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alyxbeau's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this on comparison to the 4th book. The love I have for this series has returned! I'm so glad we didn't have the same cast as before and instead we got to follow Hava!
I absolutely hated the loss ofTulip the cat. I swear they would have had time to find them based on the description in the books and it broke my heart to read and wonder if they would show up in a lifeboat later, one Hava wasnt in. Blueberry also broke my heart.
I found Hope delightful and enjoyed how much she really provided to the people on this journey the essence of her name.
This is certainly not going to be a book for everyone, a lot of it could be considered boring (it wasn't to me but if I see complaints I would understand why they were made) but I LOVED IT.
I absolutely hated the loss of
I found Hope delightful and enjoyed how much she really provided to the people on this journey the essence of her name.
This is certainly not going to be a book for everyone, a lot of it could be considered boring (it wasn't to me but if I see complaints I would understand why they were made) but I LOVED IT.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault
Loss of a limb (necessary amputation)imds's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Vomit, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Child death, Trafficking, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Drug use, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
lizziaha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
My main qualm with this book is that survival stories just aren’t really my thing. Luckily for me, there were other parts to this book. I particularly loved Hava’s relationships with Jacky, Linny, and Giddon. Something about the way that Hava is always expecting to be ignored or rejected and then someone (usually Giddon or Linny and sometimes Bitterblue) comes along and proves her wrong is so compelling. I love that even though there’s a broad cast of characters, each one feels distinct, and their personalities are complex, even if they don’t play a huge role in the book. The blue foxes are such a wonderful addition to the story and the way the audiobook narrator voiced them just made them so adorable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Abandonment, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Trafficking, Drug use, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Rape
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Torture, and Classism
dragongirl271's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse
leahjanespeare's review
5.0
Each of Cashore's books simply knock my socks off. Now that said, Seasparrow was more along the lines of Bitterblue. I actually did NOT like Bitterblue (person and book) as a teen, but I came to appreciate it on a new level when I reread it 10 years after publication. Winterkeep I devoured instantly. Hava's story (which is Seasparrow) reminded me a lot tone wise of Bitterblue, where it is quite long, slow, and there are a lot of slowly moving pieces, while the character goes through the growing pains of being a young adult after an extremely difficult childhood. Seasparrow deals with similar themes of young-adulthood as Bitterblue did, and like that one, I don't think I would have connected with it either if it had been released when I was still a teenager. Thankfully it didn't, so I probably over-thought that more than necessary. (nothing new there.)
Hava is a very difficult person to like. She is obnoxious, somewhat whiney, doesn't play well with others, and unwilling to share or connect with people she even considers her closest friends/family. In fact I didn't fully understand her until almost the very end of the book, maybe the last 100 pages. Hava's grace is what her mom deemed 'hiding'. She can shapeshift into anything - physics are no boundary. But the more her past is uncovered (especially since for the first time we have her own POV to narrate the story) the more I wonder about the graces in this world. Hava was a secret daughter of the tyrant King Leck. Her mom hid her existence in order to save her, Hava saw Leck eventually snap her mom's neck right in front of her. Fortuitous that her grace allows her to hide and protect herself, or turn herself to stone, which is one of her most common transformations. Are graces sometimes manifested out of need? No one knows how or why some people are born with graces, but similar to Katsa's, Hava's was integral to her survival as a child. I'm not sure that logic completely follows through, because we are told that some graces are 'silly' as in someone can hold their breath indefinitely, or singing, etc. But - fandom theory rant here - maybe these graces ARE ALL life saving at some point in the person's life, we just don't know it.
Relatedly, I can't help but connect Hava's shifting-to-stone power, especially since it happens when she's feeling very vulnerable, as a direct trauma response to her fucked up childhood. She is protecting herself in the most literal and straightforward way possible. Rarely does she feel comfortable being herself in human form and she even equates herself as being 'non human' sometimes. I can't imagine the trauma she's been through and how that affects her and her relationship with her body especially.
Now the romance in here is even more unusual than all the previous books. As the plot slowly crawled along I was becoming more curious about how it would play out. I did correctly predict the love interest, Linny. That being said, I have to wonder if Hava is aromantic and/or perhaps autistic. Her way of connecting with people (when she decides to) is not entirely predictable. So I am throwing those terms out there with kindness, and from what I understand about both, but I am neither. The ending leaves a lot of room for interpretation and is open ended in their regard.
