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Child Of A Hidden Sea (2014)

by A.M. Dellamonica(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0765334496 (ISBN13: 9780765334497)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Tor Books

series

Hidden Sea Tales

review 1: A slightly disjointed tale set in a fascinating world. Even though the pacing felt choppy, and the dialogue got confusing at times (I very nearly stopped reading a third of the way in) I found myself picking the book up again and again so I could find out where it all led. Now that I've finished it, I can say that I didn't quite connect with the plot and characters as deeply as I would have preferred, but there were several aspects of the overall story and world that I thoroughly enjoyed.
review 2: I'll admit this was one of those cases where a pretty cover and an interesting title convinced me to buy a book by an author I had never heard of before. The synopsis sounded interesting enough and it has been a long time since I've read a "portal to another world" t... moreype of story so I figured I'd give it a shot, and I was pleasantly surprised. The good things: Stormwrack is a pretty interesting place. It's a world of island nations with a floating capital made up of representative ships from each nation. Plus there's a magic system that makes names sacred, heals, and can give talents. And it's a world in which both matriarchal and patriarchal societies exist and hold the same amount of power within the government system. Interesting? You betcha. Sophie was a great character. She has a scientific approach to everything, and is constantly questioning her surroundings and trying to learn everything she can. A trait which is frowned upon in a world where everything is explained with magic.Also, there are a wide array of characters in this story. Sexual orientation and gender roles were pretty much ignored. This was refreshing. The bad things: Okay maybe 'bad' isn't the right word, but anyway. Dellamonica's writing feels a bit choppy sometimes and Sophie's internal dialogue inserted throughout the prose is a bit jarring until you get used to it. The story also makes you feel as though you've been dropped about 20 pages or so in. I actually double checked to make sure I hadn't missed a prologue or something.While I liked Sophie's scientific outlook on the world, there were a few times where I wish she would have put the camera down and just looked at her surroundings without the lens. Also, Sophie's interests seemed almost too tailored to Stormwrack and though connections can be made as to why, it's never actually questioned or touched upon in the story itself. And, while the magic system fascinates me, I concluded the story with only a vague idea of it's laws, limits and uses. My hope is that Dellamonica will expand on this and the world of Stormwrack in her next novel. The last thing that nagged at me was the nicknames for poor Parrish. The fist time it was funny, when he was still being occasionally called Captain Tasty at the end of the book, it's a bit much.Will I be reading the next one? Definitely. I would love to return to Stormwrack and see how Sophie, Bram, Verena, Parrish and Tonio develop as characters. And hopefully see Dellamonica build upon this interesting world that she's started in Child of a Hidden Sea.As a closing thought, the creation of a snake tailed ferret was unexpectedly wonderful and hopefully this little creature will get more attention in the future. less

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