The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A J Fitzwater
I would like to thank Catherine from Queen of Swords Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Queen of Swords Press
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £2.26 Kindle eBook
Dapper. Lesbian. Capybara. Pirate.
Cinrak the Dapper is a keeper of secrets, a righter of wrongs, the saltiest capybara on the sea and a rider of both falling stars and a great glass whale. Join her, her beloveds, the Rat Queen Orvilla and the marmot diva Loqolchi, lead soprano of the Theatre Rate-oyal, her loyal cabin-kit, Benj the chinchilla, and Agnes, last of the great krakens, as they hunt for treasures of all kinds and find adventures beyond their wildest dreams…
One of the things I love in fantasy is the sense of wonder. Middle Earth, The Six Duchies or Discworld all create fascinating unusual worlds you always feel there is a great amount of wonder to explore. I also love to enjoy adventure – we don’t always need darkness in our lives but the pure joy of exploring and finding out new things that good things can happen to good people when we think of stories like questing knights; and finally I do on occasion also love talking animals in tales such as Redwall or Wind in the Willows. Imagine if you could get a tale combining all three? Well I no longer need to as AJ Fitzwater has brought us the tales of the famous pirate capybara pirate Cinrak the Dapper!
This is a collection of seven adventures set in a world filled with various talking creatures primarily rodent based and no humans in sight. Cleverly Fitzwater starts with effectively the origin tale of Cinrak who we meet as a young curious capybara orphan strongly resisting her guardian’s desire for her to stay as an adult and manage the orphanage. Cinrak instead is entranced with the various pirate ships that dock in the local harbour with tales of adventures and mysterious lands; she would love to work on a ship of her own. She soon meets her eventual mentor the mysterious pirate powerful pirate Mereg who sees something special in Cinrak’s shrewd negotiating skills and her hunger for adventure - a life as a cabin-kit and more beckons.
In future tales we see Cinrak now starting her own career as the famous pirate Cinkrak the Dapper - Captain of the Impolite Fortune. She plunges into peace talks with the crafty Felidae aided by a slightly incendiary phoenix; finds love with both the Rat Queen and the best soprano in the land; she races lassoing falling stars to win fame and fortune; then starts discovering the secrets of the kraken; harvests a magical bearded volcano and explores the weird and wonderful graveyard of the whales. Along the way she also discovers the secrets of the religion of her people; helps a young cabin girl become the boy she wishes to be and that riches are not always the most precious jewels.
It’s not a tale of blood, sweat and toil – its wonderfully drawn characters exploring and finding out how their world works. The stories are loosely connected, all linking in with a wonderful world where the stars are alive; that Krakens can be called Agnes and importantly learning the acceptance of who you really are (and others) is a theme. There will be some rolling their eyes at the idea of a lesbian capybara pirate but why can’t a fantasy world be as varied as the world we live in? The adventures are the heart of the story and I love how Fitzwater paints the world lightly but you can see a lot of thought has gone into their world from the concept of the friendly pirate group known as the Independent Rodents Aquatic Trade Entente (IRATE – who put the IRATE into pirate!) with sentient stars, volcanoes and a world that feels full of potential. These are stories were full of joy, compassion and fun.
In these dark and worrying times we may want something a little more relaxing to take us away from it all. These seven joyous tales will bring adventure, wonder and a smile to your face. A refreshing set of short fantasy tales that manage to be progressive and most of all a celebration of life. I heartily recommend these stories and hope you take to the high seas again soon!
