I was hoping to find a new fantasy favorite with Patricia McKillip but, alas, no. McKillip's prose is strong, more certain in what it leaves unsaid, and that is a beauty of its own. What's more, her imagination reads like a fairy tale--vivid descriptions, half folk-lore, half reality itself. Yet, the romance is key in The Changeling Sea--key to feeling that bittersweet ache at the close of the novel. And, as you may be able to imagine, I felt very little. With older fantasy tales, a love story usually consists of a form of insta-love: one or two friendly interactions before BAM! true love hits. McKillip's brand of fantasy romance just didn't work for me. I suspect, much like Robin McKinley, here lies another wonderful author whose works will simply continue to elude me.

the first book that made me think that fantasy books were actually magical. I read a few of McKillip's other books like Cygnet and Firebird and Winter rose ( which was not bad too) but still loved this the best. It is a short bittersweet story that will stay with you. Best of all, it's really short and definitely doable within a day.

(...)

It’s telling that none of the characters know what they are doing. They all just fumble along, without a plan, without real insight in why they feel certain things or do certain things. It is telling that even the King doesn’t know how he called his lover from the sea. And even the sea queen is powerless to a certain extent, unable to withstand magic from a girl that doesn’t even know she possesses magic. It seems as McKillip tried to say: do not get distracted by other stuff, just do what’s natural and in front of you.

It is this theme of powerless stumbling that makes this a powerful novel, as an antidote against myths of meritocracy, or novels that call upon responsibility & duty. McKillip shows why being humble is the only realistic option if you want to live a moral life: hubris is always misguided. If you think you really know what you are doing, acting according your very own plans, you are probably delusional.

(...)

Full review on Weighing A Pig Doesn't Fatten It

This book is so gorgeous it hurts.



I’m serious. The prose is so beautiful you can’t help but foam in envy. Her writing has such luscious descriptions you just want to gather them all up and devour them like precious edible gold. It’s just amazing how she manages to spill her wonderful imagination out into the pages and spin a story with the skills to back it up.

Sure this novel (a novella almost, really) is short but I really loved how she takes a familiar aspect in fairy lore (the switching of babies) and places it in an entirely different setting. Her transformation of it is fabulous and I thought worked really well with the sea backdrop. The characters may not be so deeply explored but we see them shine on the pages that they are on.

The ending of this book was very quiet compared to the mysterious and overwhelming sense of mystery and pull we had at the beginning, which I think made for a nice contrast. It’s almost bittersweet but we are left with such pleased emotions after.

I know everyone has said this already but this tale is exactly that: lovely. A lovely, lovely tale with some of the most beautiful writing published.

I just love Patricia McKillip so much. Her novels are such gifts - magical tales spun to tell very human stories, I don't know how she always does it so beautifully. She herself must be magic.

This is a very short book that tells a tale of grief, loneliness, and longing. It's a story of self-sacrifice - helping someone, even if it hurts you, so that they can find happiness. It's a tale of finding who you are and where you belong. Just a gorgeous little read.

n

"Only the black pearl in her pocket told her that mystery had come into her life and gone, leaving her stranded at the tide's edge, yearning."

The Changeling Sea was absolutely mesmerising. It was actually one of the earliest books recommended to me here on GoodReads, along with the author Patricia McKillip in general. For some reason, I've always felt rather reluctant to read her books. The summaries, cover arts and reviews of all her works seemed as though they held stories I would love - but for some unexplainable reason, I always felt worried that I wouldn't. If The Changeling Sea is anything to go by, I have absolutely no more fear of venturing into more of McKillip's tales!

The Changeling Sea is short - part of me wishes there were more, but then it is perfect as it is. I seem to have fallen in love with the characters just as they fell in love with the sea. I can't quite put my finger on it - despite the short time spent with them, I found myself caring for them deeply and wishing for them all to find their happiness - which at times did not always seem likely.

The narration is hauntingly beautiful - there are only a few books (interestingly, all short ones) that I have come across with a similar dream-like and magical atmosphere. It was almost a little melancholic at times but it had enough magic, wonder and a little humour to keep you hopeful. I've only recently finished the book and I already feel like reading it again. I don't even know how else to put it - I just absolutely loved it.

n  What a dull place the world would be if all the mysteries in it were solved.n

n  n


Whenever I think about this novel, I feel at home.
This is the book that made me fall in love with reading, the very first one I bought with my own savings, more than 10 years ago.
It took me half an afternoon to finish it and, once I was done, I immediately went and reread it, skipping homework and totally forgetting about the world outside.
I've read it so many times through the years, the pages eventually started to fall off.
I remember I found it magical and beautiful, simple and yet complex and intense in its semplicity.
It gave me such strong feelings, made my mind and heart travel to places I never thought existed.
I often reread it, every now and then, and every time it's like the first time.
No matter how great or famous or brilliant or heartbreaking a book is, it will never be as important to me as this one is.
I still cherish it and forever will, too.
Because it's my most precious treasure and it taught me how to dream.


n  n

SO GOOD. I loved it. The feels man.

I’ll just start off by saying this book gave me butterflies, and that is unbelievably rare for me. ❤️

For a book that’s a little more than 100 pages, I was completely swept away in the world and so invested in the story and characters.
I don’t even really enjoy romance in books these days but this just gave me ALL the feels. Maybe because the romance was not a central point of the story.
Peri is wonderful. Lyo is a much more likeable version of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle. I just loved everyone.
I do feel like this could be a Miyazaki movie. So whimsical and wonderful.

I have no gripes about this book. If you take it for what it is- essentially a novella- I can almost guarantee you will find yourself just as enraptured as I was.

Peri's father has perished on the sea, and her mother sits by the window, depressed and bewitched by the sea. Peri hexes the sea, and out comes the sea-dragon, and the magic, and the restless prince.

This book feels warm, and familiar. The characters are well rounded and kind, the magic fickle and strange, and the atmosphere hopeful. I enjoyed Peri's friends at the inn, the romance, and the conclusion to the story.

This would make a wonderful Ghibli animated movie.

3.5 stars.

A delightfully bittersweet tale of magicians, sea dragons, old and new love, lost princes and, above all, periwinkles.

It's my first Patricia A. McKillip. I searched all over for fantasy books that might inspire me now that NaNoWriMo is just around the corner and I've decided to dabble in a fantasy novel that has been with me since the 9th grade. Crazy, I know.

Ms. McKillip has such a talent with prose. Her descriptions were beautifully vivid and, while I didn't really connect with the heartache in the book, I did enjoy the cast of characters very much. Except the people at the inn. Those were incredibly annoying.

Peri hates the sea because it took her father and maybe because her mother has become withdrawn, too. As she's preparing a hex to throw into the sea Prince Kir finds her and says to add something. She has no known magical property, so perhaps by coincidence a chained dragon appears in the nearby waters. For some reason all the fishermen can think about when they see the dragon is the enormous gold chain holding it. They hire a magician to get the gold on contingency, and complain about his price. Somehow they think the gold is already theirs, if the magician can salvage it and they can't, why should they get anything? Everything seems to gravitate toward Peri. She's the one who takes the magician out to see the dragon. Kir tells her his mother is from the sea (since she really likes Kir, her hatred of the sea kind of goes away). When the dragon is freed, of course it comes to Peri.

I wasn't drawn into the magical setup of the world. It seemed arbitrary (rather than defined). The exchanges between the characters, e.g. Peri and Kir, were enjoyable. More of a character driven novel. 3.3 stars.