Flowers for the Sea

by Zin E Rocklyn

Xia Gordon (Artist) and Christine Foltzer (Cover Designer)

A Library Journal Editor's Pick!

Flowers for the Sea is a dark, dazzling debut novella that reads like Rosemary's Baby by way of Octavia E. Butler

We are a people who do not forget.

Survivors from a flooded kingdom struggle alone on an ark. Resources are scant, and ravenous beasts circle. Their fangs are sharp.

Among the refugees is Iraxi: ostracized, despised, and a commoner who refused a prince, she's pregnant with a child that might be more than human. Her fate may be darker and more powerful than she can imagine.

Zin E. Rocklyn's extraordinary debut is a lush, gothic fantasy about the prices we pay and the vengeance we seek.

• ISBN10: 1250804035
• ISBN13: 9781250804037
• Publish Date: 19 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 8 February 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 112
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Zin E. Rocklyn's latest novella, Flowers for the Sea, was marketed as being perfect for fans of Octavia E. Butler, with a Rosemary's Baby flare. That was certainly enough to have caught my attention (Plus that cover? Chef's kiss!)

Iraxi is one of a depressingly small number of survivors fleeing a flooded kingdom. But she's also more than that. She's the one her people hate – as she had the nerve to turn down their prince. Now, she's pregnant with a baby that will very likely be more than anyone could ever have imagined – literally.

Flowers for the Sea is arguably the heaviest book I've read all year. Not literal weight, mind you – but it weighed heavy on my mind. The situation Iraxi is in it...a lot. Losing her home, having her people hate her, seeing monsters outside hunt the remaining few, and an unwanted pregnancy on top of all of that.

This is not light reading, is what I'm trying to get at. I honestly don't think that this is a book for everyone, and that's okay. There's a lot of anger and pain within these pages, and it resonates loud and clear.

Thanks to Tor.com and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Read more reviews at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks