Review: The Perilous Sea

THE PERILOUS SEA
The Elemental Trilogy #2
Sherry Thomas
Young Adult/Fantasy
414 pages
Balzer + Bray
Available Now
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
After spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by a blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in.

Soon after arriving at school, though, Titus makes a shocking discovery, one that makes him question everything he previously believed about their mission. Faced with this devastating realization, Iolanthe is forced to come to terms with her new role, while Titus must choose between following his mother's prophecies—and forging a divergent path to an unknowable future.

MY THOUGHTS
The Perilous Sea is a story that both embraces and eschews familiar middle book elements, taking us on an epic journey with Iolanthe and Titus but at the same time leaving us standing on the precipice of something much larger, looking back and wondering what exactly happened to get us to this point. As with The Burning Sky, we start this second installment on slightly rocky footing given there is very little recap of the significant names and events of book one, and we also find our story divided into two separate timelines: One at present with Titus and Iolanthe reuniting at Eton, and one seven weeks into the future where an amnesiac version of both our protagonists await us. As a result, the opening chapters and a fair bit beyond are rather chaotic as we struggle to remember The Burning Sky as well as orient ourselves within the split narrative.

The present-day chapters are the ones that feel most familiar, the setting of the all-boys school beckoning us into the story with all the comforts of a reality we recognize just as it did in the first book, allowing us to pair back up with Titus and Iolanthe as they figure out their next steps toward defeating the Bane. The Sahara Desert chapters however, while providing fun moments full of banter and humor given Titus and Iolanthe don't remember one another, seem to serve very little purpose in terms of the overall story arc. Their time in the desert is entirely spent running from the agents of Atlantis, allowing the magical aspects of this fantasy story their time in the spotlight but ultimately leading us to question whether or not this detour of flight and sand is actually moving the plot forward.

Aside from feeling like a middle book in terms of building us up only to leave us on the last page at the moment we've been waiting for the entire time, The Perilous Sea also sees the dissolution of Titus and Iolanthe as a couple when Titus begins to delve deeper into his mother's prophetic visions. Though we initially can't help but let a sigh of frustration escape at the well-used plot device, Ms. Thomas wins us back over with the strength of her characters, as neither Titus nor Iolanthe are individuals prone to dramatics. They both bear their separate but shared pain stoically, not taking it out on the other person as is so often the case, and thankfully not turning to someone else to comfort them in their time of need. Though things are up in the air in terms of the romance for much of the book, there's no introduction of a new love interest, and our two protagonists remain pillars of support for each other to lean on as well as sounding boards off which to bounce ideas and theories.

Overall, The Perilous Sea meanders a bit, sending us out into the desert for half the book when nearly all the important revelations about the Bane's plans take place in the present-day chapters, leaving us to wish for a slightly different format for this second installment. That being said however, the characterization is as strong as ever and the pieces of the Bane puzzle that finally lock into place in the concluding chapters have us ready to usher 2015 in immediately just so we'll be that much closer to the release of book three.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Sherry:

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Perilous Sea

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

THE PERILOUS SEA

The Burning Sky #2

Sherry Thomas

Young Adult/Fantasy

Releases September 16th from Balzer + Bray

After spending the summer away from each other, Titus and Iolanthe (still disguised as Archer Fairfax) are eager to return to Eton College to resume their training to fight the Bane. Although no longer bound to Titus by a blood oath, Iolanthe is more committed than ever to fulfilling her destiny—especially with the agents of Atlantis quickly closing in.

Soon after arriving at school, though, Titus makes a shocking discovery, one that makes him question everything he previously believed about their mission. Faced with this devastating realization, Iolanthe is forced to come to terms with her new role, while Titus must choose between following his mother's prophecies—and forging a divergent path to an unknowable future.