As far as worldbuilding goes, the mysterious blue foxes we met in the previous book Winterkeep are intricately involved with the events in Seasparrow, and their mystery is a little bit unveiled. They're a little less creepy in my opinion now that I've learned more about how they work - but also the ones we encounter are a small isolated population so maybe others are still unsettling af. And since this is a sea voyage novel, many lands and environments are traversed, and within that traversing a lot of political games are happening. Bitterblue is still establishing herself as a monarch and dealing with the possibility of dangerous weapons being made and distributed around areas that aren't allies. There is a lot to keep track of, and I love seeing just more and more expanding of the world. Especially since this means endless opportunities for more future books in the realm!!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Death of parent
keikyu's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty
elskabee's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I want to thank Kristin Cashore. Mildly TMI, I have chronically dry eyes due to allergies. I'm talking eyelids feeling like sandpaper, eyedrops only working for like one singular minute before they're dry again, desert level dry eyes. So this book was exactly the kind of relief I needed since I was tearing up on a near constant basis Every. Single. 'my girl' had me misty
This is a relatively plotless book, but that's a good thing because the time spent on character development was more than enough to hold my attention. Hava is proof that a good, well-written character is not necessarily a likeable character (though I loved her), as she struggles to interact with others in conventional ways and often expects the worst intentions even without evidence. But of course she isn't mean and rude for no reason, the events in her life preceding this book make hating her even in her brattiest moments impossible. People see the good in her that she struggles to see in herself, and her journey to connect genuinely with those around her is heartbreaking and heartwarming simultaneously.
Also WOW the entirety of part two was so tense and incredibly done! I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I love survival stories and Cashore always does them so well!
This series is an all time favourite, literally nothing will ever top it, and this is possibly my favourite book in the series so far!
This is a relatively plotless book, but that's a good thing because the time spent on character development was more than enough to hold my attention. Hava is proof that a good, well-written character is not necessarily a likeable character (though I loved her), as she struggles to interact with others in conventional ways and often expects the worst intentions even without evidence. But of course she isn't mean and rude for no reason, the events in her life preceding this book make hating her even in her brattiest moments impossible. People see the good in her that she struggles to see in herself, and her journey to connect genuinely with those around her is heartbreaking and heartwarming simultaneously.
Also WOW the entirety of part two was so tense and incredibly done! I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I love survival stories and Cashore always does them so well!
This series is an all time favourite, literally nothing will ever top it, and this is possibly my favourite book in the series so far!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
princessofpages's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Grief, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Sexual violence
sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This was just as good and just as rough as Bitterblue. Cashore continues to deal with the trauma and PTSD and emotional baggage and damage caused by King Leck, this time with Hava. In a lot of ways Hava seems younger than her 20 (21?) years, but it's so clear the ways her growth has been hindered by everything she's gone through. And Cashore lets her grow without glossing over anything. Hava literally has to relearn how to think about herself and about others, to find a way to move forward while realizing and acknowledging that the past will always affect her in some ways. I pretty much cried straight through the last third of this book. I'm ready to cry just writing this review.
Trigger warnings abound for this book, but Cashore handles everything with a sense of hope that keeps it from getting too dark. This book destroyed me in the best possible way and, like with Bitterblue, I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Trigger warnings abound for this book, but Cashore handles everything with a sense of hope that keeps it from getting too dark. This book destroyed me in the best possible way and, like with Bitterblue, I'll be thinking about it for years to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Grief
Moderate: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia
merenguita's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is TENSE. Especially during the middle... everytime I stopped reading I found myself more anxious than when I started.
I honestly struggled to decide what rating to give this book, the beggining was really slow, but I think it was necesarry to build up everything that happens later, it also fits with the way Hava sees and interacts with the world. I think the way it's narrated really differs from the other books of the saga, which is really refreshing, I find that in a lot of books that go through different narrators, they all kind of sound the same, where as this one felt absolutley different. That was a reason why I didn't like it at first but then I got used to it and even got to love the way Hava feels and reads as a character. I highlighted when another character says to her "You're really articulate about how confused you are" because that's a pretty good summary of how I felt.
By the end this book felt just as good as the others in the series, and I really hope Kristin Cashore keeps expanding on this world because I'm not sure if I want to let it go yet.
There's some really dense and hard to read topics throughout the story, so I would recomend to read the CW beforehand and to take your time if you have to.
I honestly struggled to decide what rating to give this book, the beggining was really slow, but I think it was necesarry to build up everything that happens later, it also fits with the way Hava sees and interacts with the world. I think the way it's narrated really differs from the other books of the saga, which is really refreshing, I find that in a lot of books that go through different narrators, they all kind of sound the same, where as this one felt absolutley different. That was a reason why I didn't like it at first but then I got used to it and even got to love the way Hava feels and reads as a character. I highlighted when another character says to her "You're really articulate about how confused you are" because that's a pretty good summary of how I felt.
By the end this book felt just as good as the others in the series, and I really hope Kristin Cashore keeps expanding on this world because I'm not sure if I want to let it go yet.
There's some really dense and hard to read topics throughout the story, so I would recomend to read the CW beforehand and to take your time if you have to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual violence and Torture
TW for hypothermia and general trauma response/trauma aftermath kind of thing