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anne37's review against another edition
1.0
It's a lovely book for small children.
However, if you're an adult looking for children's books that you will enjoy as an adult, this is probably not the book for you.
However, if you're an adult looking for children's books that you will enjoy as an adult, this is probably not the book for you.
annadelal's review against another edition
3.0
The book was good, but the language they used was very hard to read.
zoeandrews's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jjcrafts's review against another edition
5.0
This is a children’s book that said it was for fans of Philip Pullman which is definitely something to live up to and it didn’t disappoint. It was very magical.
The main character had a distinct voice, which I loved but I can see that some people might find it annoying. The story follows a wilful little girl called mouse aboard a ship called the huntress. Moonspirits, whalesong, being able to talk to pet hawks, old myths that turn out to be something more and a healthy dose of magic are all added into the mix to make a brilliant story that I could escape into.
The main character had a distinct voice, which I loved but I can see that some people might find it annoying. The story follows a wilful little girl called mouse aboard a ship called the huntress. Moonspirits, whalesong, being able to talk to pet hawks, old myths that turn out to be something more and a healthy dose of magic are all added into the mix to make a brilliant story that I could escape into.
alyssa_hollingsworth's review
5.0
It's hard to review a book when you were there the first time the main character spoke.
I can't approach this with anything like objectivity. As I read, I was back in the Saracen's Head holding workshop over vegetarian fish and chips. I was on the shore of Llanelli, reaching out to still Sarah and say, "Listen. It sounds like we're being followed." (It was just the mud filling in our footprints.) I watched the whales surface in Iceland, and the huge grin on Sarah's face when my nieces helped her shoot a bow. All of these things and more are bound into this book for me, and I read it through a film of memories.
I wouldn't clear those connections away for anything, not even to get to enjoy this book again for the very first time. But I venture to say, if I could remove all that sentimentality and approach this like any work of fiction, I would still declare:
This. This is a very good book.
Thanks, Sarah, for taking me along on the adventure.
I can't approach this with anything like objectivity. As I read, I was back in the Saracen's Head holding workshop over vegetarian fish and chips. I was on the shore of Llanelli, reaching out to still Sarah and say, "Listen. It sounds like we're being followed." (It was just the mud filling in our footprints.) I watched the whales surface in Iceland, and the huge grin on Sarah's face when my nieces helped her shoot a bow. All of these things and more are bound into this book for me, and I read it through a film of memories.
I wouldn't clear those connections away for anything, not even to get to enjoy this book again for the very first time. But I venture to say, if I could remove all that sentimentality and approach this like any work of fiction, I would still declare:
This. This is a very good book.
Thanks, Sarah, for taking me along on the adventure.
deadgoodbookreviews's review
4.0
Originally posted on my blog: https://chaininteraction.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/review-sea-the-huntress-trilogy-1-sarah-driver/
This is a series that starts with a bang. Whale Gods, betrayal, murder, more betrayal and hawks galore.
So what’s this about? Well it’s about a thirteen year old girl called Mouse who lives on her Grandmother’s trading ship with her younger brother and who is training to be Captain one day. There are whales in the sea that are kind of Gods, there are monsters that fly that are scared of whales, there are various tribes to which people are fiercely loyal and there’s a vague mythology of a magical crown. Let’s not forget our main character and her brother both possess different kinds of magic, she can talk to animals using beast chatter and he can sing to the whales.
Now I’m completely aware that this sounds utterly confused as well as being confusing. The thing is, this is one of those stories where any attempt to put it into words just makes it sound much worse than it is. In fact, this was actually a really fun set up for what I think is going to be a really good series.
What of our main character? I daresay there are people who are going to find mouse annoying. I guarantee she won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But what really sold it for me was that it took me until a fair way through the book to realise she was a girl. That isn’t to say I thought she was a boy before that but she was gloriously neutral. This is how you write balanced characters people, you don’t assume that all women writing in first person will at some point describe the colour/length of their hair or something to indicate gender, you make a realistic human being who thinks the way actual people do (and then you give them magical powers because you don’t want them to be too real).
I’d definitely put this more at the younger end of the teens/YA spectrum. Having said that, I, a 22 year old woman, really enjoyed this. Especially since (drumroll please) there was no love triangle! None whatsoever! Now of course there’s plenty of room for a love triangle in the upcoming books but for now I can rest easy knowing that another novelist has escaped the cliché to end all clichés.
Should you read this? Yes. It’s a fun world to be in, particularly if you, like me, adore the sea. It’s not going to be a must read for everyone but just add it to your to read shelf and see where life takes you!
My Rating: 4/5 stars
By the way: I received a digital advanced review copy of Sea from the publisher (Egmont Publishing) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all my opinions are my own and I wouldn’t recommend this if I didn’t think it was worth reading.
This is a series that starts with a bang. Whale Gods, betrayal, murder, more betrayal and hawks galore.
So what’s this about? Well it’s about a thirteen year old girl called Mouse who lives on her Grandmother’s trading ship with her younger brother and who is training to be Captain one day. There are whales in the sea that are kind of Gods, there are monsters that fly that are scared of whales, there are various tribes to which people are fiercely loyal and there’s a vague mythology of a magical crown. Let’s not forget our main character and her brother both possess different kinds of magic, she can talk to animals using beast chatter and he can sing to the whales.
Now I’m completely aware that this sounds utterly confused as well as being confusing. The thing is, this is one of those stories where any attempt to put it into words just makes it sound much worse than it is. In fact, this was actually a really fun set up for what I think is going to be a really good series.
