The Changeling Sea, by Patricia McKillip

[rachelmanija]

Another archival review. But I still stand by it. This is a fantastic book. It's also notable for having one of the few love triangles (love quadrangles, actually) which I actually liked. She even picked my favorite, which usually doesn't happen.

Peri, a young woman whose fisherman father drowned, casts a spell against the sea, calling forth a monster… and a Prince.

A magical, moving, and completely original story, peopled with quirkily charming characters. Unlike most fantasy novels, this isn’t about wielding swords and spells to save the world, but about the power and wonder of both magic and human relationships. Peri is a likable, offbeat heroine, and the choice she makes regarding the three men who come into her life, the magician, the prince, and the sea dragon, is believable and heartwarming.

All the characters, even the most minor ones, have their own lives and agendas, bringing to life the vividly imagined setting of a fishing village on the edge of enchantment. Dialogue is sometimes poetic, sometimes funny, but always well-phrased. The balance in this book between the little moments of daily life and the beauty of magic and feeling reminded me of books like The Secret Garden.

It's one Patricia McKillip's more obscure novels, but also one of her best.

The Changeling Sea

Comments

[ambyr]

It's one of those things that year after year gets nominated for Yuletide but not actually requested. I think it's because people really want to play with the world--but the novel is so perfectly complete, no one can think of what more there is to say.

Running through briefly from Network

[kittydesade]

I love this book, I still have this book from when I was little (well, it's packed now, but I still have it), and every year when we went down to the beach I secretly wanted to catch something in the waves like Peri. Never did, though.

[ginny_t]

I do adore this book. It caught me entirely by surprise, which is very definitely in its favour.

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

It's probably my favorite novel of hers. I am glad you like it also!

[sillylilly-bird.livejournal.com]

This is one of my go-to re-reads. My poor battered copy is still mostly in one piece, but I dearly love this story!

[stfg.livejournal.com]

I love this book. It may be my favorite of hers as well.

[larryhammer]

One of my favorite rereads as well. It reads out loud to others quite well.

---L.

[auroramama]

I love this book. One wonderful thing about it is that no one is just stupid or evil.

[ejmam.livejournal.com]

Hey, I just read this book, after carrying it around for years. In my defense, my cover was awful. I loved it.

[janni.livejournal.com]

I have fond memories of this one. And came upon an extra, battered copy in our book culling that I was planning to offer up soon.

[erikagillian.livejournal.com]

Slight spoilers.


One of my ultimate comfort books :) And I agree on the love quadrangle and her choices. And I thought her being in love with the dark disturbed one first made sense and she grows through feeling sorry and friendly to the real prince but ends up I think maturing into loving the magician. I'm trying to think of it in more general terms. Loving the one in pain in her pain as a teenager, learning to love friends and then ending up where she will learn and grow, maybe. Mostly though I just love it. The dragon and the magic and the woman from the sea, her mother being freed from the sea.