[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Tor Books
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, eBook
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | iBooks[/alert]
Child of a Hidden Sea is the sort of book you want to soak in, slowly letting the words envelope you as you carefully examine the text for its beautiful subtlety and nuance. A. M. Dellamonica creates a world that cannot possibly be swallowed in one sitting; it must be carefully portioned out a bit at a time until the stunning denouncement that hooks the reader through the last hundred pages or so. Child of a Hidden Sea is Dellamonica’s second book, a vivid fantasy that manages to both contain itself in three hundred pages and plant the seeds of imagination in your head. It starts in a world foreign to the San Franciscan main character, Sophie Hansa. Sophie thought she was saving the life of a woman who could be her aunt and is thus thrust into the middle of a socio-political conflict in a world that is more water than land.
An international fleet governs the world that Sophie learns to navigate, and she is lucky to have her adopted brother by her side. But when all goes wrong, Sophie has to face the ghosts of her past in order to forge ahead into the future. Dellamonica’s work is flawless when it comes to telling a character-driven story. The masterful writing endears the reader to Sophie, who feels very much like a young woman plucked out of the real world. Her attachment to her phone, her desire to feel like she has a family, her anxiety about completing her graduate degree, and her desires that leave her feeling that she needs a man to complete her all create a well-rounded character. Yet it is because of these characteristics that she is able to navigate the politics of the strange new world.
Overall, Dellamonica’s work is excellent character-based fantasy storytelling. Her talents makes this story a vivid and wonderful adventure, worthy of reading on a bus, in a bar or curled up on your couch.
[signoff predefined=”Social Media Reminder” icon=”twitter”][/signoff]