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A review by nicolemhewitt
Sea of Strangers by Erica Cameron
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The second book in this series brings Khya and her allies to a world they never imagined.
What Fed My Addiction:
Serious magic.
The magic in this book was definitely kicked up a notch and Khya’s strengths become the key to saving her world. The desosa (which could be described as the source of magic) comes to life in this book almost as a character all its own. This was easily my favorite part of the book: Khya’s exploration of magic and how it differs in the new world she faces (and how it’s the same). The stakes are raised when it comes to the magical consequences of the characters’ actions as well!
Questioning beliefs.
Khya and her friends are thrown into a situation where they discover that many of their core beliefs were lies fabricated by a power-hungry man. They are rocked to the core by this realization, of course, and watching them deal with that was fascinating.
Shades of gray.
Khya discovers that, while she has come to see the leader of Shiara as a villain in many ways (and the people of Ryogan certainly view him that way), there are many ways that the Shiaran society seems to have improved on Ryogan values. For instance, In Ryogan, society has a different take on the third gender than they do in Khya’s society, and it’s much less humane. Also, their system of punishment seems unduly harsh to Khya. She realizes that Shiara’s leader has many faults, but he did try to make Shiara a better society than the one he came from in many ways.
What Left Me Hungry for More:
Less connection to the characters than in the first book.
The reason this installment gets three stars from me instead of four is that, for some reason, I never quite connected to the characters in this second book the way I did in the first. There are several reasons that I think this might have happened: First, Khyra’s brother is mostly out of the picture in this book, so her relationship with him feels more distant somehow. The gap could have been filled with other secondary characters, but I felt like there were too many of them for me to truly feel connected to any of them. (There were some moments that should have felt tragic, but they just didn’t really reach me emotionally). The main villain of the story is also missing from this installment, so the stakes didn’t feel quite as high because there was no immediate danger. And, since the romance was pretty much resolved in the first book, we didn’t have that romantic tension to draw us into the relationships either.
While this second installment didn’t quite live up to the first for me, there were aspects like the exploration of magic that I absolutely loved. And the ending hinted at an epic finale, so I’m eager to read book three! I give this second book in the series 3/5 Stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley and Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
The second book in this series brings Khya and her allies to a world they never imagined.
What Fed My Addiction:
Serious magic.
The magic in this book was definitely kicked up a notch and Khya’s strengths become the key to saving her world. The desosa (which could be described as the source of magic) comes to life in this book almost as a character all its own. This was easily my favorite part of the book: Khya’s exploration of magic and how it differs in the new world she faces (and how it’s the same). The stakes are raised when it comes to the magical consequences of the characters’ actions as well!
Questioning beliefs.
Khya and her friends are thrown into a situation where they discover that many of their core beliefs were lies fabricated by a power-hungry man. They are rocked to the core by this realization, of course, and watching them deal with that was fascinating.
Shades of gray.
Khya discovers that, while she has come to see the leader of Shiara as a villain in many ways (and the people of Ryogan certainly view him that way), there are many ways that the Shiaran society seems to have improved on Ryogan values. For instance, In Ryogan, society has a different take on the third gender than they do in Khya’s society, and it’s much less humane. Also, their system of punishment seems unduly harsh to Khya. She realizes that Shiara’s leader has many faults, but he did try to make Shiara a better society than the one he came from in many ways.
What Left Me Hungry for More:
Less connection to the characters than in the first book.
The reason this installment gets three stars from me instead of four is that, for some reason, I never quite connected to the characters in this second book the way I did in the first. There are several reasons that I think this might have happened: First, Khyra’s brother is mostly out of the picture in this book, so her relationship with him feels more distant somehow. The gap could have been filled with other secondary characters, but I felt like there were too many of them for me to truly feel connected to any of them. (There were some moments that should have felt tragic, but they just didn’t really reach me emotionally). The main villain of the story is also missing from this installment, so the stakes didn’t feel quite as high because there was no immediate danger. And, since the romance was pretty much resolved in the first book, we didn’t have that romantic tension to draw us into the relationships either.
While this second installment didn’t quite live up to the first for me, there were aspects like the exploration of magic that I absolutely loved. And the ending hinted at an epic finale, so I’m eager to read book three! I give this second book in the series 3/5 Stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley and Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***