Customer Reviews

Changeling Sea

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Patricia A. McKillip. I have totally fallen asleep reading some of her novels, and I have been totally entranced by some of her other novels. It's a rocky relationship. For example, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld . It's a beautiful fantastical piece of work. I was desperate enough to buy it though the only cover version that was available at that time was the uglier, 'computerized/C.G.-looking' one. This was back when I was paranoid about internet shopping because of the possibility of fraud and stuff. Anyway, other works she's written include Ombria in Shadow , Od Magic, The Tower at Stony Wood. I didn't like these, or I guess, I wasn't able to appreciate these works. She writes beautifully in them, no doubt, with liquid flowing, dream-like prose. But, while I read those works, I would fall asleep almost right away. And I would be confused as I fell asleep. Then, I'd wake up and hate myself for having fallen asleep over a book that had so much potential, not to mention good taste in cover art (usually Kinuko Y. Craft, I believe). So, I end up either avoiding her work or loving it.

Anyway, I recently re-read The Changeling Sea. It's on the 'loving' side of the relationship. The story is about a young girl, Peri, who's family has fallen apart because, she believes, of the sea. In a fit of anger, Peri throws these hexes into the sea and curses it. Soon after, all these strange things begin to happen and Peri's faded, disconnected life is suddenly full of intrigue and meaning and color.

It's such a lovely little slip of a book that I can carry in my purse. The story's a simple story and can be read in a dedicated few hours. It's got the 'little sea-side treasure' feel to it. It's ultimately a story about the Peri and all the magic and lore of the sea. In her comments about this story, Patricia McKillip writes: 'I loved writing about the sea itself, which some reviewers felt became a character in the story, as compelling and unpredictable as anyone human. It's a very mysterious realm. You can't learn much at all from looking at it, you can only throw a line down and see what comes up on your hook, or throw yourself into it on its own terms and trust that you'll be able to find your way back. Or you can stand on the shore and imagine what might lie under all that water, which is what people have done for thousands of years.' The sea is definitely a thing of wonder and mystery in this novel.

My favorite character is undoubtedly Lyo, because he's just so charming in his mage-y way. Here's a quote that I chuckled at, because it happened so suddenly while Peri was ruminating and busy doing her work in her typical oblivious fashion:

*start quote* Peri grunted and shoved her bucket farther down the hall. The frown crept over her face. The wave of suds she sent across the floor turned into tide and foam.

There was a sudden crash. The inn door, with someone clinging to it, had blown open under a vigorous puff of spring wind. Peri looked up to see a stranger lose his balance on her tide. He danced upright a moment, and she noticed finally the blazing thunderheads and the bright blue sky beyond him. Then he tossed his arms and and fell, slid down the hall to kick over her bucket before he washed to a halt under her astonished face.

The stranger smiled after a moment. He was a small, dark-haired, wiry young man with skin the light polished brown of a hazelnut. His eyes were very odd: a vivid blue-green-gray, like stones glittering different colors under the sun. He turned on his side on the wet floor and cupped his chin in his palm.

'Who are you?' [he asked] *end quote*

I always chuckle at this passage, because I imagine Lyo gallantly splashing about in the water then, as if there wasn't any water there at all and they were lying on a field of grass on a summer day, look up at Peri as if they were just conversing. Also, I slip on all sorts of things and I always get the feeling that's how funny it looks when I fall. Except I'm not so charming about it.

