But after spending some time with him and having a couple of drinks, you start to vibe and enjoy his company and you can laugh at the stuff he says (I did laugh a lot when reading this book), but you never stop thinking he's kind of a freak.

I think ultimately for me, the book ventured too far into being silly and didn't connect with anything deeper or more substantive in a way I would have liked in order to find it satisfying. There were avenues left unexplored, the ending was kind of jarring, and I felt I was missing context or world-building from Rowland's other books. I enjoyed Avra, Teveri, and Julian as characters separately and together, and I think the more grounded aspects of them was done very well and in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book. I laughed very genuinely several times (disclaimer: I'm not saying the humour is particularly intellectual, I'm just saying I like jokes about sex and I like characters being melodramatic on purpose). Based on this book, would I read any more of Rowland's work? Not likely. Would consider reading a sequel depending on what it promised to be about, but again, not sure on that one because this one left me so disappointed.

A shame, because I wanted to like it, it has so many of my favourite things: pirates, queers, silliness, characters with hidden depths, and the objectification of a man with a great set of tits.

When I received an ARC of this book, I was so excited because I really loved two books by this author last year, and I really love funny books and stories with pirates.
But this was not what I was expecting, and after browsing some early reviews, it looks like I am not the only one.
 
The first couple of scenes of the book were actually funny, and I thought I was going to love this, but then the tone never really changed, the scene kept repeating, and the humor just got worse.
The main character (apparently a 35-year-old man) is only interested in sex and annoying the captain of the ship and has really no depth at all.
If you don't mind the type of humor used in this book and you find the plot interesting, then this is the book for you.
Sadly, for me, it was not, and after a hundred pages, I could not force myself to continue.

A sort of romantic comedy brimming with pirates, lewd jokes, sea serpents, cake competitions, and more - if you like high seas hilarity and dramatic relationships, this is one to check out.

It definitely took some time for me to get into this, as I found the main characters pretty unbearable at the start. Tev is horribly rude and takes advantage of Avra in a way that I find really uncomfortable and mean, and Avra is very childish, hyperactive, and attention seeking. Their interactions were off-putting at the beginning, and continued to be a bit jarring and odd as I read. However, as the story developed I started to find Avra in particular very likeable despite their simple character traits. Plus, with Julian thrown into the mix I could not wait to see how things resolved romantically.

While there are TONS of sex jokes throughout, there are some heavier themes running through the book as well - questions of political rebellion, intellectual freedoms, and the weight of trauma... It's subtle at points, but Tev, Avra, and Julien are all seeking a better way forward and that brought much needed warmth to this otherwise chaotic and frivolous story.

That being said, the humour is by far the best part. The Captain screaming scene had me laughing out loud, especially when Oskar whimper cried after Avra spoke the word to Teveri - it was hysterical!

I was a little let down at the end - while they came to some discoveries, nothing felt truly resolved or concluded. The luck, formula, political situation, theft, and ongoing issues between the three romantic interests were all in limbo. I felt like Avra at the beginning of the book - marooned in a rowboat and left to drift at sea alone...

Overall, a fun and enjoyable pirate adventure, and the ending leaves this world open to be explored more in future (hopefully).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were endearing, the humour was perfectly silly, there were actually some great emotional moments and the plot was so much fun. The author mentions that they initially wanted to make the story gritty and dark, but I can't imagine the cake competition not being a vital part of the story. The plot was actually well developed, and there were some really fun twists. I think Avra's luck was also used as a pretty interesting device throughout. I will say, however, that if you do not like Avra as a character, the book will probably be downright unreadable. He does have character development, but since the book is written from his POV and he has a strong personality, he might turn people off.
Docked the quarter star because there's a couple of things that bothered me, but it's still wonderful. This is my third book by the author and they've all been different vibes and I've loved them all.

I really enjoyed this book!

This story is a low stakes pirate adventure about Avra, a semi retired Intelligence agent with unnatural good luck. We follow him as he ‘accidentally’ discovers his country’s most important and well guarded secret which he then shares with his ex because of ‘reasons’ and they work together to find a way to sell it for profit. There’s also a sexy monk with a vow of celibacy.

I adored the writing style. I would agree that if you enjoyed our flag means death you will enjoy this book. It’s funny and chaotic and ridiculous in the best of ways . The writing is quite vulgar , as you would expect a pirate novel to be, yet immensely entertaining. I cackled out loud at various points whilst also blushing in second hand embarrassment. Nothing is mean spirited though, it’s all in good fun.


