Also don't forget to stop by all of the other fantastic blogs on this tour, where you can find out what other people thought of The Midnight Sea! You can find the complete tour schedule by clicking the banner above.
And now, before we get to Ashley's review and the giveaway, here's some more information about The Midnight Sea and Kat!
About the Book
Author: Kat Ross
Publication date: May 10th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Synopsis: 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…
About the Author
Author links: Twitter | Website | Facebook | Goodreads
Ashley's Review
As soon as I finished reading Kat Ross' debut sci-fi disaster novel, Some Fine Day, I knew I wanted to read whatever she came up with next. When I heard about The Midnight Sea, it was a no-brainer! A YA fantasy with hints of Persian mythology and nods to the Grecian culture, and I was sold immediately. I had to know more about Nazafareen, Darius, the daeva, the Druj, and the ongoing war. I was not disappointed!
The thing I love most about Kat's writing is her ability to take something most people are familiar with, like the Persian empire, and turn it into something completely new, different, and exciting. Although she could have taken the established civilization and changed just a few things, Kat manages to construct a completely new world with hints of the original. This book is definitely not an alternate history, but everything is done so well that I felt like it really could have been. I'm no expert on Persian culture and mythologies, but I felt like I had grown up in this world with Nazafareen, Darius, Ilyas, and everyone else. There's enough explanation of how things work without it being overwhelming, and I love how Kat builds her worlds in this way.
Another thing I love about Kat's books is how quickly I fall in love with the characters without even realizing it. Nazafareen has been through a lot in her short life, and she has handled most of it with bravery and grace. She lost her sister at a very young age and wants to avenge her death, but she manages to find a way to do that without getting herself killed right off the bat. Darius is cold to Nazafareen when we first meet him, but their relationship grows and blossoms over time and it was really sweet to see how their attitudes towards each other (and even the empire) begin to change. Even the supporting cast is very strong, and each of them is dynamic and well-developed.
This book broke my heart so many times before it was over, and I wanted to scream for Nazafareen and Darius and all of the other characters who suffer because of things that are beyond their control. And then, just as things were starting to get better and I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief, this whole cycle started over again! It was awful, but in a good way. It kept me flipping pages long into the night and kept the story moving along at a good pace.
If you're like me and always looking for the next great fantasy book, look no further! You want to get your hands on Kat Ross' The Midnight Sea ASAP! It's a brilliant take on ancient mythologies and civilizations that will take you on a roller coaster of emotions. I'm so excited to read the next book in the series to find out what will happen next, because even though there was no cliffhanger ending or anything, I still have so many burning questions that I need to have answered! A 5/5.
The thing I love most about Kat's writing is her ability to take something most people are familiar with, like the Persian empire, and turn it into something completely new, different, and exciting. Although she could have taken the established civilization and changed just a few things, Kat manages to construct a completely new world with hints of the original. This book is definitely not an alternate history, but everything is done so well that I felt like it really could have been. I'm no expert on Persian culture and mythologies, but I felt like I had grown up in this world with Nazafareen, Darius, Ilyas, and everyone else. There's enough explanation of how things work without it being overwhelming, and I love how Kat builds her worlds in this way.
Another thing I love about Kat's books is how quickly I fall in love with the characters without even realizing it. Nazafareen has been through a lot in her short life, and she has handled most of it with bravery and grace. She lost her sister at a very young age and wants to avenge her death, but she manages to find a way to do that without getting herself killed right off the bat. Darius is cold to Nazafareen when we first meet him, but their relationship grows and blossoms over time and it was really sweet to see how their attitudes towards each other (and even the empire) begin to change. Even the supporting cast is very strong, and each of them is dynamic and well-developed.
This book broke my heart so many times before it was over, and I wanted to scream for Nazafareen and Darius and all of the other characters who suffer because of things that are beyond their control. And then, just as things were starting to get better and I felt like I could breathe a sigh of relief, this whole cycle started over again! It was awful, but in a good way. It kept me flipping pages long into the night and kept the story moving along at a good pace.
If you're like me and always looking for the next great fantasy book, look no further! You want to get your hands on Kat Ross' The Midnight Sea ASAP! It's a brilliant take on ancient mythologies and civilizations that will take you on a roller coaster of emotions. I'm so excited to read the next book in the series to find out what will happen next, because even though there was no cliffhanger ending or anything, I still have so many burning questions that I need to have answered! A 5/5.
The Giveaway!
oh wow, thank you SO much, Ashley! I have to admit, when I first decided to set this story in a (sorta) Persian empire more than two thousand years ago, I did wonder, can I even pull this off? But I had thought about the characters and magic and basic story for a really long time so I took a deep breath and jumped. Just so happy that I remotely landed it, lol! I'm excited for the next one, it has some new bad guys, and some minor characters will start getting their due. There will be three books in this particular story arc and then we move forward in time...anyway, thanks so much for the lovely review, I'm framing this one! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting today, Ashley! Wonderful review! :)
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