This is by far one of the worst books I have ever read. I bought it used along with a box full of other books, and the first two of the trilogy were not among them, so I picked this one up and read it without reading the previous books. I learned well enough what happened, and I have no intention of reading the first two. There are several reasons why I despise this book. First, there are so many holes it should be called Lord of Swiss Cheese. Second, Every time there is a "confrontation" there is sex. Third, characters are so unlikable, I want to beat them over the head with a stick. All of them, Dylan, Lucy, Conn, Caleb... All. Of. Them.... Fourth, nothing is explained well, AT ALL. Fifth (and last), with all the sex and cursing, I thought I was reading a rebelous, nerdy, horny teenager's fiction.Now, let's start off with the holes. WTH was Virginia doing in her planning? Let's make Dylan about 30, and Iestyn was admittedly over 50 but looked 16. They aren't supposed to age on Sanctuary, but Dylan did. Why? They were both brought to Sanctuary at the age of 12, and Dylan was only gone long enough to knock-up a mayor's daughter. In the beginning, when Conn first sees Lucy, he comments several times she has the body like a man, but later he calls her fragile, so she's not thought of as this lanky giant, but more of an average model. Then he says she's not beautiful, but she's nice.... She also refers to herself as the Beauty in the Beast's castle, but she has a low self-esteem. Well, which is it? Is she an ugly duckling that's completely useless other than being a broodmare, or is she the beautiful hero? The other holes were combined with poor writing and unlikable characters, so let's move on, shall we?The sex. Don't get me wrong, i like sex as much as the next woman, but I have a rule of thumb. If there is sex before the 100 page mark, it's going to be a poorly written, trash novel because the author just couldn't wait for the character relationship to develop. Essentially, you get poorly written porn. There are always exceptions to this rule, but this is not one of those exceptions. The characters were so horrible! You have a drunk father from a broken home. Bart is either racked with guilt or grief of the loss of his wife. Well, which is it? It never really reveals anything about the relationship between Bart and Artagatis. When he has to take care of a doll, he suddenly wakes back up from his drunken stupor and starts being a father... Yeah, okay... Conn uses sex as a weapon (again stating it is a horribly written trash novel), and he doesn't want pity, but in reality he pities himself because his father left him. Lucy is just an idiot that can't figure out what she wants. She wants to go back to World's End and take care of her father, she hates not being loved or included in anything, she feels sorry for herself in most of the book, and has sudden flares of anger. The list just goes on.What is really explained other than the Selkies are dying out? If the selkies are an intelligent, immortal species, how does Artagatis die from a fishing net? I was honestly waiting on some one to admit it was a demon-cursed net to keep her from birthing any more children that could fulfill the prophecy. Does Bart REALLY know where his love came from? He makes a comment of her being his mermaid, but she could have just "popped out of no where without memory" like Margred did. Why did the brothers really keep Lucy out of the loop? They say it was to protect her and what not, but knowledge doesn't really save any one from death if they are associated with a group. Mobs killed families of their enemies all the time, even though they were completely innocent. No, they weren't sought after by a mob, but the principle is the same.For the last portion of the rant, this entire book seems to be written by a horny dungeons-and-dragons-playing nerd that wants to feel cool by dropping a bunch of f-bombs wherever she starts feeling horny. The story is inconsistent and revolves around sex. I suppose if you are like this, it would work for you too, but it does nothing for me. For the story to be written this horny, she must be writing out her fantasy, masterbating to releive herself, and continue writing in a drawn out, not well thought out plot just to trudge until she gets horny again. I had enough. I will not read another thing from this author. To summarize the entire rant, this is so poorly written, I wouldn't give it the upscale rating of mediocre. This should never have been published. I think the second one is still my favorite but Conn is nearly as delicious as Dylan. Also we get and interesting twist on Caleb and Dylan's sister, Lucy, - which I suspected all along.We meet Conn (more than before), the Prince of the Sea (selkies), and we discover that he fears the sea almost as much as Lucy but for different reasons. Conn's major concern is the survival of his people. He has little regard for what is expected of a person. And yet he does have a heart. The only problem is it becomes more obvious that he has "human" emotions when Lucy comes into his life and everything he's tried to deny kind of smacks him in the face.As for Lucy, she's been on the outside of her family looking in for her entire life, and it only seems to be getting worse until she wake up in Conn's bed. Everything becomes clear as she realizes her family knows about selkies and one of her brothers is one! The thing Lucy wants more than anything is to be accepted and she's hoping Conn will give that to her.Both Conn and Lucy are interesting characters. Lucy is a little weak at times but who isn't, really? I do believe Lucy is a strong character though not as strong as Regina or Maggie. She's different and I think will grow with the series. As for Conn, he's very strong to the point of being a problem. We get to see him soften a bit and I think in time we'll see Lucy's influence of him.Still a good series.
What do You think about Sea Lord (2009)?
I got about halfway through and returned to the library. May pick up again one day.
—chaseAmilli
