REVIEW: Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong

            They hear the spirits.

The must obey.

In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashlyn 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 must journey to find each other, sending 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 mind says yes, but my body asks why? I thought I knew what I was getting into when I picked up Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong, but I honestly had no idea and I did not realize how invested I was going to get. I think I know exactly how this book was pitched: Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead. Sounds fabulous right? It really was. Fantasy meets horror, hello genre of my dreams. Maybe it’s just me on this, but I picked up a hint of Avatar: The Last Airbender (I know, more reasons why I loved it) but that, again is probably just me. Perhaps manga is a better example, because Avatar is way too cheesy for what this book was.

Anyway, The book was lashed with Japanese elements and it was amazingly done. The book can probably only be read at a young adult level and not middle school since there was a lot of death and deception but you know what? Kelley Armstrong originally writes for adults, and the fact that she is even gracing the YA world with her creativity and beauty is good enough for me. I just cannot even describe how much I enjoyed this book and the characters. Ugh the characters!

The title. NO. I do not feel that the title conveyed the book premise, story, or tone to the level which I would have liked. It makes sense once you read the book, but it did not capture my interest enough. As for the beginning, there were a few barriers to entry. The prologue was weird and felt unnecessary even though I knew Ronan was a central character and it was important to capture the whole exiled to the Forest of the Dead bit. Didn’t work well enough and I wasn’t keen on it. The book was a little difficult to get into but once the action started it STARTED (and believe me it started quick). And then, once the boys were there I was completely hooked.

The characters were great! Each one had their own voices, insecurities, relationships and secrets. Plus, even Tova and Daigo (a giant dog and wildcat, I’m sorry, Hounds of the Immortals) had their own voices without saying a word a lot. How is that even possible?  When they were all in the Forest of the Dead I was like, this place is horrible it can’t get much worse than this, but then every place after that was even worse! Inconceivable! And then the plot twist at the end. Well, I’ll leave it at that. Of course, there were dull points when there wasn’t danger and they were just walking, but I got over it because oh God the relationships between Ashyn and Ronan, and Moria and Gavriel. ‘Nuff said. So Dead. Oh and Kelley Armstrong was mean and did split POV that only changed on odd chapters until the end. I’m the kind of person who wants to end on a new POV but also wants to end on an even chapter. A dilemma, and thus I couldn’t put the book down. (One of many reasons)

I did not expect as much fantasy. I was expecting more horror. The horror lived up to my expectations and I ended up loving how fantastical it was.  Now, first things first. The characters. I love love loved all four of the main characters, and I didn’t know who I loved more. OF course, with the plot twist at the end I threw one of those characters along with the book out the window (I then I picked them up and cuddled them under my covers as I cried). But no, this book! I laughed, I cried, I threw it on the ground. The ending was horrible, in a brilliant plot twist way and I am so shattered inside. Favorite character by far: Ronan, hands down. Anyway, I just loved this book. I loved that the stories Moria told the little kids came to life and it was terrifying and I couldn’t look away.

I feel like there are books in the ballpark of the tone of this book (The Forest of Hands and Teeth being one of them), but I think the mix of Japanese elements with horror and fantasy was really original. I know I said Game of Thrones meets The Walking Dead meets Avatar: The Last Airbender and I do not rescind that statement. It’s a bit different than that but I think it strikes the same chords. Plus the voices of the characters were really original. They all had that medieval court tone but they were all unique and it was just great.  Now excuse while I go into a dark corner and go mad waiting for the next book in the series.

And please, read this book if you love fantasy and horror. Then gush with me in a dark corner until the sequel is released.

XOXO Tia