Undertow Book 2: Raging Sea (Undertow Trilogy, #2)

by Michael Buckley

[Beth C.]

Lyric Walker. Half human, half Alpha. Running for her life with her best friend and an Alpha who tolerates/hates her most of the time. Meanwhile, most believe she is responsible for the deaths of thousands and the continual advancement of the Alphas onto land. Lyric has to find a way to save herself and her traveling companions, her family, and all those being kept for torturous experiments.

First, a note. Any reader who tries to read Raging Sea without having read Undertow first will likely find themselves fairly lost, which is a definite downer. I generally believe that, even in a trilogy, all the books should be able to be read out of order without feeling absolutely lost beyond hope. Not the case here.

Second, it is the worst kind of ending when the author throws the reader off a cliff and expects them to hang there waiting to be rescued. There are ways to keep the suspense without resorting the abrupt ending offered by this book, and I'm disappointed that the author felt the need to go this route.

As far as the story itself, it was just...ok. I found myself annoyed at times with Lyric because there were things that happened (no spoilers) that...well...she really should have realized. Frankly, it felt like the author buried Lyric's head in the sand in a most unrealistic way simply to advance the story. That happened a couple of times, and it was a bit jarring. In addition, the...let's call them the bad guys...did some pretty heinous things. I'm no stranger to horrible people and terrible things, but I found myself flinching away from the story a few times. Again, I question whether the author was just being somewhat lazy in how he propelled the story along. Then again, maybe it's the "all's fair in love and war" scenario he's going with?

Overall, I didn't have the same interest in book two. Will I read book three? Yes, but only because I am now invested enough to be at least a little curious about what happens from here. But - and this is the biggie - will I buy the book? Nope. There are too many other solid books out there to spend my money on.