Avra is absolutely ridiculous. His mind is constantly focused on activities of a sexy nature and yet, I found him to be endearing and genuine when it mattered. Though at times, annoying, you easily forgive give him for that because he is so entertaining. And surprisingly, even though sex is on his mind 24/7 there’s no actual graphic sex.

Julian and Tev are wonderful characters aswell. Julian’s patience is legendary and Tev is the long suffering caretaker of his chaotic crew.

The plot is simple, the pacing slow but never boring. And you would think that this would be to the detriment of the story yet it is not. The enjoyment comes from seeing these different characters come together and somehow find a way to work together, and work together well, even if it takes them a while to overcome the many hilarious obstacles in their path.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s well written, hilariously chaotic and yet also manages to have a lot of heart. A wonderful, piratey novel that stays true to its nature of not caring about what anyone else thinks. Absolutely recommend!

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC. These opinions are my own and I am sharing them voluntarily.

I will be posting this review to my Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon and Waterstones.

I struggled with RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND at the beginning (and a fair bit into the middle). I absolutely adored Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron – I gave it five stars a year ago and again when I reread it last month. RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND is set in the same universe and references an event in ATOGAI but has a completely new setting and cast. What threw me though, was that the actual tone of the book is so difference. RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND is more quirky, more sassy and more humorous in a way that I wasn’t really ready for.
There are two covers for RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND – I’m not sure which is UK/US or whatever, but the red one I saw made it look like a closer match to the fantasy romance vibe of ATOGAI, the green cover I’ve included in this post gives (I feel) a better sense of the irreverent tone in RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND itself.
When I did get really immersed in RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND though, I found myself really hooked, partly on the adventure (sea serpents and pirates, oh my!), partly on the craziness (a baking competition where you must insult your competitors, or Avra’s impossible luck that always pays off in the most interesting ways) and by the will-they-won’t-they-(in which combination) romance between Julian, Avra and Teveri.
It's different from Rowland’s other writing, but once you get used to that, RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND is a lot of great fun.
I think it’ll be one that splits opinions.
I’m firmly in the won-over camp now, and I’d like to reread at some point, to really enjoy Avra and his cannonball personality to the full.

I absolutely loved A Taste of Gold and Iron, it was my favourite book in the year I read it. This book is nothing like it, at all, the writing style is completely different. It's meant to be a wacky, humorous style, but most, if not all, of the jokes are sex-based and it's just too much. The jokes/references feel constant and it's not my type of humour at all. It doesn't help that our main character (who is 35 and reads like a child due to his level of immaturity) directs most of these jokes and sexual advances towards two other characters who have made it clear they are unwelcome and one of which has a current vow of chastity. It was very uncomfortable to read and I think had either of the other two characters been a woman (one is male, the other non binary) more people might have had an issue with this and read it as sexual harassment and objectification.
The plot was lacking in substance and the characters were all caricatures of themselves. When I described the book to my OH he said it sounded like an over-the-top anime, which I agree with.
I would have given this book 1 star, if it weren't for the cake competition. That I actually did think was brilliant and funny and pulls it up a whole star for me.
On a different note, I haven't seen Our Flag Means Death that this is compared to, but please, I beg of publishers, stop comparing everything to Six of Crows! It's never true and always disappointing.

OK so.......regrettably I had to DNF this book.......the writing style had massive potential and so did the storyline as I am a MASSIVE pirate story fan, I really am BUT this was just a bit to eccentric for my taste.

I am so gutted as I was loving the characters, especially Avra but it was all just a bit much for my taste sadly.

I love love love the cover of the book which is what initially caught my attention.

Please bear in mind that this is my opinion only and I am sure that the book will be very popular with other people.

I am just sad that it wasn't for me because I wanted to love it so much!

This book was not entirely what I expected, but I did enjoy it. If you've read a Taste of Gold and Iron, this book is set in the same world and references some events of that books (mainly the break in in the Shipmaker's Guild), but at the same time it's a very different kind of book. Where a Taste of Gold and Iron was serious in tone, sincere and romantic, this book takes nothing seriously.

