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Book Review: Sea of Shadows by Kelly Armstrong
(I received an advance copy from Doubleday Canada
In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.
Only this year, the souls will not be quieted.
Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.
My Review:
Kelly Armstrong’s new book, Sea of Shadows, follows the
adventures of twin sisters, Moria and Ashyn, on their quest to stop the Shadow
Stalkers, the monsters that destroyed their village. On the way through the
journey, the twins get separated and try to find their way back to each other.
They do this with the help of buff warrior, Gavril, and charming bandit, Ronan.
I really loved the character dynamics between the four heroes. Their
personalities really seemed to complement one another perfectly. For example,
Moria is a skillful fighter and can be feral with her dagger at times. In contrast,
her sister, Ashyn, is thoughtful and caring, and has more difficulty grasping
the concept of violence. Giving the sisters opposing personalities was a great
idea, except that there wasn’t as much interaction between them as I would have
liked. This may be because the main storyline is that they get separated.
However, when they do meet up in the end, they seem more connected to their
traveling companions, Gavril and Ronan, than to each other.
Gavril and Ronan each added their own little flair to the novel. The
setting of the book, a “forest of the dead” and a massacred village, was quite
depressing, so Ronan helped lighten the mood with his loving and lighthearted
personality. Gavril paired well with Moria, up about their fears and feelings,
cracking their stubborn shells and making them easier to relate too. Ronan and
Gavril also had really well plotted back stories. Armstrong knows how to make
secondary characters just as important as the main ones. She gave these
characters interesting histories that grabbed my attention. I look forward to
seeing how they develop in future books.
As I said, the setting was rather depressing and gloomy. It gave the
book a really dark persona. In fact, considering the amount of description, I
thought the places would be more interesting. There was a lot of time spent
scraping the surface of the setting rather than exploring them further, leaving
me to picture and imagine the finer details myself. For example, while they were
in the forest, there was talk about vicious monsters, the Shadow Stalkers.
When the monsters showed up, the action was quite brief. It also seemed a
little hard to grasp because I didn’t know the monsters’ stories and so I felt
detached and uninterested. With such an awesome title such as Shadow
Stalkers, I was hoping for more of a storyline about these creatures. My
expectation for this was also raised after reading Armstrong’s brilliant
character plots. I thought that would have carried through to the monsters.
Overall, it could have used more imagination and excitement, being what I would
consider a fantasy read.
The ending for this book really let me down. It seemed to finish
very unresolved and was very anti-climatic. In fact, I even double-checked to
make sure the entire book had been downloaded. That was how unfinished it
seemed to me. The last fifty pages or so really dragged. In my opinion, it
would have been better if they were filled with a climatic adventure, like a
final battle or a more complex plot twist. I found it too predictable and way too inactive. Maybe I have a flair for the dramatics,
although, I think the twist had potential for more. Perhaps the ending in
future books will be less disappointing.
Despite the ending, I enjoyed the novel because of the characters.
Right from the beginning it was apparent that this was a character driven
novel. The characters made the novel worth reading. If it weren’t for them, it
would have been a struggle to finish the book. The prologue was very
captivating and I really enjoyed the beginning as well, but I believe the
reason why I was so disappointed with the ending was that I was expecting more,
since I was enjoying it until that point. I will read the sequel, however, just
to find out what happens to the characters. I would recommend this book to
someone who is a fan of dark plots and well thought out character dynamics.
I give Sea of Shadows
There is my review for Monday. Come back tomorrow for "Top Ten Tuesdays!"
Stay nerdy,
Julia
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