I absolutely adored The Burning Sky last year, it was one of the books that fully cemented my new found love of the fantasy genre and I simply cannot wait to get back to Titus and Iolanthe. Sherry Thomas writes outstanding characters in my opinion, and I was completely mesmerized by the world itself and the way the friendship and eventual romance unfolded, so this sequel really cannot release fast enough for me! *stares longingly at calendar*

Review: The Burning Sky

THE BURNING SKY
The Elemental Trilogy #1
Sherry Thomas
Young Adult/Fantasy
464 pages
Balzer + Bray
Available now
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

MY THOUGHTS
The Burning Sky is a stunning fantasy, delighting us with the magic and the great mythological beasts that so define the genre while at the same time grounding us in the reality of a boys’ boarding school in 1880’s London, thus ensuring those of us who sometimes find ourselves overwhelmed by sweeping fantasy stories have no trouble finding our way in this tale. There’s not a great deal of backstory as to how the unrest in the Domain (over which Prince Titus rules, if in name only) and the rise of the Bane came to be, but it simply doesn’t matter in this first installment, so caught up are we in the richness of the world and its gorgeously layered characters.

Iolanthe is a gem of a heroine, her humanity and her status as an Elemental Mage combining to give us a young woman who both feels like a friend–full of strengths and insecurities–and someone with a destiny we can’t even fathom as power we’ll never experience thrums through every fiber of her being. She’s not the type of girl to gracefully accept the revelation that she’s to play a mighty role in the fight to break Bane’s grasp on the Realm, instead she understandably panics and doubts Titus’s faith in her, but she only does so for a brief period of time before throwing herself body and soul into a fight she never knew was hers. She has an untold amount of power, but she never seeks to flaunt it or lord it over others, instead she’s receptive to Titus’s teaching and gives everything she has to learning to wield it with enough skill to keep her and her prince alive.

Titus is as strong a character as Iolanthe, a man who beautifully plays the arrogant, exceedingly entitled ruler of the Domain in public yet is someone very different in private, his duality never failing to make our eyes widen in wonder when we see how expertly he masks his fear. And he is right to fear, for he faces not only a terrifying foe in the Inquisitor, but also his own impending death as is prophesied by his mother as well as the reality that he may lose Iolanthe if he can’t teach her what she needs to know quickly enough. Only we and Iolanthe ever know of the beads of sweat that trickle down his back and the rapid beat of his heart though, making our relationship with him feel intimately poignant.

While one might say there is romance in The Burning Sky, the word romance simply doesn’t do the relationship between Iolanthe and Titus justice. It’s more than affection or sexual tension, it’s genuine friendship, trust, and the shared knowledge that the two of them together stand between the complete fall of the Realm. There’s a certain gravity to their every interaction, even the lighthearted ones, that draws us in, witnesses to the beginning of something truly beautiful. One of the highlights of their relationship is the honesty between them, due in part to their desire to work together but also to an inescapable blood oath, but for all that they must speak the truth to one another, there are secrets in their silences; quiet moments where they tuck their feelings tight to their chests, not yet ready to be as vulnerable as their admission would make them.

Overall, The Burning Sky should not be missed, entertaining us every step of the way until we reach an end that is thankfully free of dreaded cliffhangers, but yet leaves us salivating for the next book just the same.

Rating: 4.5/5
 

Find Sherry:

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

The Burning Sky Blog Tour: Character Interview with Iolanthe + Giveaway

Today I have the enormous pleasure of welcoming author Sherry Thomas and protagonist Iolanthe to the blog as part of the promotional tour for Sherry's new YA fantasy release, The Burning Sky. This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2013 and it didn't disappoint in the least, I loved everything about Iolanthe's story and am not at all ashamed to admit the wait for book two may give me a stress-induced ulcer I want it so badly. *stares longingly at calendar* On a more positive note though, Iolanthe is here on the blog to answer some questions about the changes her life undergoes in The Burning Sky (and maybe a few about Titus too). 

The amazing team at Rockstar Book Tours has planned a fabulous tour full of reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways, so be sure and check the bottom of the post for the full schedule and giveaway details!

