When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellison (Review #53)

"In Pelimburg - city of storm and sea and spray - magic is power. Both are controlled by the elite class, who inhale scriven dust to enhance their natural talents.

As the only daughter of the city's founding family, Felicita has a luxurious but narrow life, one that is ruled by a list of traditionally acceptable and appropriate behaviors. When her dearest friend, Ilven, throws herself over the cliffs and into the sea to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own suicide and escapes to the slums, leaving behind everything she's ever known, including the means to practice magic. Soon she's living in a squat, working as a scullery girl, and falling hard for the charismatic renegade Dash while also becoming fascinated by the strange, thrilling magic of vampire Jannik.

Then translucent corpses begin to wash up onshore. As it becomes clear that Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous, wild magic that the upper class with their scriven are powerless against, Felicita must decide where her true loyalties lie - with the family she's abandoned, or with those who would harness this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it."

Review:

I don't know if I have admitted this before, but I am drawn to the dark and twisted story. This book, you can tell just by the cover and title, that it fits the bill. Fantasy and suicide mingle wildly along with romance in the slums. What I didn't expect was that throughout the book, I didn't like either of Felicita's (or Firell's, whichever she prefers) suitors. Jannik was the coward who reminded her of her past life, which I personally wished she'd let go. And Dash, the city kingpin hell-bent on destroying the hierarchy and the rest of the town along with it. Neither seemed like a viable option. But what really got me was the end. I mean, don't get me wrong, the gore was fantastic. However, the way Felicita went about moving on from the tragedy was downright cowardly. The end was so anti-climatic it was astounding. So despite the story's initial clever premise, I do not recommend this book due to poor execution. Sorry Felicita.