The Cursed Sea

By: Lauren DeStefano

Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

The second in an exciting fantasy duology about a princess cursed to turn any living thing she touches into gemstone from Lauren DeStefano, the best-selling author of the Chemical Garden series. Perfect for fans of Shannon Hale and Renée Ahdieh.

Wil, the exiled princess of northern Arrod, must do what she never thought possible: return home to discover the origins of her own curse.

But home is very different from how she left it - Wil’s unpredictable elder brother Baren is now king, leading a war against the Southern Isles. And with time running out, Wil must navigate the dangerous secrets within her family to find the truth.

Nothing goes as planned, and suddenly Wil and her allies are fighting for their lives as the Southern king is out to ensure neither of his children will survive to take the throne. Traveling across cursed seas and treacherous kingdoms, Wil and Loom must make peace with their pasts if they hope to secure the future of their world. 

But when their plans lead them right back to evil marveler Pahn, and to Baren - who is more dangerous than ever - can Wil and her friends outsmart their enemies, this time for good? 

©2018 Lauren DeStefano (P)2019 HarperAudio

2nd half of one long story (and parental warning)

I liked the characters, even though the story is short on both action and political intrigue. I prefer both but these books have little of either. So I made the mistake of buying this sequel.

Both books should be subtitled, “Life’s a Bitch and Then You Die. Let’s Discuss.”

Also, this is a YA novel, which is often read by 11 and 12-year-olds. As such, I always object (only in a YA novel) that the characters have sex. Doubly bad if the characters are 15-year-olds.

These two books really should have been one 15 hour novel, since a lot of the endless talking could have been edited out.

Needed to be Cleaned Up

Okay, I have some mixed feelings about the last book in this duology. I feel like if there had been a deep rewrite and some plot clean up, this could have been such a wonderful cap off to the story. However what we got…I’m left feeling frustrated.

Alright, what did I like? What worked?

• Gerdy.
• Gerdy.
• The lyrical prose. Very steeped in the steam punk world even though this novel is less steam punky than the last. Still, the world itself was so unique and fun to think about.
• Anything to do in Arrod with Wil’s family and her interactions with them (sans Barron.) I was much more invested during the first bit of the novel.
• Gerdy.

So then, what made this listen take far too long and made me want to skip chapters but I couldn’t because I didn’t want to miss anything to do with Gerdy?

• There’s no need for romance. It wasn’t convincing and I wasn’t invested. I wasn’t invested in the first book, and I wasn’t here either. In fact, whenever romance popped up, the plot seemed to blip from existence. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, not whether or not Wil should give up on Loom and his handsome face.
• The continuous exposition was a little aggravating. The readers can already draw their own conclusions, but there is a consistent need to explain what already occurred. You know the ‘ol Creative Writing mantra: show us, don’t tell us.
• I know that the first novel was omniscient 3rd person and so of course the second novel would be the same. Still, it was a little difficult to keep up with jumping from the head of person to person to person to person. It may have been better to at least separate characters by chapter.
• As for the cause of this curse? I just don’t understand. To make it short and without spoilers, the mystical antagonist just was not substantial enough.

Do you know what would have vastly improved this novel? Make it all about Gerdy. That’s it. That’s all that had to be done. Gerdy was what kept me invested until the end and he’s at least in my top 30 favorite literature characters. Gerdy, please notice me, sempai! <3