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Verdict: A thrilling drowned-Earth pirate adventure with an award-winning world and a crew readers fall in love with, held back by a central romance that gets less page time than the ship it sails on.
Best for: Readers who want sapphic science-fiction adventure, morally grey crews and high-seas action first, and who are happy for the love story to be one thread among many.
Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 — sex on the page but brief and mostly non-graphic; readers disagree)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — a 4.32 Goodreads average across nearly 3,000 ratings, docked for an underdeveloped romance)
Tropes: Pirates, submarine crew, navigator and captain, found family, morally grey crew, hidden mission, power imbalance, dystopian future, forced proximity, slow-burning attraction.
Compass Rose by Anna Burke is the first book in her Compass Rose series from Bywater Books, published in 2018 and winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society’s debut author award — a speculative sapphic adventure set in a flooded 26th-century world, where a fleet navigator is placed aboard a mercenary submarine to guide it through pirate waters on a mission nobody fully explains to her.
It holds a 4.32 average across almost 3,000 Goodreads ratings and 4.2 across more than 370 StoryGraph reviews, and it has the kind of fans who buy copies for their friends. Its one consistent criticism is about the romance, and that is worth knowing before you set out.
What Is Compass Rose About?
Compass Rose is dystopian science fiction first and romance second. Earth has drowned, the surviving powers fight over what is left, and the seas belong to fleets, mercenaries and pirates. The ships are submarine-capable, the stakes are military and political, and the book moves at the pace of an action story. The world is the headline — readers praise it more than anything else.
Compass Rose is the Archipelago Fleet’s navigator, born with an uncanny sense of direction that makes her valuable and watched. Captain Miranda Stillwater commands the mercenary ship Man o’ War, and her first mate, Orca, is openly hostile to the fleet’s spy. The story is told entirely in Rose’s first person, which keeps the reader as uncertain as she is about who to trust — and keeps Miranda something of a mystery.
What Makes This Sapphic Pirate Adventure Work
- The world: The most praised element by far. Around fourteen reviewers single out the drowned-Earth setting and its politics.
- The action: About ten readers call it fast and gripping, and StoryGraph readers tag it adventurous and tense.
- The crew: Around nine readers love the morally grey cast, with Orca and Kraken the breakout favourites, and the found family on board.
- Rose: A competent, self-possessed heroine with a gift that makes her both valuable and endangered, and several readers note a Black protagonist at the centre of a sea adventure.
- The fandom: Readers reread it and press it on friends, and it remains a cornerstone of our list of sapphic pirate romance.
Book Synopsis
In the year 2513, the oceans have swallowed most of the world, and what remains is fought over by fleets, mercenaries and pirates. Compass Rose was born facing due north and has never been lost since — a gift that has made her the Archipelago Fleet’s most valuable navigator, and its most closely watched.
When the fleet’s admiral needs a mercenary ship to cross pirate-held waters, Rose is sent aboard the Man o’ War to guide it, and to keep an eye on its crew. Captain Miranda Stillwater is cool, commanding and impossible to read. Her first mate Orca makes it plain that a fleet spy is not welcome. The rest of the crew are a collection of hard cases with their own loyalties and secrets.
The deeper the ship sails into dangerous water, the clearer it becomes that the mission is not what Rose was told, and that the fleet she serves may not have her best interests at heart. Caught between the people who sent her and the people she is learning to trust — and drawn, against her better judgment, to the captain — Rose has to decide where her loyalty lies before the sea decides for her.
My Review
The world is the triumph. Burke imagines a flooded future with real politics, real scarcity and real danger, and the submarine-pirate setting is both fresh and convincing. Readers who do not usually read science fiction say this one pulled them in, and the book’s appetite for action keeps the pages turning.
The crew is the other great pleasure. Orca, Kraken and the rest of the Man o’ War are vivid, morally complicated people, and the found family that forms around Rose gives the book its warmth. Several readers report rereading it and recruiting friends — the kind of loyalty a debut rarely earns.
Where it struggles is the romance, and this is the single most repeated criticism rather than one reader’s gripe. Around eleven reviewers say the relationship between Rose and Miranda is underdeveloped, that the two share too little page time, and that Miranda stays opaque — a problem the single point of view makes worse. About five raise the power imbalance between a captain and the navigator under her command, and feel the attraction is physical rather than earned. A few readers felt Rose had more chemistry with Orca. Around seven say the plot loses focus in the middle, and a couple found the prose repetitive, though others praise its nautical imagery.
One expectation to reset: it is often sold as lesbian pirate romance, and the readers who were disappointed are almost always the ones who came for the romance. If you want a love story at the centre, calibrate; if you want a sapphic adventure with a romance woven in, this is one of the best.
My honest note: A superb world and crew in a book whose central romance is its weakest thread. If the love story is what you read for, it will feel thin. If you love adventure with sapphic characters at its heart, set sail.
| Element | In Compass Rose |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Compass Rose & Captain Miranda Stillwater — a fleet navigator and the mercenary captain she sails under |
| Core tropes | Pirates, submarine crew, found family, morally grey crew, hidden mission, power imbalance |
| Setting | A drowned Earth in the year 2513, aboard the mercenary submarine Man o’ War |
| Heat level | 2/5 — sex on the page but brief and mostly non-graphic |
| Series | Compass Rose book 1 — main plot mostly resolves; Sea Wolf follows and ends open; book 3 undated |
| Content notes | Violence and war, death and gore, injury and blood, genocide, bullying, alcohol and alcoholism, physical abuse, a brief reference to cannibalism (crowd-reported on StoryGraph) |
How Spicy Is Compass Rose?