Running Close to the Wind follows Avra, an Arasti man who works as a field agent for Intelligence. How he got and kept this job, I have no idea. At the start of the book, he's stolen a very expensive Arasti secret. By accident. He has a streak of unexplainable luck and figured he'd test it by breaking into the Shipmaker's Guild because someone recently tried and failed to do that. He succeeded, accidently stumbles into a secret safe and finds a recipe that is supposed to ward of sea serpents.

He runs to the open sea, and entirely by accident ends up back on his ex's ship, grumpy pirate captain Teveri (whose grumpiness seems justified, I'd also be fed up with Avra's antics at this point). Here he also meets sexy monk Julian with a very unfortunate vow of celibacy. Together, they try to figure out a way to sell the secret for max profit.

I quite liked Brother Julian as a character, and Teveri too, though Avra at times did test the limits of how much I could handle. Avra pretty much only ever thinks about sex, and this book is incredibly horny even though there are no on page sex scenes. I cannot take Avra seriously as a character, but I don't think you're supposed to.

I liked the commentary at the end, though it is funny how much the government of Arast gets criticized here considering the previous book was about the prince of that country.

The book leaves a lot of things unclear and unexplained, and the ending was rather abrupt, but I do think it works. There's some scenes that I'd usually see keep going on for way too long (pages of Avra complaining about his fate as an alley rat beseeched by possums), but here it works because it has this comedic effect, but you do need some patience for Avra's antics.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy pirate comedy, OFMD fans, and people who liked the humor in Voyage of the Damned. This is similar but much worse.

This is advertised with being in the same world as “A Taste of Gold and Iron” but be aware this is VERY different tonally!
“Our Fag Means Death” is probably a good comparison – it also has over the top humor and pirates!

I’m giving it 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars, since a lot of the things I didn’t like were just my personal preference.
The start of the book is very over the top, funny, ridiculous – not much is taken seriously (in the book generally, but even more so at the start). For me, this also felt like it took a while before the characters had any more depth than a caricature of themselves, and before the plot actually starts to get really interesting.

Read this if you want a fun adventure with shenanigans and hijinks, half-baked plans, a queer-normative world, a whole ship and island of quirky characters, generally a comedy with an underlayer of character plot and backstory which often includes them breaking away from the norms of the world (They are pirates after all).
The themes are more focused on the pirates as a society than on pirates attacking people on the high seas, and more on the lucky and unlucky situations everyone gets into than on actual heist plots.

For me personally, some things didn’t quite work out. At the start, I had trouble really connecting with Avra as the POV character, since while he is funny and chaotic, at the start that is almost all he is – later on, he and all the other characters get more depth.
It could have had a little less of what I would call “horniness”, since a lot of the character motivation is trying to get laid by specific other characters, and many scenes and interactions refer back to mentions of that. There are no actual sex scenes on page, but the sentiment is there throughout the whole book. If that is your trope, then absolutely read this! It just happens to not be my favourite trope.

All in all I really enjoyed the book more and more as I read on, when we get more character and story depth, more plot development, all while the overall funny tone keeps up, just enhanced with the additional substance. By the end I was thoroughly invested!

The book overall shows more a window to the lives of these characters, a lot of things happen before the book starts and some are implied after the book ends – this works well enough storywise, but left me wanting a bit more.
All in all, I absolutely adore Julian as a character, and it’s absolutely amazing how nicely all of them mesh together in the story.


A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

The first thing to know is Running Close to the Wind is entirely ridiculous. Humour is very subjective and this didn’t always hit the right spot for me, but it was worth reading for the cake competition alone!

When Avri returns to the ship, he finds Teveri has hired a sexy new member of crew, a mysterious monk. He’s a little jealous, but also he cannot believe a celibate monk can be that sexy and also a pirate. He must have some secret, and Avri will use his wiles (unsuccessfully) to find out.
It’s very sex positive. Avra wants to have sex with his captain and with Brother Julian. It seems at he’s happy to have sex with anyone. Since Julian is celibate, it was a bit close to harrassment that Avra would keep going about it, trying to tempt him to break his vows.

I still don’t really know what makes a dildo spooky. Is it scary? Themed? Magic? There’s also a spooky dentist mentioned a fair bit. I felt like an old person not understanding what the kids are saying!

The cake competition is a bit random, I’ll admit. Teveri’s crew is hired to guard a cake, but that’s not the only responsibility. No, they must also never be heard whispering a word of praise for any of the other competitor’s cakes, so they go round insulting them at every opportunity. Pirates take their cakes very seriously!

