The is a low fantasy (little to no magic) set in a sort of alternate-history/universe North America/Caribbean. This is not the sort of alternate history with recognizable historical figures, it's a world with similar geography but a very different history. Even the similar geography has very different names so it's roughly based on the south east coastal areas of North America and the Caribbean islands these locations are not called "North America" or "Caribbean". The ethnic groups you'd expect are there, but their relationships are a bit different than in our world. Christianity does not exist but there is a sort of equivalent. The story is set some time after the "Calamity", a plague that utterly cuts off the old world and the "younglands". The protagonist, Ytzak is man of mixed ancestry who earns his living as a sailor, prize fighter, and sometimes laborer who desires his own ship. He is slightly better educated and slightly smarter than most others in the setting but he's imperfect and he makes mistakes.
I think one of the things that stand out are the fight scenes. Fight scenes are often badly done in literature but these are both believable (even the winner gets hurt, and needs recovery time) and the action is easily followed. Indeed, the fight scenes stand out as some of the most vivid parts of the story. There are some outright villains in the book, but most characters are shades of grey rather than black/white. We don't always find out what motivates people but when we do those motivations seemed to make sense to me, being mostly a matter of self-interest or profit.
Initially, I did have trouble caring much about the characters but as time progressed I found myself rooting more and more for Ytzak. I mostly read it over my lunch hour and the clear progression of the story made reading it in daily episodes quite enjoyable. The plot is NOT one of those baroque, overly complex mazes that almost requires note-taking to keep track of what's happening, no, this is a straight-forward adventure/action tale. Occasionally I want to smack Ytzak when he's doing something less than smart, but that's part of what makes him a well-rounded and interesting character. Although the book seems to end rather abruptly I wouldn't mind a sequel, the "further adventures of Ytzak". I was puzzled for a bit because a good portion of the book doesn't involve Ytzak sailing on the sea at all, but traveling up-river on the Mississippi-equivalent (Mahapan River). In fact, there's very little time spent on Ytzak sailing, most of the novel takes place on land of one sort or another.
While as noted, the fight scenes are very vivid, some of the rest of the world is only thinly sketched. This isn't necessarily a flaw, as quite a few adventure tales are scanty on filling in the background except where necessary to the plot but I wouldn't mind a little more background detail, a little more worldbuilding. Again, what's there is adequate to the story, I'd just like to see more - and really, any time an author gets a reader to want more that's usually a good thing. This is not the lush background of, say, Lord of the Rings but more the somewhat scantily drawn background of the old pulps. While there is character development there is not a web of complex interpersonal relationships. Ytzak is a wanderer, he doesn't form deep attachments to the people he meets in his travels.
I really did not care for the framing device for the story proper. I didn't feel it added anything and was a distraction, however, it's not an uncommon device and perhaps if it added a bit more to background it would have seemed more relevant. If you like action/adventure without a firm anchor in a specific, real time/place you'll like this. If you like straight-forward plot without complex webs of interpersonal reactions you'll like this, in fact, you may find it downright refreshing compared to the overly-long doorstops that often pass for novels these days. Great for episodic reading and diversion.
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