Book Review: Sea of Souls by N.C. Scrimgeour
Genre(s): Fantasy
Book Synopsis:
Dark be the water, and darker still the creatures that lurk within…
Free-spirited Isla Blackwood has never accepted the shackles of her family’s nobility. Instead, she sails the open waters, searching for belonging on the waves.
But when tragedy calls Isla home, she realises she can no longer escape the duty she’s been running from. Selkie raiders have been terrorising the island’s coasts, and when they strike at Blackwood Estate, Isla is forced to flee with her hot-headed brother and brooding swordmaster.
To avenge her family and reclaim her home, Isla will have to set aside old grudges and join forces with an exiled selkie searching for a lost pelt. The heirloom might be the key to stopping the bloody conflict—but only if they can steal it from the island’s most notorious selkie hunter, the Grand Admiral himself.
Caught between a promise to the brother she once left behind and an unlikely friendship with the selkie who should have been her enemy, Isla soon realises the open seas aren’t the only treacherous waters she’ll need to navigate.
As enemies close in on all sides, she must decide once and for all where her loyalties lie if she wants to save what’s left of her family—and find the belonging she’s been searching for.
Review:
Sea of Souls has a unique take on selkie mythology, one I haven’t encountered previously. It lays the foundation for the book’s conflict and raises the stakes for both Isla and Eimhir, the selkie she’s promised to help. A selkie’s pelt isn’t just a means of shifting forms; it contains a selkie’s very soul. Without it, a selkie will wither away and die. The most vengeful and angry spirits linger after death to become monsters far worse than anything the humans have encountered previously. The selkies call them gun-anam.
Human greed plays a huge factor in the storyline as well. Selkie pelts are luxury items and worth the expense for those who can afford them…
As the synopsis indicates, Eimhir is searching for a lost pelt that may be the only means of ending the bloodshed for both sides, but it’s not easy to locate or obtain. All of this sets the book up for a tangle of politics, bloody battles, unlikely friendships, and heartbreaking decisions.
The beginning was incredibly action-packed, and the terror the gun-anam evoked was palpable. It was done really well. But I have one small criticism of the book; it felt a little slow in the middle section. Once past a certain point, however, it picked back up and became almost impossible to put down.
I found Isla to be an engaging main character. She wanted more from life, but didn’t know what it was she was missing, and searching for that something drove many of her decisions. Sometimes they weren’t the best decisions, but she always seemed to adapt.
There were some great supporting characters too. I liked Darce’s loyalty and Eimhir’s unexpected friendship. And Nathair Quinn made for a damned good antagonist, especially after he revealed his schemes. Lachlan was…I’m still not sure how I feel about him. I think he’s caught up in events that he only knows pieces of, but he acts as if he knows everything. I suspect it’s going to come back to haunt him later.
And yes, I’m pretty sure there will be more to come in this series. The story was not finished in Sea of Souls.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was well-written, and I loved the twist presented near the end. I did not see that coming.
If you’re a fan of Irish folklore and selkie mythology, definitely pick this one up. It was well worth the read.
Author website: ncscrimgeour.com
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