“I find out that I'm dead while eating spoonfuls of shaved ice from a paper cone. My official death notice. Lemon flavored.”
I have conflicting emotions towards When the Sea is Rising Red. It's a beautifully written and atmospheric read, but in some ways it misses the mark.
The strongest aspects of When the Sea is Rising Red are the world-building, the atmosphere and the beautiful writing. From the beginning, we're introduced to a strange, interesting and complex world with political machinations, a caste system, oppression and inequality, patriarchy, vampires and magic. The atmosphere is dark, murky and even stifling to some extent and the beautiful and descriptive writing makes the reader feel immersed in the story. I would probably read every single book written in the When the Sea is Rising Red universe because I can't get enough of it.
Felicita is a conflicting heroine. She's not meant to be a likable character and her pride, anger and selfishness leads to bad choices, but she's ambitious and driven and will do anything to survive. She's lived a sheltered and luxurious life, but she's logical and streetwise
For the first half, not much happens in terms of plot, but I was engrossed in Felicita's journey and her adapting to a different life. However, when the plot picked-up and things started going in a weird direction, Felicitia's thoughts, actions and whining became repetitive. In the first half, she's an active character who tries to take her life back into her hands, makes decisions and deals with the consequences, but in the second half, she loses her autonomy and goes through the motions as a pawn in someone else's revenge-plan.
Another issue that I have is Felicita's attitude towards the Hobs, a lower-caste in her society. In the beginning, Felicita's negative associations and colonist attitude could be attributed to her background and prejudices. However, after living with the Hobs, I expected her to reexamine her prejudices and start changing her mindset, but she still views them negatively and has an 'us vs them' mentality.
The secondary characters are as distant, murky and morally grey as the atmosphere in When the Sea is Rising Red. I couldn't get a sense of their personalities and motivations, which resulted in unrelatable, but intriguing characters.
Felicita has two potential love interests, but I wouldn't classify When the Sea is Rising Red as a romance. The relationship between Dash, Felicita and Jannik is interesting, surprising and frustrating and adds layers of complexity to the story. Though, Felicita's romantic interest towards Dash is a little out of the blue.
My main issue is the lead up to the ending and the ending itself. Felicita is not the driving force of the plot in the last half of When the Sea is Rising Red and with or without her presence, the plot would still have the same outcome. Her involvement towards the end is underwhelming mainly because of her lack of autonomy, which is odd in a book where choice is one of the main themes. Another factor that came out of nowhere is Felicita's back-and-forth emotions towards her brother in the end ,when throughout the book, she only had one type of emotion towards him. I also don't understand how the arrangement between Felicita and Jannik benefits them, which is why I'm going to read House of Sand and Secrets, but I would have read it anyway because of the amazing world.
A weird and intriguing book with beautiful writing, a rich and complex world and an immersive atmosphere. I have conflicting feelings towards When the Sea is Rising Red, but it's a unique book and I think it will stay with me for a long time.
“No matter what the results, it is my choices that define me. And I will fight for them, even when it seems that failure is inevitable. Perhaps most especially then.”