The Librarian and the Daunting TBR

Friendly warning that this review will contain spoilers.

The Song of Salt and Shadows by Seren Rose

My Rating out of 5: ☕☕☕☕

What I am sipping: Banana Bread a latte (left) from 

Terrigno’s Bakery 632 N Pearl St, Bridgeton, NJ 08302

(featured right is a smores latte that my husband ordered – he said it was delicious!)

Banana can be one of those flavors that’s surprisingly hard to get right. Sometimes it tastes a little off, and other times it’s absolutely perfect. Terrigno’s Bakery nailed it with their Banana Latte! The sweet banana paired with caramel, whipped cream, and milk created a perfectly indulgent combination—one I didn’t even realize I needed. It was delicious from the very first sip!

About: “Hunted for her blood and the scales that grant humans magic they should never wield, Eryse flees the hunters and climbs aboard a vast black ship. The crew is cursed, and in the darkness, ghosts roam the deck. As she steps aboard, a silver thread of light appears — the Glim. Believing she may be the key to breaking the curse, the captain does not let her go.”

— Description from the Amazon listing for The Song of Salt and Shadow

“If he weren’t a pirate or my captor, I might consider him handsome. Unfortunately, he is both. And the sight of him sets me alight with pure ire” (Rose 58).

What a great adventure this story turned out to be. Pirates, romance, and destiny all woven into one story. I came across it while doomscrolling and was hooked right away (no pirate joke intended). Not only was the storyline enjoyable, but Rose wrote it very well. 

Eryse became a strong heroine right from the start, which is something that I appreciate in a fmc. I feel that a majority of the stories I have read start with a “weak” female that gradually becomes stronger as the story progresses. Though I acknowledge that this often builds character – I like when authors show that a woman can be a badass and still get her epic journey in the end. Rose wrote Eryse as someone who conceived herself as someone flawed, but still knew how to defend herself and was aware of her deadly capabilities.

I also found Eryse to be a character that others could find relatable: “I was always in between the worlds, but didn’t feel at home in either of them” (Rose 141). Eryse has been on her own for quite some time. She is not fully human nor fully mermaid so she is not accepted by either one. Nor does she fully accept herself – prone to favoring her mermaid side over the human. At the same time she has quite a bit of knowledge about her mermaid side and has witnessed the dangers that come with it. She has even pushed down some of her deadly mermaid impulses to favor her humanity. 

Speaking of deadly… enter Sable Crowe. A cursed pirate captain who is, of course, remarkably handsome as he is mysterious. What I found to be the most interesting part of him is his shadow form that haunts the decks at night. But this shadow is the purest and truest part of Sable. But as some famous childhood story once told us – catching your shadow is not an easy task. Hats off by the way Rose, if this was the inspiration behind the shadow – truly genius.

I also want to make readers aware that this novel has low spice. I totally understand the vibe of wanting to be engaged in the storytelling rather than the smut and this book I would recommend to you if that is your cup of tea. But the romance is still there and we still have some steamy scenes: “My body seems to betray me at the sight of him eyeing me up, his gaze tracing every inch of me as though it is new to him” (Rose 155). But the adventure and storyline are the frontrunners rather than the romance, in my opinion.

I thought Rose did a really splendid job of describing the scenes. In particular, the sea scenes. “The Sea of Renewal glows faintly, and it pulls at my chest already, whispering promises of mending me. The Sea of Crowns fights back against its force, and the waves of the two seas clash against each other like swords” (Rose 83). The way Rose wrote was immersive and poetic and I found myself highlighting many sentences as I read.

There was, however, an unanswered question about Eryse’s mother and her mermaid clan. Though the answer may not have made a significant difference to how the story turned out, I feel that it was something that Eryse really wanted to know. What happened to her mother and is she alive? I was guessing that in the end we would meet the mother but perhaps that will be answered in a sequel.

All in all, I enjoyed The Song of Salt and Shadows. I think there is a potential for more stories with Eryse and Sable. 

Rose, Seren. The Song of Salt and Shadow: A Slow-Burn Siren-Pirate Romantasy. Seren Rose Publishing, 2026.