When The Sea Is Rising Red [Hardcover]

I started reading Cat Hellisen's WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED and knew right away that I was going to love it. It was dark and a little creepy, yet imaginative and beautiful. Cat Hellisen was so luxuriously descriptive that I felt like I was right alongside Felicita in every scene.

So let's get to it. Why should you get this book?

First of all, the main characters are absolutely incredible. I felt emotionally connected to each of them. The secondary characters are just as amazing as the main cast, and they all had special, unique, and wonderful things about them. Some of them had special powers; some of them were especially kind; some of them were cruel and mean-spirited. But all of them blended together to make this novel magical and really marvelous. Let's talk about the main characters for a second:

1. Felicita was born rich but moved to the slums after faking her own death. I loved this bold move, her reasons behind this, and her life once she got to the slums. She was willing to work and get her hands dirty even though she'd never worked before. She's brave, independent, and a hard worker. She's also a thinker and has to make a few pretty big decisions in the book which made me turn the pages faster and faster.

2. Jannik is a vampire and a wildly interesting character. I think he was my favorite. I loved everything about him-his look, his attitude, his social status, and even his status within his own family. Mysterious and dark, in my mind I imagined Jannik as super handsome. I loved the integration of the vampires into the Pelimburg society even though they weren't necessarily accepted. Jannik's vampire character is written differently than other vampires in books right now and I found that refreshing.

3. Dash is charming and charismatic. He's also the leader of the group that Felicita joins up with when she moves to the slums. He's flawed and has a tortured soul, but I found that it gave him depth. He's written so well.

The setting of this book is one of my favorites that I've read in a very long time. It was an absolute feast for my senses on almost every page. Pelimburg is so full of magic that the air is hanging with it, and this was evident to me when I was reading because I felt like I was literally inhaling tingly magic. Pelimburg has a very wide range of social status represented, from the very wealthy to the very poor. I could visualize the finery in the decor of the homes and clothing of the wealthy; I could almost see and smell the filth and grime on the homes, clothes, and faces of the poor in the slums. I could practically hear the ocean, smell and taste the salt-air, and feel the mist while I was reading. Reading this book was such an amazing sensory experience.

I loved the presence of magic in this book - it practically jumped off of the pages. I also loved the romance in these pages; I thought it was perfect for this book. The ending was big and explosive and not at all what I expected, but brought resolution and closure to the novel.

Between the magic, the supernatural beings, and the social castes, the author kept the story fueled and kept the pages turning. I do not often like to play the comparison game with books, but I HAVE to say that this story is reminiscent to me of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I LOVED that Felicita reminded me of Gemma in some ways and I loved some of the other similarities as well. I feel that fans of Bray's work would certainly love WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED.

WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED is set in a complex world, but still played vividly like a movie in my imagination as I read. Readers who love an intricate setting-in both time and place-will most likely enjoy the world Cat Hellisen has created. If you are a fan of magic and the supernatural, you are also likely to enjoy this one-please, add it to your wish list. And if you are anything like me-a sucker for a well-developed, wonderfully fleshed-out group of characters-you won't go wrong with this book.

WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED is a beautifully dark and thrilling debut. I pondered it and was puzzled over it a few times, but mostly I spent my time fully immersed in it and I loved it from cover to cover.

When the Sea is Rising Ded by Cat Hellisen is a deliciously dark fantasy that holds a plot so enticing that I couldn't put it down.

The world of Pelimburg was so expertly crafted. It was an enchanting world that I hope to see more of. It was the perfect host for a story of rebellion, magic, and escape. I do wish some aspects were explained a bit sooner, as it felt a bit too much like a puzzle at certain points of the book. I still wasn't entirely sure of some things by the time I had finished.

The characters of When the Sea is Rising Red were wonderful. When it came to most of the characters, there was this wonderful sense of intrigue and I just had to know more. Felicita was such a strong character - I loved her defiance and her just all around character. Dash was an interesting guy to say the least. He always had such a tale for everything he did. I absolutely loved Jannik. He was perhaps the more intriguing character of the book and I just loved every scene with him, and wish he had been in even more of When the Sea is Rising Red.

I found myself caught up in the mayhem of the story instantly. When the Sea is Rising Red starts with such a tragic moment, and Cat Hellisen dives right into the story. It is a story of danger, betrayal, and first experiences. I was so sad when it was over, as it was just that great of a story.

When the Sea is Rising Red is a fabulous debut, and I am eager to see what is next for Cat Hellisen. It's been awhile since I've read a fantasy this dark and this great, and I'm happy When the Sea is Rising Red came along to fill the gap. The world is so enchanting, and I would just love to dive right back into that world. This was a book I read at work, in two hours, sneaking in pages between everything else I had to do. It was just fabulous.

