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Even thou I rated this two stars I read the sequel and am about to buy the third book. I would still recommend it to certain readers.Reason for two stars--the MC is meant to be 24 years old but the narrative voice was closer to that of a 16-17 year old protagonist. - the mc lacked emotional depth, the way some of the characters acted was terrible and the mc seemed to take it laying down. An example; right at the beginning the mc is violently rejected by her birth mother and the rest of her birth...
There was so much buzz about this book when it came out, but it took ages for me to actually find a copy. I had heard nothing but good things about this book, so I was really excited to start.I really enjoyed reading about Sophie's adventures in Stormwrack. Portal fantasies are fun because you get a glimpse of our familiar world and a new fantasy world, and the main character is just as clueless about the new world as you are! Sophie discovers that she has more ties to this magical world than sh...
This is one of those fantasy books where someone from our world ends up in another world. Not a new concept, but I was delighted by the originality of this new world, its societies, and its magic system. The thing I liked most, besides the originality, was that among all the political machinations and people trying to kill them, the biggest enemy that Sophie needs to defeat is her own fear of public speaking (to testify at a trial - because her testimony could tip the scales). Just a personal pr...
This review was originally posted on Avid Reviews: www.avidfantasyreviews.wordpress.com It has been a while since I have read a “portal to another world” fantasy, so I found myself looking forward to reading Child of a Hidden Sea, which is the first book in a new series. I found myself quite surprised when reading this book, as it was nothing like my expectations. Even though I did have some problems with the novel, overall I found it to be a fresh perspective on a familiar fantasy trope, and a
I left Child of a Hidden Sea feeling very, well, satisfied. This book is a lot of fun, and many of the complex topics are handled with poise and grace. The world building was well done, despite the fact that some points will require readers to leave their questions at the door and just accept some things as they are presented. However, Dellamonica did the impossible by making portal fantasy work this well. I’m not sure if this is the first book in a series, but I hope it is. There is plenty of r...
As thrilling as stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia, Dellamonica’s CHILD OF A HIDDEN SEA marries our modern world to to it’s exotic, magical alter-ego. Dropped into the warm oceans of a fantasy world, Stormwrack, Sophie Hansa needs every drop of the curiosity, intelligence, and adrenaline seeking skills she learned at home to adapt to the challenges ahead.And it was just this mix of personal ability and magic that made this book irresistible. While exploring a new world is nothing new for
Sophie is determined to find her birth parents. But when she finds her mother, there isn't the grand reunion she was hoping for. Not ready to give up yet, Sophie happens across her aunt being attacked in a San Francisco alleyway and rushes to intervene.The next second she finds herself in the middle of an ocean surrounded by glowing moths, along with her aunt, who has been stabbed, with only Sophie to save her.Sophie does save her aunt, but unknowingly sets off a chain of events that disrupt the...
So what starts out as a simple (all right slightly stalkery) mission to track down her birth mother turns out to be a huge political fiasco that almost lands her birth family's world into total chaos. Honestly from what I read in the book about Sophie, it makes complete sense that she would nearly cause that.To lay it out, as a child I absorbed and loved "portal" fantasies (or portal science fiction books, cause hey they exist). Blame Pamela Dean and Joyce Ballou Gregorian (not oddly CS Lewis, I...
3 starsChild of a Hidden Sea is my first try of Ms Dellamonica's books. I request this title on NetGalley because I love the cover (it scream "adventure!!) and the premise about a woman who transferred into another world is one of my favorite theme. The story of Child of a Hidden Sea is about Sophie Hansa, 24 year old chick that swept away from her home in San Fransisco into another realm called Stormwrack. In Stormwrack she discover a realm that so much resembled Earth (called Erstwhile) but co...
I received this Kindle ARC through NetGalley from the publisher, Tor.The story starts with the protagonist Sophie being tossed into the sea by a tornado, kind-of like Dorothy and Oz. One moment, she is in her home town San Francisco, and the next she is falling into salted water. Good thing she is an excellent swimmer and a trained diver, but all the same she feels as disoriented as the reader. What’s going on, she wonders, and I wondered with her. It took some time for the story to hit its stri...
