Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson
Read during the Trans Rights Readathon 2026
Middle grade : Illustrated : Fantasy : Pirates
First half : a wholesome pirate adventure (like Our Flag Means Death but for kiddos!)- if anything a bit predictable but it's supported by especially interesting worldbuilding.
Interlude at 50% : What is happening right now??? Suddenly I am being House of Leaves'd??? (to steal genius phrasing from this post by @degenezijde) - except it's way better than House of Leaves because I did Not care for that book. I was not expecting genuinely unsettling cosmic horror in this middle grade illustrated novel!
Second half : Woahhh hold your hxxxxx everything is happening so much! Unexpected new settings, characters, magics, backstories! I never expected this book to end up with such a breakneck and complex and layered plot, but I was absolutely along for the ride! I read the second half of this in one sitting with many excited exclamations of "What is happening!!!" out loud to my cat.
To keep it brief (and avoid spoilers): Viola and Wilmur are two kids who are living abandoned in a salt-crusted wasteland, when they are visited by the mysterious and charismatic pirate Cadence Chase. They negotiate their way onto Chase's ship, and there begin a series of adventures and misadventures on a sea that's slowing being consumed by strange magics.
I'm a bit shocked that the prevalent reviews for this book on GR are so ambivalent/negative. The biggest complaints that I have seen are that 1) there's too much going on and 2) it shouldn't be written/classified as a middle grade novel?
There is alot going on, but I think it's well handled! At this point I trust Stevenson to pull the story together, I think this is his fourth? fifth? storytelling medium that I've engaged with and I trust him to lead the plot in a satisfying direction, but this is just the first in a trilogy! Of course there will be lots of character/setting introductions and mysteries yet to be solved! I found it all exciting!
And I do also somewhat agree that this toes the line between middle grade and YA, but I think that's a feature rather than a bug? In my opinion it's never inappropriate for young readers, they are not stupid and can handle some violence and big feelings and spooky stuff. I think the tone was just right, and "older" themes like sexually-charged romance would have been completely out of place.
I thought the characters in this were amazing (obviously- Viola, Wilmur, and Chase) as well as the relationships between them. By this image at the end of Chapter 2 I knew that I would adore them and this story.