When her best friend, Ilven, plunges to her death to escape of life of patriarchal control and arranged marriage, Felicita realizes she must also escape her similar, imprisoning lifestyle. As a daughter of the ruling House of Pelim, she's lived a privileged, sheltered life - her entire existence governed by the decisions of others. And so, Felicita fakes her death, disappears into the underworld of Pelimburg and takes a job as a dishwasher. Her life is humble, but she's out from under the thumb of her cruel, domineering brother, for the first time in her life able to make her own choices. When she meets the roguish, streetwise Dash and the quiet, compelling Jannik, her life and choices suddenly become more complicated than she ever anticipated.

Misfortune and pestilence soon fall upon Pelimburg, and the citizens begin blaming the suicides of the two high House daughters for stirring a dark, evil magic up out of the sea. Tension in the city is already running high, stoked by a festering, deep-seated social unrest, and Felicita finds herself torn between her new life and the honor of the family she left behind.

Pelimburg. With beautiful description and wonderful fantasy elements, Pelimburg is a city that Hellisen brings to life vividly. She's given it depth, history, a mythology all its own, and has filled it with magic and mythical creatures such as selkies, boggerts, and vampires. Her descriptions of life in a seaside city are enchanting, and gives the impression that Hellisen herself is in love with the beauty and mysteries of the sea. However, it's not all unicorns and rainbows. Pelimburg is also a place weighted by a gritty realism and a dark underbelly that lend interest and controversy to both the setting and the plot.

Speaking of the gritty side of Pelimburg, one of the things that readers may find interesting is Hellisen's use of morality. This story could have easily been a morality tale, yet it's not. In fact, it doesn't make much of a statement on the rightness or wrongness of things in general. But rather, it's more of a pragmatic view of morality -- situations and decisions stated more as fact. Things simply are what they are. People will inevitably make choices in their lives, be they right or wrong, and there are consequences for those decisions - outcomes that can effect the rest of one's life and the lives of others as well. Decisions have weight. It's a heavy book full of things I don't necessarily agree with, but filled with motivations, choices, vices that make this world - despite it's fantastic leanings - true to life and give it an authenticity I appreciate.

Felicita. When we first meet Felicita, she is a girl who feels very confined by the patriarchal society of Pelimburg. Women of the High-Lammer houses are virtually powerless, despite possessing their own magical abilities. Her indifferent and sometimes cruel elder brother, Owen, is the head of the family now that her father has passed away, and he, and he alone, has the final say in the direction of her future. Like Ilven, she begins scheming for a way out. Unlike Ilven, she desires to do so while still breathing.

Felicita is not typically the kind of heroine I connect with, but she is a refreshing change from the norm. She's so very real, so very flawed, and fantastically so. Felicita's the kind of person who makes her decisions, comes to an acceptance of what her choices lead to - good or bad - and perseveres past the things she cannot change. She's independent, resolute, is not afraid to stand up for herself, and is a hard worker despite her upbringing. She's also an addict, a bit immature, makes some incredibly bad decisions, and is not the best judge of character. Yet, I still found her to be likeable; still found myself rooting for her despite the choices she makes. Perhaps it's because there are consequences to decisions in this novel? Perhaps it's because she's a person who was born without the opportunity to truly live? Yes, she makes what I consider to be mistakes, but they're hers to make and there's something freeing in that, no matter the outcome. But perhaps it's also because in Felicita's character, Hellisen strikes this intriguing balance between naivete and worldliness that keeps her fresh, interesting, and sympathetic.

Dash & Jannik. These boys are like night and day when compared each to the other, but both boys play important roles in Felicita's new-found life. Dash lives life voraciously. A party boy and a ladies' man, he knows everyone, and everyone knows him. He's got many connections in the criminal underworld of Pelimburg, and his dealings are not exactly what one would call "above board." He's magnetic, authoritative, a bit dangerous and it's not hard to see why Felicita would be drawn to him. Jannik, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Quiet, introspective, practical, with the soul of a poet and full of a magic all his own, Jannik is someone who can empathize and commiserate with Felicita over a lack of freedom and control as they come from similar backgrounds. Being a vampire, an association with him is considered taboo, yet despite convention, Felicita finds him very compelling. Both Dash and Jannik are wildly different from each other, yet both capture her attention and both play a vital role in her journey toward independence.

Overall, with enchantingly vivid world, gritty tone, and fantastically-drawn characters, When the Sea is Rising Red, is a thought-provoking story about freedom and the lengths to which one will go to achieve it.

*** Due to mature themes and references to repeated drug usage, I'd recommend this book to an upper YA audience.