Review by Booklist Review
For hundreds of years, the people of Caldella have honored their pact with the witches who rule their sinking island: once a year, the Witch Queen sacrifices an islander to the hungry waves, and the floodwaters recede. The sacrifice, chosen during the St. Walpurga's Eve celebration, is ensconced in the palace until the full moon. This year, Lina Kirk unintentionally endangers Thomas Lin, her secret crush. Two years prior, Thomas was the intended sacrifice, but the queen fell for him and drowned herself instead. The new queen, Eva, intends to make Thomas pay--until Lina volunteers to take his place. Neither woman is what the other expects: Eva is no heartless villain, Lina no foolish victim. But is it worthwhile to fall in love, knowing what the dark tide demands? Lush writing captures the moody, windswept island setting, the danger and delight of the witches' magic, and the spiky romance between Eva and Lina. Jasinska's debut fantasy, a dark fairy tale reminiscent of "Tam Lin," but delightfully queer, is thrillingly romantic while exploring the intersections between love, sacrifice, and duty.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Lina Kirk and her brother, Finley, live in Caldella, an island city in danger of being swallowed by the rising inky tide waters. Every year the queen chooses an islander boy to sacrifice to keep the waters calm for another year. This year's sacrifice is crucial because the previous year, Queen Eva's sister sacrificed herself to save the boy she loved. When Lina's brother disappears, it can only mean that he has been chosen to avenge the death and save the island. Lina shoulders several burdens: convincing the queen that the madness of annual sacrifice must stop, confronting evil, and acknowledging her growing attraction to the queen. Determined characters and seductive prose are among the strengths of this novel. Jasinska voices the protagonist, her allies, and all shape-shifting villains throughout so sympathetically that readers will not be able to predict any outcome. Cinematic descriptions right out of an epic movie script, such as Lina's dance with a deadly sea serpent, are as gripping as the sparse moments of melancholy: "No more boys given to the sea. No more glorifying death and striking bloody bargains with the tide." A number of romantic relationships are hinted at, but the plot's primary focus is the individual's struggle for power over death. VERDICT A dark scenic adventure, sensitively written for romantics, Jasinska's debut novel is a fantasy of promises, betrayal, unrequited love, and black magic.--Jane Miller, Nashville Public Library
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Once a year in the city-island of Caldella, the powerful Witch Queen leaves her Water Palace to find her true love, whom she must drown to appease the dark tide of the ever hungry ocean. Thomas Lin is the only boy who's ever escaped--by convincing the last Witch Queen to drown herself instead. Ever since then, her sister, Eva, who is the new Witch Queen, has been unable to appease the dark tide--she's felt nothing for the boys she's sacrificed. When Thomas is chosen a second time, Lina, a town girl with a crush, decides to rescue Thomas from the Water Palace and volunteer as sacrifice to make sure both Thomas and her own brother stay safe. As Lina and Eva spend more time together, they realize that they have a surprising amount in common: their love for their siblings, their desperation to change the sacrificial system, and their desire for one another. The close third-person narration is focalized alternately through Lina and Eva, and although Lina's perspective provides greater depth, the narrative voice for each is removed, with more telling than showing. Characters are racially ambiguous but often implied through skin tone to be nonwhite. Diverse sexualities and gender expressions are also implied, but heteroromanticism is disappointingly the default. Exciting concept; underwhelming execution. (Fantasy. 16-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
