I quite enjoyed this one, it was such a different writing style and perspective than I'm used to. Avra as a main character is hilarious when he's not being incredibly annoying and I really enjoyed the diversity in this one as well as it's frank discussions on sex and sensuality that still felt believable to the story.
What I didn't enjoy was that it ended extremely abruptly, I'm not sure if there's intended to be further books but it doesn't appear so right now and it felt like a lot of the plot was still left waiting to be resolved, it very much ends in a 'let's see what happens' place. But perhaps that was intended, with the real crux of the book meant to be focused on character development and interactions rather than a detailed plot.
I would recommend this one to enjoyers of humourous fantasy, with a caveat that while Avra does grow as a character throughout, his main personality does stay the same and could be frustrating if you're not a fan of unlikeable characters as I am, so if you find that you're not enjoying his perspective by a few chapters in then this may not be the read for you.

This book was a surprise in a lot of ways. I've only read one other book by Rowland - 'A Taste of Gold and Iron' - and as this was in the same world, I thought there would be a similarity in tone. There isn't. Our main character, Avra, is a chaotic and desperately dramatic character with a tendancy to fall into curious circumstances. Sarcasm, slapstick humour, and desperate flirting abound, and are underpinned by extremely well-fleshed out characters and deep emotional turmoil.

Despite receiving a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I bought this book as soon as I saw it in a bookshop. Wildly enjoyable, but be prepared for Shenanigans.

What a fun romp! Absurdist humour and unhinged hijinks in abundance. These queer pirates are on a fast paced adventure. Surprisingly, despite the rampant horniness and dick jokes, there were no sex scenes (not a good or bad thing, just an observation). My only issue is that the unrelenting humour and tone meant that this was very light hearted and so probably won't be a book that stays with me for very long.

I've loved previous works by Alexandra Rowland, and A Taste of Gold and Iron is one of my favourite books, so I had high hopes for Running Close to the Wind, particularly as it is set in the same World as AToGaI.
Unfortunately, I didn't connect with Avra, one of the main characters and the main POV character of the story. I found him irritating and immature - he was constantly horny and making sexual jokes and came across mainly as annoying rather than as sex positive. Frankly, I could see why Tev locked him away, and I wouldn't have been mad if he'd stayed locked away and we could have had a different lead instead.

I didn't post any reviews to my socials as I prefer to keep reviews on there positive. Thanks for the eARC.

Not downloaded in time to review due to being locked out of NetGalley. Best of luck, and I hope to read this in the future. :)

Great world building, lovable characters and entertaining writing style. A story that makes you laugh. What more could you want?

Avra Helvaçi, a former intelligence agent, has inadvertently stolen the world’s most valuable secret, forcing him to flee to the open sea. Desperate, he turns to his ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār, to help him sell the secret in the pirate haven of the Isles of Lost Souls. But with a relentless Araşti ambassador tracking their every move, a mysterious new crew member with a vow of celibacy, and a dangerous sea serpent breeding season looming, their plan is anything but straightforward.

This adventure is packed with wit, complex relationships, and a thrilling plot that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The characters are full of personality, navigating not just the dangers of the sea, but also the guarded emotions and intricate dynamics between them. The story is a wild ride that’s impossible to put down—both fun and thought-provoking, with plenty to say about loyalty, trust, and the quest for freedom.

I found myself pulled in by the characters and the world. I love how this author crafts their queer characters. However, where I struggled was the fast-pacing and sense of chaotic-ness to the piece. I felt bounced around, back and forth and needed it to feel more linear at times. I moved from the audio to the ebook and that helped my find my place a bit better.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This is such a fun romp of a novel - what's not to like about pirates? I think your enjoyment of this book probably directly correlates to how annoying you find Avra, but I definitely acclimatised to his character (which is A LOT) throughout the book and I found the relationships between the crew and others living in the Isles of the Lost Souls very realistic. The ending was perhaps a little dissatisfying as I wanted to see how it all panned out, but I understand why Rowland left it there. More please!

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the e-Arc.

I was very excited to receive this as I expected a fun and pirate filled adventure. Unfortunately for me, I do not believe I am the target audience for this book. I struggled from the get-go with the pacing of this book and did not get invested in the majority of the characters. Alongside this, the overly sexual type of humour did not do it for me. The majority have received this book well and loved it, so I believe this is more a case that the writing and humour style are just not for me personally.

