READ: Book Review – SeQuence. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

Title: SeQuence (The Heart of the Ocean #1)

Author: Lorraine M. L. M.

Genre: Young adult fantasy

Published: By Lorraine M.L.M on November 2nd, 2016

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

(adapted from Goodreads)

Alessia Appleton is desperate to silence the voices inside her head, but being committed to an island asylum has only made them worse. Water is the one thing that blocks Alessia from hearing the thoughts of those around her. So, when she gets the chance to escape her wardens and the voices, Alessia takes it. She dives into the sea and a giant wave drags her under. When she comes to, one thing is clear–either Alessia’s completely lost her mind, or she’s not on Earth anymore. In Zeneshia sequence takes precedence over chance, and Alessia’s arrival has set off the Foretold Sequence of Hearts, shifting the future to a dire series of choices between Life, Love, and Death.

Note: I received a free e-copy of the book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review

First of all, the character names were very different, which I appreciated. Alessia starts off as a great character, but midway through the story she’s mostly thinking about Dante, which put me off a bit. The romance between the two also reminded me a lot of Twilight and it was another case of insta-love, of which I’m not a fan. I wish we get to see more from the dreyziz, Talia and Daphne, in the upcoming books, for I think it is important for them to be represented better. I didn’t know that the book’s primary plot would be romance before I started reading, so I was a bit bored in the middle sections of the book. But the world-building more than compensated for it, in my opinion. I’m still not quite sure I understand what a Sequence is, but I enjoyed the concept. The magic system is rooted in the power of the mind and I was thoroughly captivated by that. I think that the writing was a good mix of descriptive prose and easy-to-read language. A whole new language has been created for this world, but there are translations in all the places it is used so that the reader doesn’t get confused. I’m eagerly looking forward to the future instalments, in which I’m hoping the plot thickens and the stakes are raised.

Read the full review here.

I would recommend this book to fans of YA fantasy romance and beautiful world-building. Listen to piano concert music as you read this. There is a lot of description of food, so keep a bowl of your favourite food handy.