You have to spend a great deal of time masquerading as a boy in order to stay by Titus’s side in the human world. What is the single hardest part of fitting in at an all-boys school?

That there are only boys’ bathrooms. Granted, there are stalls with doors that close, but who wants to deal with the sight of a dozen boys standing before a big trough to get to those stalls?! That is something I have to be very careful about. Also—and this is not mentioned in the book—but I have a couple of other places around town where I can both have some privacy and not have my eyeballs assaulted on the way to that privacy.  :)

Titus is a very different person when he’s in front of people as Prince Titus (as he has to be) than he is when it’s just the two of you. If you had to assign an animal (magical or otherwise) to represent his public face and one to represent his private one, which animals do you think best embody his two personalities?

The best equivalent might be the wolf. He can seem very snarly and standoff-ish at times, but in truth he can be both playful and affectionate.

Let’s say that instead of attending school in London, you and Titus are both enrolled in a school in Domain. What class do you think you would excel at? Which one would cause you to struggle?

I have never been that good at archival magic—magic that is no longer practiced but which are taught as part of the curriculum. (And unfortunately, the higher you go in school, the more archival magic you have to study.)

I am, however, a pretty decent potionmaker—so confident that I volunteered to make silver light elixir for a wedding. (You might read about a clarifying potion that I have trouble concocting, but unbeknownst to me, one of the key ingredients has lost all potency—the reason my efforts kept failing.)

There are some spectacular magical creatures in the Realm. If one of them were to cross over into the human world, which do you think would fascinate or terrify us the most?

The colossal cocatrice would do the trick nicely. It is not called colossal for no reason—the beast is taller than castle walls! Not to mention, the fire produced by a coupled pair of colossal cocatrice is one of the hottest substances known to magekind. That ought to send nonmages scurrying. 

If you could return to the moment right before things went awry with the elixir and give that Iolanthe a short message, what would it be?

Don’t panic.  :)

What’s one small thing about Titus you know that the rest of the Realm doesn’t?

He is an excellent tailor. 

My uniforms must fit me, you see, but before I came along, Titus had no idea what kind of height or girth he would be dealking with. So he learned a slew of tailoring spells. That way, he could alter the uniforms he had already prepared so they would look as if they had been made to measure.

If we were to ask Titus what he thought made you such a great partner in your fight against the Bane, what do you think he would say? Would you agree with him?

He would say my courage. And I would have to disagree. I am not courageous at all. If there is a dangerous mission, I’d rather someone else undertook it. However, I do hate to fail. If I have committed to a perilous task, then I will see it through come hell or high water. 

(The tough part, as you might guess, is getting me to agree to such tasks.)

• • • • • • • • • • 

THE BURNING SKY (Elemental Trilogy #1)
Available now from Balzer + Bray

It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she’s being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he’s also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • •

SHERRY THOMAS

Author photo by the lovely and talented Jennifer Sparks Harriman at Sparks Studio.

Sherry Thomas is one of the most acclaimed romance authors working today. Her books regularly receive starred reviews from trade publications and are frequently found on best-of-the-year lists. She is also a two-time winner of Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award.

English is Sherry’s second language—she has come a long way from the days when she made her laborious way through Rosemary Roger’s Sweet Savage Love with an English-Chinese dictionary. She enjoys digging down to the emotional core of stories. And when she is not writing, she thinks about the zen and zaniness of her profession, plays computer games with her sons, and reads as many fabulous books as she can find.

Sherry’s next book, THE BURNING SKY, volume one of her young adult fantasy trilogy, will be available fall 2013.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

 • • • • • • • • • • 

BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAYS

  
For First Place:

1 Hardcover of THE BURNING SKY a tote bag, and handmade balm, scrub, and bath tea.

Runners Up:

 3 Hardcovers of THE BURNING SKY and a tote bag.

3 runners up will get swag packs (stickers, bookmarks, signed bookplates)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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