A minor note to also mention is that the e-ARC I received had some typesetting issues in which multiple letters were missing from the start of sentences - which also influenced my reading experience of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance reader copy,

I hadn’t read anything by this author before but had heard good things of A Taste of Gold and Iron.

I went into it expecting comedy but also some sort of story which would keep me compelled to continue reading. I found the characters started to get very annoying and the humour missed me a lot.

This was a long read for me but I imagine there are parts that will appeal to some readers.

six of crows meets our flag meets death. It was hilarious with such lovable characters! I need more!

Running Close to the Wind - A queer pirate fantasy adventure full of magic and mayhem by Alexandra Rowland is a fun. light-hearted romp, playful and engaging.

Avra Helvaci has found themselves in a little bit of a pickle with extensive swashbuckling and flourishes. Avra has been a bit light-fingered and got their hands on a devastating secret, meaning there is nowhere safe to hid out until it can be offloaded to the most convenitent buyer. Nowehere that is, apart for the midline, the high seas.

Avra cannot achieve the mission alone and has no choice but to team up with their ex, Captain Teveri Az-Haffar. With a cast and crew of colourful charaters, quick wit and wry humour, I loved every minute of this page-turner


Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan | Tor and the author Alexandra Rowland for this ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

As a huge Our Flag Means Death fan I should have loved this but ultimately I just couldn't get into it and felt no desire to continue reading.

I kept hearing this was a silly book and I love silly, but this isn't the sense of humor that works for me. I gave it a try, but I had to put it down because I need a little bit more than humor to get me through a book. The plot was a bit absurd and for a book that's over 400 pages, that just didn't work for me. If this was a novella, I think I would've liked it a lot more.

Thank you to Panmacmillian/Tor and Alexandra Rowland for giving me the opportunity to review Running Close To The Wind.. This should have been a fun read with swashbuckling pirates and high seas adventure in the pursuit of treasure - unfortunately I couldn't get passed chapter one with the poor formating and disliking the characters. This wasn't the book for me and I tried to read it twice as I should have loved this like a couple other pirate stories I have gobbled down this year. Sadly this one didn't hook me.

The queer, fantasy, and pirating elements in this book initially intrigued me, but the execution fell short, resulting in a rather lackluster reading experience. The protagonist, Avra, was particularly grating—his personality and especially his way do things were exhausting to follow, making it difficult to connect with him or care about his journey. The plot's pacing was uneven, causing the story to drag and fail to maintain my interest. Despite its potential for thrilling adventure, the book lacked the excitement and engagement I had anticipated, leaving me bored and disappointed.

Additionally, the book's attempt at humor fell flat, with many jokes coming across as cringeworthy rather than amusing. The narrative felt cluttered, trying to convey too much without achieving any meaningful impact. Overall, the story was bland and forgettable, failing to deliver the captivating, adventurous tale I had hoped for. Despite its promising premise, this book ultimately did not live up to my expectations, earning a middling 3 out of 5 stars.

Not a good but also bot bad. I just don't know what to rate.

We all know I LOVED ATOGAI so I’ve been highly anticipated this new book set in the same world and I’m going to be honest, it wasn’t entirely what I was expecting so I actually found it really hard to narrow down a rating for this one!

RCTTW has a MUCH different vibe/tone to ATOGAI, it’s a lot less serious but I’m not really mad about it like it’s not a direct sequel at all, you don’t need to have read ATOGAI (although there were a couple of nods to ATOGAI!) and I found myself giggling away as I was reading several times. This book truly gives Our Flag Means Death vibes with the way it was so completely unserious and a little bit silly!

I loved Avra, he’s chaotic and ridiculous but in a good way and Tev is the perfect counter to him with how much more serious they were…then there’s Julian who perfectly strikes the balance between them and helps the two of them actually manage to communicate properly! I genuinely really did enjoy both the queer rep (and the queer normative world!) and the poly rep but my one teeny, tiny gripe with this is the lack of romance. I’m not really that bothered about there being spicy scenes or not, buuutt the romance in Rowland’s other work is top tier and I’d hoped for more swoony and fluffy moments, but a lot of the romance in this is (much like the spicy scenes) closed doors.