A 2/5, with a caveat. I could not get a romance.io reading for this title, and readers disagree: several Goodreads reviewers say there is no explicit sex and describe the romantic heat as non-graphic, while Smart Bitches, Trashy Books mentioned great chemistry and amazing sex, and a handful of StoryGraph users tag sexual content. The fair reading is that sex happens but is brief and not the point; the tension runs through the book.
No reviewer flags kink content; the darker material is violence and war. If you want a sapphic pirate story with much more heat, Pirates of Aletharia is explicit; for a gentler YA take on the seas, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea sits in the same low band.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you love worldbuilding and science fiction, you want a found-family crew with moral grey areas, you enjoy high-seas action, and a romance subplot is a bonus rather than the point.
You may want to skip it if: you need the romance to drive the book, power imbalances in relationships bother you, a mid-book drift loses you, or you want a series that is already finished.
In short: a gripping sapphic sea adventure with a romance that never quite gets its due.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)
This book’s readership is a small-press success story built on word of mouth. It won the Golden Crown Literary Society’s debut author award and was shortlisted for others, and its fans are evangelists — one Lesbrary contributor describes recruiting more than six friends into an unofficial fan club. I found no trade reviews and no Reddit or BookTok trend. The numbers: a 4.32 average across almost 3,000 Goodreads ratings, 4.2 across more than 370 StoryGraph reviews with a 4% did-not-finish rate, and 4.7 from 721 Amazon ratings. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books gave it a B+, and LezReviewBooks 4.5. The audiobook, narrated by Annette Romano, runs about 12 and a half hours, and listeners describe the narration as flat or merely okay.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The world, first — around fourteen readers. Then the action and pace, which about ten praise. The crew, especially Orca and Kraken, wins over about nine, and several readers praise the nautical prose. Readers compare it to Firefly, Mad Max and Jules Verne, and a few to Becky Chambers.
What readers argue about and complain about: The romance, above everything. About eleven readers say it is underdeveloped, with too little time between Rose and Miranda and a love interest who stays hard to read — even some five-star reviews say so. Second: about seven say the plot loses its thread in the middle. Third: around five raise the captain-and-subordinate power imbalance and a bond based mostly on attraction. A small group would rather Rose had ended up with Orca. The genuine split is the prose — beautiful and poetic to some, repetitive to others — and the heat, which readers describe in very different terms.
The series question everyone should ask first: book one mostly resolves its plot, though Smart Bitches called the end only shakily resolved. The sequel, Sea Wolf, came out in 2021 and rates higher at 4.48 — but it ends open, and the third book has been mentioned without a release date. If you hate waiting, know that the series is unfinished.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Compass Rose a romance?
Partly. It is a science-fiction adventure with a sapphic romance at its centre, and readers consistently say the romance gets less page time than the world and the action.
How spicy is Compass Rose?
Low — around a 2/5. There is sexual content on the page, but most readers describe it as brief and non-graphic.
Does Compass Rose end on a cliffhanger?
Not fully. The main plot mostly resolves, though one reviewer called the ending only shakily resolved, and the series continues in Sea Wolf.
Is the Compass Rose series finished?
Not yet. Book two, Sea Wolf, came out in 2021 and ends open. A third book has been mentioned but has no release date.
Is there an audiobook?
Yes — narrated by Annette Romano, running about 12 and a half hours. Some readers found the narration flat.
If You Loved Compass Rose, Read These Next
For another sapphic pirate adventure with far more romance on the page, Pirates of Aletharia is the natural next stop. If the dark seas and anti-imperial politics were what held you, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea brings a similar edge to YA fantasy. And if you want pirates with a lighter heart, A Pirate’s Life for Tea trades danger for banter.
For more like this, browse our list of sapphic pirate romance books or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Compass Rose is a book whose world outshines its love story. The drowned future is brilliantly imagined, the crew is unforgettable, and the action rarely lets up. It is also a romance with too little room, a power imbalance some readers cannot get past, and the first book of a series that is not yet finished. If you want a sapphic adventure first and a romance second, it is one of the best. Check Compass Rose on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Compass Rose ranks as an award-winning small-press sapphic sci-fi adventure — immersive, propulsive and carried by its crew, held back by an underdeveloped central romance, and best approached for the world and the voyage rather than the love story.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ 4.32 average across 2,931 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 4.2 on StoryGraph, 4% did-not-finish
- ✓ GCLS debut author award winner
- ✓ Romance the dominant complaint
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Slow-burning attraction throughout
- ✓ Captain and navigator tension
- ✓ Ends with the pair together
- ✓ Too little page time for the couple
Characters ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Orca and Kraken fan favourites
- ✓ Rose competent and self-possessed
- ✓ Morally grey crew praised
- ✓ Miranda stays opaque
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ Nautical imagery praised by many
- ✓ Action scenes propulsive
- ✓ First person builds suspense
- ✓ Repetitive phrasing for a few
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4/5
- ✓ Found family lands
- ✓ Divided loyalty gives stakes
- ✓ Dark politics carry weight
- ✓ Mid-book drift dulls momentum
Heat Level ★★☆☆☆ 2/5
- ✓ Sex on the page but brief
- ✓ Mostly non-graphic, per readers
- ✓ Tension runs throughout
- ✓ Readers disagree on explicitness
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Main plot mostly resolves
- ✓ Couple together at the close
- ✓ Sequel rates higher
- ✓ Series unfinished, book 2 ends open
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ Fans report repeat rereads
- ✓ World rewards revisiting
- ✓ Sequel draws readers back
- ✓ Audiobook narration flat
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