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this was a great story. i love this author, she just has a certain style that brings whatever she says to another level. this said, the story isn't perfect. the major relationships between the main character and those around her aren't very strong, not strong enough anyways. at the end, not to spoil it, but she asks someone to come back for her, but the relationship between them wasn't strong enough for her to ask that of him... or at least we the readers weren't privy to it. they don't have to be ridiculously close or anything, the perceived distance between the characters is fine, but the draw between characters must make sense to the reader. if the author spent more time fleshing out relationships i think the story would've been better, because the relationships are very compelling, we just know too little of them. peri says she enjoyed certain people's company because they needed her. unless she is so weak and needy that someone recognizing her existence would make her go crazy, which i don't think she was, there is a part of the story the readers don't know about, or have to fabricate for themselves. so in a way it felt like she was grasping at straws, and the introductions of some characters, namely the workers at the inn, were kind of awkward.
criticism aside, it was a wonderful story. the plot was well thought out and kept me interested. i thought the author did a great job of characterizing the sea. Kir was a great emphasis for this because he was half of the sea himself, so we had the sea both as itself and humanized in Kir. periwinkle was ok, not the strongest heroine but compelling in her own way. i liked her name though, periwinkle, you get few characters with such whimsical names.
it was a great story though. it was short, i read it in a couple of hours, and it left me feeling kind of whimsical .

I've fully read 6 of McKillip's other books and this is definitely the best one yet. It was very difficult to put down, but I made myself do it, because I didn't want the story to end. The dreamlike quality of it was appropriately intoxicating, similar to Winter Rose.

Just simply by opening the first page, you won't be able to leave the book alone.

From an unlikely heroine to the deep feeling weaved through the story, it makes you appreciate what a high fantasy story is really about. The Changeling Sea is definitely not a simple seem-too-simple story!!

This is my favorite of Patricia's books (I have only read two of her books). I loved the main and supporting characters in this amazing book they had strong details in their characters. Also this book had an original plot that no one can resist and it is a good quick read! I loved it!!

After all the mysterious and marvelous and occasionally sad events, I thought that the end was a bit- well, I thought I missed something. So I read it over a couple of times. And I found out I had not missed anything. The ending simply left me hanging. I wanted to know more.
And the romance between the magician and Peri is a little obtuse... You only notice in the last little few chapters of the book.
Other than that, it was a marvelous book, well written. It kept me floating, and I didn't sink below the realm of fantasy into the real world a single bit. (Pardon, that was the best analogy I could think up.) It was a fantasy world that was truly a fantasy world, and the text was appropriately dreamlike. And even though it was funny, it was funny in a good kind of way, not a way that would destroy the atmospere. I will read more of her books, and a sincerely recommend this one.

Beautifuly written, extremly fascinating. A story about a girl who lose the people she loved- the sea took her fisher father,and since that day her mother is gazing at the sea, not aware that she has a 15 years old daughter. determind to have her parents back, Peri is hexing the sea with a charm she learned from a wise woman she knew- an old woman who went out one day and never came back, not long after Peri's father had gone. worth reading!

Patricia McKillip's The Book of Atrix Wolfe was the first fantasy book I ever read (in French). Years after that, I am still hooked on her books.
The Changeling Sea is at heart a fairy tale: two princes gets swapped at birth and none of them is happy with the situation, until a young girl starts meddling. It displays all of McKillip's strengths: strong characterization (every character from Carey and Mare at the inn to the sea-woman herself are wonderfully drawn, and behave convincingly), a plot that, while being vaguely familiar, is still fresh enough to make you read on, and finally, McKillip's hallmark, her style, as ethereal and beautiful as the sea itself.
Buy it, read it, and then go and buy all of McKillip's other books.

Despite the age reccomendations on this book (9 to 12), McKillip's story is a wonderful fairy tale for any reader, as are all of her other works.
The Changling Sea is an excellent combination of fantasy and reality - the balance of hard working villagers and magical beings from another world make this story not only enchanting, but lovely in its realism.
Fans of McKillip will of course love this story. For children and adults who have never read her: this is a great place to start.

It's a large story for such a slim book. I found this jewel hidden in the paperback shelves, saw the cover, and brought it home. It took me to the exact kind of fantasy I wanted. It was a classic and had it all: magic, love, adventure, tragedy, and even a bit of humor. I found the characters a little distant, but I still managed to sense their emotions. Patricia McKillip turns the sea into words and love into sentences.