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egelantier 's review for:
Child of a Hidden Sea
by A.M. Dellamonica
beautifully realized, low-key portal fantasy. sophia hansa, despite deeply loving her adopted brother and parents (and considering them their real family, it's pretty firmly established in-text), can't shake her curiosity about her biological family. she sets out to find her biological mother and ends up transported to another world, a mostly-ocean covered place called stormwrack with its barely-at-peace island nations, magical inscriptions, dueling lawyers system and dirty politics.
sophia and her brother end up knee-deep in local intrigues after the assassination of sophia's aunt, and solve their way forwards through inquisitiveness, scientific approach and fundamentally good ethics.
i loved the world - it was noticeably alien and magical but not sugar-coated, and felt very nicely real in a very sherwood smithian sense - and i loved the characters, sophia especially. she was awkward and in over her head and incurably curious and determined to do her best, and quite, quite relatable. and i loved her relationship with her brother, warm and spiky and full of complicated but undeniable love.
(also i'm predisposed to love any portal fantasy heroine who doesn't wallow in denial over her portal situation, but starts filming pictures almost immediately - and taking biological samples. damn yeah).
the plot was neatly tied up but the ending is open, and i'm very much looking forwards to the next installments.
sophia and her brother end up knee-deep in local intrigues after the assassination of sophia's aunt, and solve their way forwards through inquisitiveness, scientific approach and fundamentally good ethics.
i loved the world - it was noticeably alien and magical but not sugar-coated, and felt very nicely real in a very sherwood smithian sense - and i loved the characters, sophia especially. she was awkward and in over her head and incurably curious and determined to do her best, and quite, quite relatable. and i loved her relationship with her brother, warm and spiky and full of complicated but undeniable love.
(also i'm predisposed to love any portal fantasy heroine who doesn't wallow in denial over her portal situation, but starts filming pictures almost immediately - and taking biological samples. damn yeah).
the plot was neatly tied up but the ending is open, and i'm very much looking forwards to the next installments.