Sin in the Steel

By Ryan Van Loan

Book Overview

Pirates roam the seas...mages speak to each other across oceans...some gods are dead and some are merely sleeping...amazing mechanical devices change the tide of battle...and earthly wealth is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few.

Buc is determined to change all of that. The Sin in the Steel begins her quest for justice.

"If Scott Lynch wrote Pirates of the Caribbean, it'd be a lot like The Sin in the Steel."-- Tor.com

"Van Loan's swashbuckling Watson and Holmes fantasy debut is like a wild ride on a pirate ship."--K.B. Wagers, author of Behind the Throne

HEROES FOR HIRE
They Don't Come Cheap

Buc: A brilliant former street-rat, not even 18 years old, with a mind that leaps from clues to conclusions in the blink of an eye.

Eld: Despite his relative youth, a military veteran with a hidden past and Buc's partner-in-crime.

No.

In crime-solving.

It's been weeks since ships last returned to the magnificent island nation of Servenza with bounty from the Shattered Coast, putting the whole Empire at risk of economic collapse. Hired to investigate, Buc and Eld discover that the trade routes have become the domain of a sharp-eyed pirate queen who sinks all who defy her.

To fix things, all they have to do is sink the Widowmaker's ship.

Unfortunately for Buc, the gods have other plans.

Unfortunately for the gods, so does Buc.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250222591
• ISBN13: 9781250222596
• Release Date: June 2021
• Publisher: Tor Trade
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Adventure!

The Sin in the Steel is a debut novel by author Ryan Van Loan. This book is full of fun and adventure and anyone looking to get lost in a story this is a good one to do that! Two friends, Buc and Eld are hired to find out why ships that are carrying sugar keep disappearing. One of the big trading companies hire them and this is an opportunity for this team to make some serious changes in a good way. That is when the adventure kicks in. There are pirates, mages, and lots of mystery. The characters are fun and instantly likable. I loved Buc who while grew up on the streets is some kind of prodigy and the underdog which is my favorite kind of character. This book is action-packed and a lot for people to enjoy. If you are looking for some strong-minded characters mixed in with fantasy you have come to the right place. I definitely recommend and you won't be disappointed.

It was okay!

To start off my review, some of my comments are going to be probably unpopular opinions. I feel like I’ve seen this before. On a movie. With pirates, only the main character in that was a lot more entertaining, and I actually liked him. I won’t say exactly what I’m talking about, but it felt very similar to an already existing franchise. And that’s okay. I did enjoy this book, it just felt like I had seen it before when I’d liked it a lot more. Wins - Ryan Van Loans writing style is very rich. I don’t know how else to describe it, but his setting the scene, and world building was super impressive. I didn’t feel like there was a lot of fluff like I’ve noticed with books lately, and the writing flowed very easily. - Some of the characters were amazing. Chan Sha has got to be one of my top 15 characters of all time. She was absolutely amazing and I loved her - The fact that we got a book that swears as often as these characters do. It was extremely refreshing, but maybe it’s just the YA books i read. I did enjoy that Ryan didn’t mind going there Opportunities - I didn’t like Buc in the slightest. She was meant to be a very strong female hero who pushed the boundaries, and I just felt like she was a spoiled, know-it-all rude character. Eld was super uninteresting and I’ve met him before, and didn’t like him then either. - It wasn’t super original. What actually happens is different (obviously) but it just felt like it’d been done before - I don’t know why this is becoming a trend, but I really don’t like it. When we go from first person for 90% of the book, but there’s 10% that’s in third person. Those parts are extremely jarring in any novel, and I really don’t like it, and don’t understand why it’s becoming more common. - How “smart” Buc is. I’m doing a separate bullet on this solely for the fact that it wasnt a plot device to advance the story, it wasn’t necessary, but we heard a lot about the books she had read and what quotes came from it. It felt unnecessary to me. And it annoyed me the way she flaunted it. especially when she was all about books in the beginning and that’s never brought up again. - I didn’t love the ending. This would’ve been better as a stand-alone in my opinion. I will check out the second book when it comes out to see if I like it, but it could’ve definitely stood alone. All in all, I didn’t hate this book. I feel like this review is very criticizing at this point, but I did enjoy the story. It was a fun quick little read that I would’ve enjoyed a lot more when I was a bit younger. I probably would’ve liked Buc as a teenager, but as an adult she was far from one of my favorite characters. Ryan’s writing style is very unique and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the world, and hopefully the next book centers around a certain character whom I loved!

Pirates and Dead Gods galore!

Well, this certainly starts off with excitement with a roomful of dead people, an arrest and trial, a twist that makes Buc and Eld start a new case to find out about missing ships and sugar. Add in a couple of rival gods and their crazy followers and you have a very full adventure. It is best described like this: Gods, missing ships. Cannibals. Pirates. Holy artifacts. And you sent Buc and Eld into the midst of that with a paltry brig beneath their feet? Plus scary ghostships and Shambles. Buc acts a lot like Sherlock (which I think is the point) but sometimes her superiority which she doesn't bother to hide (along with the kan use) was more of a hindrance. And though she is smart, she kept getting into stupid situations by not thinking all the way through. I think she is best summed up with this : Manners are a terrible affliction. Thank the Gods I am immune. Eld on the other hand has issues due to being the only survivor after his regiment is massacred when his orders were skewed by the Sin Eater mage. He seems really old sometimes though apparently he is only 19. That was confusing but maybe because this is an ARC. It could be different in the final version. Eld is definitely nicer than Buc though and has better manners. The descriptions of the lands are well done and it is easy to visualize it. It is a mixture of first person (via Buc) and third person from various other characters like Eld, or Chan Sha. That turned out differently than I thought and I am very curious about the Sin Eaters and their god and what the Dead God's followers are trying to do.