*ARC Review (NetGalley)*

What I loved:

I laughed a lot with this book, especially in the later parts of the story - the Cake Competition was one of the funniest payoffs I've read in ages! While Avra takes a little while to get used to (especially if you're not into dialogue-driven narratives or intentionally annoying main characters), you find he grows on you so slowly that, all of a sudden, you have fallen in love with him. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! Running Close to the Wind also feels effortlessly diverse: it has multi-cultural, non-binary and queer representation on every page and feels so rich because of it - RCttW shows just how easy it is to cater to every taste, and more books should take note!

What I didn't love:

All of the sex in this book is behind closed doors! Despite the characters, especially Avra, being very vocal in talking about sex, role-play, kinks etc., I was slightly disheartened to never have the pay-off of an actual sex scene between any of the characters. Saying that, graphic spice is not to everyone's taste, so this actually could be a "pro" for many readers - hence why I'm mentioning it! As I mentioned above, it did take me quite a while to get into the story (truthfully at least 3/4 in before I was really enjoying myself) but I'm glad I persevered - it was worth it!!

4.5⭐️

Firstly, anyone who knows me knows that I am feral for anything remotely pirate-y. I love pirates. And queer pirates??? Yes please. So I knew before reading that I would at least love that part of this book.

What I wasn't expecting was how much this book made me cackle with laughter, I was literally smirking, giggling, kicking my feet reading this! Avra was just everything, I mean, I knew from the first page of this that I would love him. His hilariously outlandish personality was so endearing and I personally ADORE the consistently hugh energy flurry of words that is synonymous with Avra. I just loved the characterisation, I felt a strong affinity with him especially on the whole 'talk until someone stops you' front. I loved all of the characters to be honest, I just had a really great cosy time.
I think that if you go into this book expecting that OTT, unhinged and chaotic humour it is an excellent read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Alexandra Rowland for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Pan MacMillan, and Alexandra Rowland for a copy in this in return for an honest review!

Running Close to the Wind was a fun, fantastical, humorous romp of a book! Based on the blurb I was expecting something a bit more serious, but I was delighted to discover I was wrong. Took me a little while to get into the swing of it, but I was entirely won over by the wild, fun, and obscene characters that litter this book!

Rowland has an entirely unique, and deeply amusing, style of writing. Her world, and the world building she establishes throughout, treads an unusual line; on one hand a serious, anti-colonial, and politically charged setting, on the other a place where men are called 'Eel-Faced Yusin', carve skulls in cliff-faces, and occasionally languish seductively on the top of wardrobes... whilst fighting friends off with tiny knives.

This book was also one filled with relationships, both romantic and familial. It is easy to fall in love with these characters, because you can see why those around them do. That being said, I think this is a rare example of a work that talks about sex a lot, and I do mean a lot, but is in fact closed door. An unusual. but not unpleasant, dichotomy.

I also really enjoyed the framing devices Rowland uses, including defining the tarot-like Heralds cards, and giving us snippets of Tev's Captain's log. This novel is wholly it's own. For some this will be an immediate 5 stars, it looses marks from me, just because it was so far from what I think the cover, and blurb suggest, and it definitely threw me off for a few chapters.

Overall, a really well thought-out and unique adventure story, rife with emotion and excitement. If there is a sequel, I will be reading it!

DNF at 23%
God!! I wanted to like this book so so much! Like - I adored Six of Crows, I loved Our Flag Means Death, anything that promises a combination of the both should have been a nailed on four stars minimum for me, but this unfortunately didn’t deliver. I felt like I couldn’t connect to the characters at all - there was absolutely no reason to, because they didn’t feel real? Like, almost every single line was quippy one-liner and whilst at first it was funny they grew old quite quickly. Plus the fact Avra was supposed to be 35 did not feel believable, just based off how he went about things ?? Like I dunno. If the humour was dialled down by like. 20%. I probably could have finished but it was just very very overbearing.

I also felt like quite a lot of the humour relied on random = funny, which sometimes work, but quite often it didn’t in this.

There was also very little plot some 20% in which just made reading this a bit of a drag - I just felt like character focus to plot was very unbalanced which didn’t actually help with connecting to the characters because they just weren’t doing very much.