Cello's Gate was a lot of fun, something that I've really been craving. Action packed scenes right there immediately, culminating into a thrilling adventure.

The concept of an airship crew searching for treasure sure sold me there. In this case, it has a flight crew of seven (each with different and specific roles, as pointed out in the Dramatis Personae) has a close-knit bond and high loyalty. Captain Grey leads this pack as a level-headed, balanced captain. Grey is well-described jack-of-all-trades- other than leadership, he's slightly outclassed by his crew on the specific duties, but he is flexibility in just about any situation. Most importantly though, he cares about his crew, never at all choosing to give up on anyone, no matter what type of dicey situation they are in.

The setting and plot is quite intriguing too- in this, it is a treasure hunt in a seemingly abandoned rugged island. I also do see plenty of potential of plenty of other emerging plotlines, based on the worldbuilding and the overall culture/lifestyle established from such worldbuilding. The book ends at an intriguing cliffhanger, opening up such great potential.

The writing style was a little bit different from what I am used to (present-day third-person perspective), but the prose seemed good, and it flowed quite well. Not much deadwood or tedious infodumps here, which is nice to see.

I plan on reading any subsequent books in this series. I'm appreciative of how the author marketed and advertised the book, otherwise I would not have noticed it on my own accord.

This is good - well written, well edited - but not what I was expecting. I thought I was getting steampunk fantasy; what I actually got was cyberpunk dystopia with magic, and I just don't like dystopian. It's unfortunate, because it's much better executed than most of the books I get from Netgalley, but it wasn't to my personal taste.

From the moment I started reading, I couldn't stop. I love pirates stories and this one was complete with actions, mythes and dangerous creatures. The tone of the story is set from the start as we join the team in action in the middle of a heist, which doesn't quite go as planned naturally, and from there I was hooked on the adventure to the end.

The worldbuilding is very interesting and unique with lore revolving around a mix of magical/immortal beings and mythical/militaristic knights. The mystery surrounding the stones keeps you wondering until the end about the veracity of their existence, about what is or is not hidden behind the myth, and I did not expect the twist at the end.

We have a wide variety of complex characters from whom we learn each background history throughout the story. My favorites were Grey, the captain, who wanted to be a pirate from a young age and he has no shame about it. He is a great leader and the relationship he develops with each member of the crew helps him temper the conflicts of strong personalities. And Dot, raised from a young age to become a warrior knight.

There may be something about saving the world, but the Trench crew is in it above all for the money and the thrill of adventure. They find an island, an old treasure map, dangers, traps, mazes and monsters, but that's the pirate life!

It ends on a cliffhanger with an intriguing reveal and no, I didn't want it to end! I can't wait to read about the next Hunt

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley for the eARC

This was a really unique and fun fantasy adventure. The world-building was really good, I liked the mythic Knights and the lore behind them, and the concept of sky pirates interested me immediately. Grey and Dot were my favourite characters because they both had a lot of emotional depth to them, which hopefully can be explored a bit more in the upcoming books. This blended the heist narrative with fantasy fantasically and it worked to create an overall really cohesive and fun read.

I do wish there was more queer representation - as all of the couples/love interests are m/f but maybe this will be explored further in the next book.