Sophie Hansa regains consciousness in a body of water, disoriented, thinking only of keeping herself afloat. She quickly realizes her new-found aunt is with her as well. The situation makes no sense to her–one minute fighting off attackers in a San Francisco alley, next minute treading water to survive. Child of a Hidden Sea comes out of the ‘parallel world’ school of fantasy, where the main characters discover there’s a fantasy world loosely connected to ours (think The Lion, the Witch, and the...
Read in February 7 till February 26, 2016. DNF: 16% ... I tried.PositivesChild of Hidden Sea is one of those books that grabs you from the start with its fast pacing and original premises! Oh yes, there are plenty of books about young women being transported to another world and so on, but I rather enjoyed being in Sophie's head. Overall, the world is intriguing and colorful, my mind was having a feast imagining the white beaches, vast sea and the underwater scenery! The heroine was intelligent,...
Child of a Hidden Sea is like Pirates of the Caribbean if PoC was centered on Elizabeth Swann, and she was a college grad from UCLA who liked biology and scuba diving. I’m really conflicted on this one. I liked the main character, and the book’s focus on familial relationships and not romantic ones. The world building was thorough, but I felt like we saw the ~boring~ parts of the world. When you transport the reader into a world of pirates and swashbuckling don’t take them to a courtroom (unless...
I received Child of a Hidden Sea for review from NetGalley shortly before it was released in June. It looked interesting - a seafaring-based portal world with political intrigue, mystery, and magic. It is also not a Young Adult novel, which definitely appealed. The synopsis promised to have plenty for me to love. Well, I liked it ok enough, but I can’t say I loved it. It was entertaining, and I am interested enough to read a sequel if there is one, but I also feel kind of ambivalent about it and...
Sophie rescues her estranged aunt from being attacked only to find herself swept away to a strange yet familiar world. Stormwrack appeals to her inquisitive and adventurous nature but the more questions she asks about her family ties the more she is met with opposition and threatened with exile. A political conspiracy gives her the opportunity to further explore the world she's become fascinated with and forge her own place within it.Child Of A Hidden Sea is a combination of familiar fantasy tro...
I picked this one up because for some reason I expected pirates and adventures at sea, but instead I got a story about... lawyers? I ended up enjoying the story and worldbuilding, but it took me 40% of the book to finally decide not to abandon it.Anyway, Sophie grew on me and I liked her never ending curiosity, I'll probably read the next book just to know what happens with her and Parrish xD Overall an entertaining story and quite original fantasy world, just don't expect what the cover promise...
Great fun! I challenge you to read this book and come away from it without wishing that you, too, could acquire a travel pass to the world of Stormwrack!Sophie Hansa, 24, is procrastinating about defending her thesis, feeling a bit like she's in her brilliant younger brother's shadow, and having a bit of existential ennui. In an attempt to contact her birth family (she's adopted), she gets a bit stalker-ish... and then ends up accidentally catapulted into a world other than our own - and into th...
(I got an ARC through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)2.5 stars. This book gave me trouble, although I should've liked its setting and themes. When I had to put it down, and then wanted to pick it up again, geting back into the story was a little hard.I quite liked the world of Stormwrack, which seems fairly rich and complex, full of political intricacies, bureaucracy antics, and red tape tactics. There's a lot of potential in there, a potential that doubles up with the Fleet—a lite...
Before I begin this review, let me state for the record: this book was okay, but I wanted to like it so much more than I actually did. I am not too proud to admit that the cover sucked me in, and I completely bought into its promises of pirates, swashbuckling, and swoon-worthy romance. I was disappointed on all counts, but pleasantly surprised by some other aspects.When I first began Child of a Hidden Sea, it took me a few chapters to get used to Sophie’s first-person narration, since it seemed
Find this and many other reviews at Geekritique!It’s become an annual tradition of mine to head over to New York Comic Con each year, buy a bunch of stuff that I tell myself I’ll read, use, etc., and then never do it. I’ve got piles of books from NYCC over the years that have totally gone untouched due to time and moving on to the next thing. One of these books, as you can probably already guess, is Child of a Hidden Sea – A. M. Dellamonica’s latest fantasy novel. I found it perched nicely in it...