Rating: 5 out of 5
I kind of came into this one not really remembering the details though knowing the story. I also had an opinion that I didn’t previously like it very much, and indeed this much was borne out: although Stenwold as a character was very likeable, the activities that go on here are not really for me.
So, what do we have? The main idea is that there is a sea-kinden, or indeed many such sea-kinden, who, well, live under the sea. As ever in this series, they have their spirit animals and they can do all sorts of fun things. But most of the story is escaping a particularly villainous sea-kinden chief which gets rather dull pretty quickly.
However, what I did like was the author’s imagination in drawing up an entirely new way of life. For this alone the book deserves high credit. And, then, also are the scenes of fast action on the streets of an inland Lowlands city which is altogether very unlikely compared to the rest of the title. But that’s the way it goes…
I also enjoyed the character of Teornis here, who presented a very nice alternative to both Stenwold and Thalric. But he’s not as deep as the others are, or rather the reader is left guessing his depth as a person much more than with other folks.
Overall, I enjoyed this—it’s not my favourite in the series even though it’s really good!