What of our main character? I daresay there are people who are going to find mouse annoying. I guarantee she won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But what really sold it for me was that it took me until a fair way through the book to realise she was a girl. That isn’t to say I thought she was a boy before that but she was gloriously neutral. This is how you write balanced characters people, you don’t assume that all women writing in first person will at some point describe the colour/length of their hair or something to indicate gender, you make a realistic human being who thinks the way actual people do (and then you give them magical powers because you don’t want them to be too real).
I’d definitely put this more at the younger end of the teens/YA spectrum. Having said that, I, a 22 year old woman, really enjoyed this. Especially since (drumroll please) there was no love triangle! None whatsoever! Now of course there’s plenty of room for a love triangle in the upcoming books but for now I can rest easy knowing that another novelist has escaped the cliché to end all clichés.
Should you read this? Yes. It’s a fun world to be in, particularly if you, like me, adore the sea. It’s not going to be a must read for everyone but just add it to your to read shelf and see where life takes you!
My Rating: 4/5 stars
By the way: I received a digital advanced review copy of Sea from the publisher (Egmont Publishing) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all my opinions are my own and I wouldn’t recommend this if I didn’t think it was worth reading.
alexandramilne's review
5.0
Read my other book reviews at booksibled.wordpress.com
I love YA adventure novels, and when they feature whole new worlds, animals, jobs and languages AND they happen to be really well written..? I mean, what more could you ask for?
The Huntress is a ship, its Captain is the main character, Mouse’s grandmother who is as wise as she is sharp. Mouse has lived on the ship her whole life and along with her little brother and father, the crew are her family. She is headstrong and quick thinking but also quick to anger and she rarely thinks things through before she acts.
Mouse’s incredible life on Huntress is suddenly turned on its head with the disappearance of her father on land and the arrival of a man who once left the ship for greener grass. Mouse is suddenly faced with a more uncertain future and the possibility of losing the only home she’s ever known. But if that wasn’t bad enough things get monumentally worse when her brother also vanishes. Now Mouse must set off on a quest to find her brother and solve the puzzle her father left for her but she must do it alone, something she never realised she has never done before, all the while being faced with a host of new and old faces who she now must figure out if she can trust.
It’s been a while since a book pulled me along so well that I dropped it to my lap so I could talk about it with anyone who will listen. I did it about every other chapter with The Huntress and one shock took me so much by surprise that I’ve left my copy with my friend just so I have someone to be shocked with. I love how involved I got with this book and I challenge you not to feel it. The emotions and family ties that are so deftly explored through the eyes of a 13 year old girl with her life slowly crumbling around her, are clearly a big part of the series which gives it a sense of ‘coming of age’ that rarely gets such a fresh take.
This is a gem of a book. That one that you pick up as a half price bargain or an impulse buy and then end up enjoying more than the book you originally went in for. This was everything I want from YA fiction. Action. Adventure. Magic. New worlds. Honestly, I’m frustrated that the next two books in the series are yet to be published because now begins the long slow wait for more!
P.S. Love it! Love it! Love it! I devoured this book in under a week and I’ll be first in line to pre-order the next two. Magic, rolling seas, ships, intrigue and pterodactyls. What more can a girl ask for?
I love YA adventure novels, and when they feature whole new worlds, animals, jobs and languages AND they happen to be really well written..? I mean, what more could you ask for?
The Huntress is a ship, its Captain is the main character, Mouse’s grandmother who is as wise as she is sharp. Mouse has lived on the ship her whole life and along with her little brother and father, the crew are her family. She is headstrong and quick thinking but also quick to anger and she rarely thinks things through before she acts.
Mouse’s incredible life on Huntress is suddenly turned on its head with the disappearance of her father on land and the arrival of a man who once left the ship for greener grass. Mouse is suddenly faced with a more uncertain future and the possibility of losing the only home she’s ever known. But if that wasn’t bad enough things get monumentally worse when her brother also vanishes. Now Mouse must set off on a quest to find her brother and solve the puzzle her father left for her but she must do it alone, something she never realised she has never done before, all the while being faced with a host of new and old faces who she now must figure out if she can trust.
It’s been a while since a book pulled me along so well that I dropped it to my lap so I could talk about it with anyone who will listen. I did it about every other chapter with The Huntress and one shock took me so much by surprise that I’ve left my copy with my friend just so I have someone to be shocked with. I love how involved I got with this book and I challenge you not to feel it. The emotions and family ties that are so deftly explored through the eyes of a 13 year old girl with her life slowly crumbling around her, are clearly a big part of the series which gives it a sense of ‘coming of age’ that rarely gets such a fresh take.
This is a gem of a book. That one that you pick up as a half price bargain or an impulse buy and then end up enjoying more than the book you originally went in for. This was everything I want from YA fiction. Action. Adventure. Magic. New worlds. Honestly, I’m frustrated that the next two books in the series are yet to be published because now begins the long slow wait for more!
P.S. Love it! Love it! Love it! I devoured this book in under a week and I’ll be first in line to pre-order the next two. Magic, rolling seas, ships, intrigue and pterodactyls. What more can a girl ask for?
hkc2008's review
1.0
I read this as a possible library purchase, hoping it would be an exciting read for 12 or 13 year olds. I'm afraid I really didn't like it at all. The dialect and strange names felt too like Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn. The plot was slow and the book felt padded out - it felt like a good 1 volume work extended into the obligatory 3 volumes. A huge disappointment.
row's review
2.0
Perhaps I'm being unfair, because it is a middle-grade book, and I am an actual adult. But it felt like a bit of a clishmaclash of story and language and magic, without being the tangled threads being drawn out and allowed to shine (or at least for the colour to be identified). And I always resent a single plot being set up and then dragged out over multiple books. Not enough was resolved to justify that in my opinion.
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