[Review & Giveaway] The Midnight Sea

 

The Midnight Sea (Fourth Element #1)

by Kat Ross

Publish date: May 10, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads summary


They are the light against the darkness.

The steel against the necromancy of the Druj.

And they use demons to hunt demons….
 
Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King’s elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister.

Scarred by grief, she’s willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius. Human in body, he’s possessed of a terrifying power, one that Nazafareen controls. But the golden cuffs that join them have an unwanted side effect. Each experiences the other’s emotions, and human and daeva start to grow dangerously close.

As they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae, unearthing the secrets of Darius’s past along the way, Nazafareen is forced to question his slavery—and her own loyalty to the empire. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north, and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, the fate of an entire civilization may be at stake…

My thoughts

Well, this was another sleepless night on the books ... and I mean that in a good way. If you're looking for the perfect fantasy then you can stop what you're doing and check out The Midnight Sea. There's lots of action, story/character building, more action, drama and a dash of romance. 

The story starts off with death and mayhem as we're quickly introduced to the evil Druj. Nazafareen watches as one possesses her younger sister, a fate that she can't come back from. This moment sparks Nazafaree's journey of revenge against all Druj. She'll leave her family and home behind to become a Water Dog.

The Midnight Sea starts when Nazafareen is barely out of her child years but moves quickly through her training as a Water Dog, which takes a few years, until she's on the cusp of adulthood. Then, we finally meet Darius, the daeva she'll be linked to. Throughout the book we get small glimpses into his past and I know it's just skimming the surface.

The relationship between our two main characters is interesting in the beginning. They train together, but have little contact outside of that. Neither really has any interest in the other. Then, slowly we see their friendship start to bloom.  Both a little wary and unsure of themselves. 

I really enjoyed their relationship as a whole. It took a long time to buildup and there's only a little romance at the end. They're conflicted because Darius is still a slave and  Nazafareen is still the one in control of the chains. But you can see she's a good person, she's just struggling to sort out how she feels versus what she was raised to believe. 

Overall, this gets a solid 4 stars from me for being well-written, fast paced and also a little dark at time. I just love it and I can't wait to see what the next book brings. I have a feeling things will get even more intense as the story continues. 

** I was provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review

Get it here
Amazon

About Kat Ross

Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.


Author links
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