Ultimately, the romance isn’t really the focus of this one. It’s exes to lovers with a developing poly relationship, which was fun because I enjoyed the banter and the bickering between all three of them, but ultimately it’s a fun, silly little romp as they try to figure out how to make use of the secret that Avra stole and their quest to find answers.

The side characters are memorable, there’s some heartwarming moments (I LOVED Cat’s declaration of his intentions to be friends with Avra!), there’s tension as news of the theft leaks and the Ambassador starts investigating, there’s also a lovely little trip to an island to capture a unique pair of dogs, sea serpents AND a cake competition that I guarantee is nothing like you’re expecting. Oh, and did I mention the haunted turtles? Because I really didn’t see those coming, I can’t lie!

There’s a lot to enjoy in this one and there’s certainly never a dull moment! I really mean it when I say it wasn’t what I was expecting and surprised me in so many different ways, but I genuinely had a lot of fun reading this and it was rare for me not to at least giggle once per chapter! I’ll be honest, yeah it did take me a minute to adjust to the vibes for this one as I had expected a more serious tone similar to ATOGAI, particularly given the cover, and while I wasn’t expecting a carbon copy of ATOGAI it was just such a drastically different vibe to what I’d expected that it surprised me at first but despite the size of this book, I couldn’t help but breeze through it with the easy writing style, imagination and humour.

If you’re looking for the unserious, silly vibes and similar humour to Our Flag Means Death with equally as queer pirates and adventure, then this the one for you! It may be a little bit OTT at times and it’s certainly unhinged, but it was a hell of a lot of fun!

I learnt a couple of things from the Afterword of the hugely entertainingly filthy Running Close To The Wind that helped me recontextualise it. First Rowland wrote A Taste Of Gold And Iron, which is set in the same world (though there isn't really any crossover). I liked A Taste Of Gold And Iron, and noted that it was fundamentally a romance in Ottoman fantasy trappings, I liked the way she balanced the personal with the slowly building plot, and that she had a really good way with character interactions, particularly the transition from antagonists to lovers. The second key point from the Afterword was that Rowland realised this story only worked as a comedy, which her previous book in this world absolutely wasn't (swooning romantic melodrama, something that Rudolph Valentino would have happily kholled up for). My minor problems with Running Close To The Wind come from its comic undertones, its relentless patter distracting a reader around the more tense bits of plot (fighting sea serpents, defending cakes). That's a minor issue because for the most part Running Close To The WInd is the kind of horny pirate love triangle that can take in imperial spies, sea warfare, glowing dogs, and most importantly an absolutely deadly cake competition in its stride.

Our viewpoint character is Avra Helvaçi, an ex-imperial spy who has stolen a very important secret and now wants to sell it via his beloved ex, the pirate Captain Tevari. The problem is Tevari doesn't want Avra back in her life as he is an obsequious nymphomaniac who values sex above all else, safety in particular, and will not take no for an answer. Throw into the mix Brother Julian who has severed ties from his order who is most certainly being played by Austin Butler, attractive to all despite a vow of celibacy (part of his severing ties, as his order encouraged sex to such a degree that he once pleasured fifty-two people in one night). So on the one hand we have pirates escaping sea serpents and intrigue around the secret, and trying to be recovered by the Empire, but we also have constant bickering between Avra, Tevari and Julian, plus other crewmates, the rival pirates, and so on. The book's flow can be choppy and it is just a matter if timing sometimes as the bickering is often very funny, and the insight as to the protagonist's relationships shows a lot of nuance (there is a lovely breakdown as to the stages of sex and what Avra and Tevari are good and bad at). World-building is solid and Rowland also builds some lovely comic scenarios - not least the annual pirate cake competition at the end which will be succour to anyone who had had food stolen by a seagull. So while I sometimes found the early sections a little difficult to tune into (they really do argue about sex all the time), it also was a joy to watch this mess coalesce, and certainly the last third I burnt my way through. Any problems I had with it, I want to excuse for the difficulty, and also the imagination on show. Lots of horny fun.

Avra is a loveable, chaotic, horny hurricane, and this book was utter perfection. A beautiful cast of queer pirates and a mountain of luck pull the plot along in what should a most ridiculous and unbelievable sequence of events, and yet Rowland manages to make it fun instead of annoying. I loved every single moment of this book.