Sweet Black Waves
Written by Kristina Pérez
This YA fantasy novel tells the story of a girl who is the lady’s maid of the future queen (her cousin) in a time of unrest between her country and another. She one day finds a man in the water and rescues him, nurses him back to health in secret, and later discovers he is the prince of the warring kingdom to her own. While healing him she discovers powers she possesses and a fate to heal not only others but the broken kingdoms as well. She must choose between her own happiness and peace and learn the consequences of all actions however well intended. I felt overall that the story was compelling, it kept me wanting to read and discover what happened next but there were quite a few times that the storytelling was disjointed and difficult to follow. The language that the author chose to create the names of her kingdoms and characters was difficult, for me at least, to truly understand how names were supposed to be read, even with the guide in the back of the book. It was also difficult for me to fully decide what the main theme of the book was supposed to be. Love, magic and family all played very large roles, but it jumped quite a bit between them and I found it confusing. I loved the author’s style overall and enjoyed the creativity in the story, and I would recommend it.
Review by Briana Chipman, Westbrook Elementary Media Center
Rating: ★★★✩✩ (3 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 9-12
Sweet Black Waves
Written by Kristina Pérez
Imprint
435 pages
Release Date: June 5, 2018
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
